Safari in Namibia

epic desert scenery and intimate wildlife viewing

Set in the southwest corner of Africa, Namibia is a fabulously diverse and fascinating country which offers a remarkable range of desert scenery, wildlife and culture.

Remarkably Namibia has the third lowest population density of all the countries in the world (behind Greenland and Mongolia). It’s a truly special and largely empty place.

We are always amazed at how few people choose to travel here, especially given how safe, healthy and cost effective it can be.

The naturally lower wildlife densities in Namibia mean that it is perhaps best suited to more experienced safari travellers or people who are inherently less animal-focused.

Namibia is one of the few countries in Africa which is suitable for self-drive, which can make longer trips unusually cost effective. It can be almost an order of magnitude cheaper than safari in Botswana.

But if you really want to access the most remote and spectacular parts of the country (most of which lie in the northwest corner) then you need to undertake either a flying safari or a guided overland expedition, both of which are rather more expensive.

The best time to visit Namibia is generally considered to be the unusually long Apr-Dec dry season.

The further east you go, the more variable the conditions, with reserves like Mudumu and Mamili having a shorter May-Oct season.

The further west, the longer the season, where locations including Sossusvlei, Twyfelfontein, Damaraland North and Skeleton Coast North can all be visited year round.

Getting around

There are three main ways to get around Namibia …

Self-drive

The first option is to self-drive, which is reasonably safe and easy to do. The upside is that it is by far the lowest cost way to get around. The downside is that, for safety reasons, you are obliged to stick to a relatively limited network of main roads locations.

Flying safari

The second option is to travel around by light aircraft. This is both a great deal easier and enables you to access some wonderfully remote locations. The downside is that it’s much more expensive, as much as three times the price of self-drive.

Guided overland expedition

The third option is guided overland safari, which enables you to really explore the truly wild and wonderful parts of the country. The downsides are that this can be quite an arduous way to travel and can become quite costly.

Combinations

Many of the very best trips to Namibia combine two or three of these ways of travelling around.

Where to stay

Namibia contains a very wide range of accommodation, from simple, lower cost roadside lodges to fabulous, high-end camps in very remote locations.

However there remains a great shortfall of accommodation in many areas, which means that it is very important to book well in advance to secure rooms at the better lodges, probably more so than anywhere else in Africa.

Ironically, due to the gross inadequacies of the booking systems in the country, rooms often become available again a few weeks beforehand, which provides the opportunity to put together last minute trips, so long as flights are still available.

We can walk you through all these pitfalls, all you need to do for now is maybe find a few places you might want to visit.

unusually suited to self-drive safari