Namibia + Botswana
Soul of the Wild

Day by day

1. Day1

   Arrive in Windhoek

   Fly into Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, for pick-up and check-in. After lunch, a private city tour: the German Lutheran Christuskirche, Parliament Gardens and the National Museum. With its tidy streets and European-style buildings, it feels like a European hill town.

   
2. Day2–4

   Sossusvlei red dunes · Deadvlei

   Head into the Namib, the world’s oldest desert. Climb a dune at sunrise to shoot its silky curves and bold shadows. In Deadvlei, camelthorn trees dead for centuries stand on white clay beneath towering red dunes – blue sky, red sand, white ground, black trees. Striking in colour or black and white, and great for portraits. At night, shoot the Milky Way under what’s been called “the world’s most beautiful night sky”.

   Don’t missHot-air balloon (optional, at own cost): lift off before dawn over a sea of red dunes, then land for a champagne breakfast deep in the desert.

   
3. Day5

   Walvis Bay · Where the dunes meet the sea

   Here the dunes run straight into the Atlantic. Ride a 4WD through golden waves of sand, look out from the crest where red dunes meet the ocean, then take the thrilling drop down the dune face. Photograph flamingos at the lagoon, southern Africa’s largest flamingo habitat, and catch the Atlantic sunset from Swakopmund’s old jetty.

   
4. Day6

   Spitzkoppe

   Namibia’s most photographed landmark rises about 1784 m from the plain and is over 700 million years old. Shoot the red granite at dusk and the stars through the rock arch at night.

   
5. Day7

   Himba village

   Visit a Himba village, where life has changed little in 500 years. The women coat their skin and hair year-round in red ochre and butterfat, earning them the name “red people” – Namibia’s most distinctive cultural subject.

   
6. Day8–9

   Victoria Falls · Chobe National Park

   Shoot Victoria Falls, “the smoke that thunders”, its spray often hung with rainbows. Chobe has Africa’s largest elephant population: an afternoon 4WD safari, a morning boat trip on the Chobe River for reflections of wading elephants, and herd silhouettes at sunset. Overnight at Cresta Mowana Lodge.

   
7. Day10

   Fly into the Okavango Delta

   A light aircraft takes us into the World Heritage-listed Okavango Delta, an inland wetland where a river disappears into the desert. In the afternoon, glide through the shallows by mokoro canoe as reflections merge with the sky and elephants drink in the distance. Overnight at Machaba Camp.

   
8. Day11–12

   Delta safaris at dawn and dusk

   Leave before dawn for wildlife at its most active: leaping antelope, lions on patrol, elephants leading calves through the shallows, giraffes emerging from the mist. Rest after lunch, then head out again for Africa’s golden hour and sunset over the delta.

   
9. Day13

   Maun · Tour ends

   Fly out of the delta by light aircraft to Maun International Airport – one last look at Africa from the air.