Tour 4 Day Swakopmund & Sossusvlei Adventure Lodge Safari * Depar

Transport

Transport in a custom built safari vehicle with pop up roof & USB charging capabilities & air-conditioning

Accommodation

3 nights’ accommodation in twin share rooms with en-suite bathrooms as above Single supplement only applicable to single travelers that request their own room, otherwise single travelers will be matched with another traveler of the same sex on a twin share basis

Others

3 nights’ accommodation in twin share rooms with en-suite bathrooms as above Meals as above (B – breakfast, L – lunch, D – dinner) National park entry fees (1 day Sossusvlei) Visit to Walvis Bay Lagoon Sossusvlei excursion (including 4x4 shuttle) Pick up and drop off within Windhoek city limits

Guide

Services of a professional English speaking guide

Meals

Meals as above (B – breakfast, L – lunch, D – dinner)

Not included:

Optional

Other activities and services are not included.

Flights

International and Domestic flights are excluded.

Others

All drinks Snacks between meals Tips

Insurance

Travel and Health insurance are excluded. We highly recommend that you have insurance before you travel.

Start planning your experience

Day 1 Thursday – Windhoek - Hotel A La Mer, Swakopmund – 420 Km
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Thursday – Windhoek - Hotel A La Mer, Swakopmund – 420 Km

You will be collected from your accommodation within the Windhoek city limits at 07:15 and transferred to Chameleon Safaris Head Office for a short pre-departure meeting. We first drive north via the small town of Okahandja, but soon we are heading west, past the tiny centers of Karabib and Usakos, to the port town of Walvis Bay – the edge of Africa and the Skeleton Coast. Walvis Bay lagoon is an internationally recognized Ramsar site (Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, Especially as Waterfowl Habitat) and is justly renowned for its birdlife. Flamingo, pelican, African oyster catcher, and turnstone, to name but a few of the more than 50 bird species occurring here. This, along with other aquatic fauna, including bottlenose and Heaviside dolphins, humpbacked and southern right whales, ocean sunfish, and Cape fur seals, all add up to make Walvis Bay lagoon a wetland wonderland.

In particular, we are here to see the flamingos, which are usually abundant and found within easy photo distance from the shore. There are two types of flamingos to see, lesser and greater, and they accumulate here because Namibia’s Atlantic coast is abundant with both phytoplankton and zooplankton. Flamingos do not enjoy a solid diet; they live on micro-organisms such as plankton and are filter feeders, almost like oysters. They rinse the seawater through their beaks, and tiny filaments filter out the nutrients as it swishes by. Flamingos are unable to eat unless their heads are fully inverted, and while feeding, they walk around in a circle, stirring the sand and mud with their feet to release the nutrients. Certain types of these micro-organisms turn reddish-pink when they die, accounting for the pink color of the birds.

Flamingos do not breed in Walvis Bay. The tides here are not usually very steep, but occasional spring tides can bring deeper waters, which are not suitable for the specialized nests constructed by the birds. Flamingos build a nest, called a cone, out of sand and mud with a hollow top into which they lay a single egg. This cone is designed to keep the egg out of the water, so a tidal environment does not work. Instead, for breeding, huge flocks of birds typically head for the Etosha Pan or to the Makgadikgadi Pan in Botswana. Both these mineral pans are seasonal and usually dry but can flood when there is sufficient rain. It is still not properly understood how the flamingos know when there has been suitable rainfall in these relatively faraway catchment areas, but somehow they do know and leave the coast in great flocks that streak the horizon pink as they head inland.

We complete the final leg of our journey into Swakopmund, and we check into our accommodation at the centrally located Hotel A La Mer. Swakopmund is an interesting place, founded by Captain Kurt von François of the imperial colonial army of the German empire in 1892 (he also founded Windhoek in 1890). It is bounded to the north, east, and south by the mighty sand dunes of the Namib Desert and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean. There are still many examples of colonial German architecture to be seen, and the German language is still widely used. Swakopmund offers many opportunities to keep us busy during our time here. The town center is small and easily explored on foot, but there are also many extra, optional activities available. Scenic flights over the desert are very popular, and for the more adventurous, perhaps try skydiving or quad biking over and in the Namib dunes. Our guide will discuss all the options with you in advance and will be able to facilitate any bookings that we would like to make.

Lunch and dinner tonight are for your own account. Swakopmund boasts some truly excellent restaurants, and again, our guide will be able to help you with recommendations and bookings.

Accommodation: Twin-share rooms, en-suite bathroom

Meals: Lunch
Day 2 Friday – Swakopmund - Desert Camp, Near Sesriem – 350 Km
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Friday – Swakopmund - Desert Camp, Near Sesriem – 350 Km

We have the option to enjoy a more leisurely start this morning as we are only leaving Swakopmund in the mid-morning. Your guide will inform you of the exact departure time.

If you choose not to have a lie-in, Swakopmund offers many opportunities to keep us busy during our morning here. The town center is small and easily explored on foot, but there are also many extra, optional activities available. For those with a love of adrenaline, quad biking and sandboarding are also very popular if you fancy careening down the slip face of a sand dune at 60 km per hour.

Our guide will discuss all the options with you in advance and will be able to facilitate any bookings that we would like to make.

Departing Swakopmund in the mid-morning, we head east into the desert. We first cross the Namib gravel plains, large areas of flat and seemingly barren terrain broken up by huge mountain inselbergs. We have two mountain passes to traverse this afternoon. The first is the mighty Kuiseb Pass, and we follow the road from the top of the mountains, dropping steeply down into the canyon carved over eons by the Kuiseb River on its way to debouch into the ocean at the port town of Walvis Bay.

We climb up from the banks of the river and over the pass, traveling through the mountain peaks and on to the second, smaller canyon of the Gaub River, a tributary of the Kuiseb. We emerge from the mountains onto a flat road, and almost immediately, we cross the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5 degrees south. There is a signpost at this auspicious spot, and we stop along the road for photos. Onwards again to our destination for today, Desert Camp, located very close to the National Park entrance at Sesriem, which is the gateway to the dunes at Sossusvlei.

Overnight is in twin rooms with en-suite bathroom facilities. There is a pool and bar available, and dinner is prepared by our guide over an open fire.

Accommodation: Twin share, en-suite bathroom

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 3 Saturday - Desert Camp, Sossusvlei – Desert Camp – 120 Km
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Saturday - Desert Camp, Sossusvlei – Desert Camp – 120 Km

Our aim for this morning is to enter the dune area as early as possible, requiring a pre-dawn start and a very early breakfast. Staying outside of the national park means we will enter the dune area as soon as the gate opens at sunrise.

The best time to photograph the dunes is around sunrise and sunset, when towering sand dunes are illuminated in a glowing orange and apricot red on one side, while swathed in shadow on the other. The depth of field is amazing at this time of day.

From Sesriem, we quickly cover the 60 km into the dunes and arrive at the 2x4 car park, where all 2-wheel-drive vehicles must stop. From here, we enter the ancient Tsauchab Riverbed for the last 5 km leg to Sossusvlei itself. The Tsauchab River is ephemeral, flowing seasonally when there is enough rain, and for the most part, the riverbed is dry. Eons ago, during rare floods, the Tsauchab sometimes reached the Atlantic Ocean. However, as the millennia passed and the dune fields formed around five million years ago, wind-blown sand invaded the riverbeds. The rivers became more and more constricted by sand until the occasional floods could not break through the sand barriers erected by the wind. The valley we drove along this morning to get here is kept free of sand by the Tsauchab, but Sossusvlei is now permanently a water’s end.

Sossusvlei still sometimes floods, perhaps once in a decade. After good rains in the Naukluft Mountains where the river rises, Sossusvlei can become inundated, and the lake that this creates can last for many months. However, the river can no longer find its original path to the Atlantic.

There is a 4x4 shuttle service that will transport us through the sandy terrain of the riverbed. We will visit Dead Vlei, an ancient pan completely surrounded by dunes, strikingly populated with dead, skeletal camelthorn trees, a feature on this landscape for over 1000 years. Sossusvlei is almost surrounded by dunes, with just one narrow path kept open by the Tsauchab River. We have time to explore the area on foot and to climb one of the highest dunes in the world, towering 300 m above us, with breathtaking and justly famous views.

We drive back the way we came (there is only one road), stopping at the iconic Dune 45, so named as it is 45 km from Sesriem. There is time to climb Dune 45 if you still have energy or perhaps just sit in the shade at the base of the dune.

Driving back to Sesriem, we take a short excursion to see Sesriem Canyon. Only four km from Sesriem, this canyon has been carved out of the landscape by the Tsauchab River. Around two million years ago, an ice age in Europe caused glaciers to form, resulting in a worldwide drop in sea level. This knock-on effect increased the length and water flow of the Tsauchab River at Sesriem Canyon, allowing it to cut through the terrain, resulting in the canyon we see today. We can easily walk into the riverbed; it is usually much cooler in the canyon, and we can follow the river for some way along its journey to Sossusvlei.

We head back to Desert Camp in the late afternoon.

Accommodation: Twin share, en-suite bathroom

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 4 Sunday – Desert Camp – Windhoek – 320 Km
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Sunday – Desert Camp – Windhoek – 320 Km

On our last day today, excitement is still on the menu as we head back to Solitaire, where our guide will treat us to a sample of the apple pie that has made this homestead famous.

There is some lovely mountain scenery on our drive back to Windhoek. The road climbs up onto and over Namibia’s central plateau, and we return to Windhoek via the small community at BűellsPort and the town of Rehoboth. We arrive mid-afternoon and will be dropped off at Chameleon Backpackers or the accommodation of our choice within Windhoek city limits.

Accommodation: NULL

Meals: Breakfast

4 days tour

4 Day Swakopmund & Sossusvlei Adventure Lodge Safari * Depar

This tour includes:

Not included:

Start planning your experience

Itinerary of your trip 4 Day Swakopmund & Sossusvlei Adventure Lodge Safari * Depar

Thursday – Windhoek - Hotel A La Mer, Swakopmund – 420 Km

Friday – Swakopmund - Desert Camp, Near Sesriem – 350 Km

Saturday - Desert Camp, Sossusvlei – Desert Camp – 120 Km

Sunday – Desert Camp – Windhoek – 320 Km

Experience Style

Accomodation level

Experience Type

Physical Rating

Age range

Who talk about us:

Best cities to travel to

America

Europe

Asia

Africa

Oceania