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EcoVitality |
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Day-by-Day Itinerary
"The trip was
fabulous. It totally exceeded my childhood fantasy of Africa and
its wildlife." Join the only scheduled safaris to enter the Khaudom Game Park, nearly a million acres visited by only a few hundred people every year. The Namibian government will not allow any safari group to enter the Khaudom unless it is equipped with at least two 4X4 vehicles. The Khaudom is one of Africa's last true wilderness areas and one of the few remaining places where you can see what the African bush was like 100 years ago.
We spend several days in world-famous
Etosha National Park, Africa's largest wildlife park with an amazing
number and diversity of animals. The wildlife here are used to
vehicles and this acclimation enables our guests to take many close-up
photographs. Our safaris are among the few tour groups authorized to visit
the restricted western-half of Etosha Park for more incredible animal
viewing in drier but still fertile wildlife habitats.
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Day 1. Friday: Depart on your African eco-safari adventure. Travel from the US to Namibia requires one overnight air flight and an overnight stay in South Africa before connecting to your morning flight to Namibia. The overnight hotel stay in Johannesburg is included in the price, but the international airfares are not. Day 2. Saturday: Arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa, and rejuvenate overnight at the International Airport Holiday Inn Hotel. The Holiday Inn is on the airport grounds, a 3-minute courtesy van ride away from the terminal. Dinner at the Holiday Inn and breakfast the next morning are included in the tour price.Day 3. Sunday: After spending a relaxing evening in Joburg, board an early morning flight to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, where you will be met by your tour guides. Your safari begins by driving north toward the Khaudom Park wilderness area. Throughout the day you'll be introduced to Namibian animals and vistas, and you'll arrive to a warm welcome in the late afternoon at the Khorab Safari Lodge.Day 4. Monday: Continue Northeast to Sikareti camp in the Khaudom Game Park. You'll begin honing wildlife spotting skills and learning about Namibian animals, foliage and cultures along the way. Camp overnight in Khaudom Park, which is especially well-known for elephant sightings! The southern night sky, with the Milky Way galaxy and Southern Cross constellation, is an awesome sight and it is especially vibrant because there are no electric lights anywhere near the Khaudom wilderness.
Day 5. Tuesday: Explore the southern and western areas of the Khaudom Game Park, visiting waterholes where animals often congregate during the dry Namibian winter months. Overnight at Sikareti Camp.Day 6. Wednesday: More wildlife viewing in the central and northern areas of the Khaudom wilderness – You might see Dik-Dik, Africa's smallest antelopes, Kori Bustards, Africa's largest flying birds, and possibly a lion near a waterhole or a leopard resting in a tree. And there is always a good chance of seeing more elephants. Overnight at Sikareti Camp.Day 7. Thursday: Enjoy a final Khaudom game drive before breaking camp and heading south to the Tsumkwe Lodge just outside Tsumkwe, the only town in the Bushmanland region. Enjoy after-dinner star-gazing around the campfire, sharing tales from your Khaudom experience with fellow travelers.Day 8. Friday: Visit an authentic village of southern Africa's original inhabitants, the Ju/'hoan (Bushman or !Kung San) people. This village on the fringes of the Nyae Nyae Conservancy was recently described in National Geographic magazine as the most authentic remaining Ju/'hoan community anywhere in Africa. Our safari group will be accompanied by an expert interpreter, but you won’t need help translating the warm welcome and wonderful smiles of the Ju/'hoan people. The Ju/'hoansi are considered the best wildlife trackers in southern Africa. You will be treated to demonstrations of traditional game-tracking skills and food-gathering techniques, then you'll return to the village to view traditional dances and handicrafts. You can purchase unique handicrafts from the village as souvenirs of your day with the Bushman and as a way of helping them maintain their traditional artistic skills.
Day 9. Saturday: View zebra, giraffes, elephants and exotic birds as you drive east to Namutoni Camp in the spectacular Etosha National Park. Etosha is world famous because of the vast number of animals and consistency of wildlife sightings. You can see the stunning African sunset and get a birds-eye view of wildlife in around the Camp from the tower roof of Namutoni’s German fort. Overnight in the Namutoni Camp bungalows.Day 10. Sunday: While exploring the waterholes and gravel roads of eastern Etosha Park, you'll have a chance to view, photograph, and learn about many wildlife species as you travel toward Okaukuejo Camp in central Etosha. Be sure to pause at the edge of vast Etosha Pan, where you can hear the winds blow over the seemingly limitless parched, salt-white, flat-as-a-pancake earth. Overnight at the Okaukuejo Camp bungalows, where the Camp's waterhole is justifiably world-famous for nighttime sightings of elephants, black rhinos, and jackals. Day 11. Monday: The vicinity of Okaukeujo camp is among the greatest wildlife venues in all of Africa. Many of the best wildlife photos in our Namibian PHOTO GALLERY were taken on game drives in the central region of Etosha Park. Day 12. Tuesday: View eland, rhinos, and often lions while driving through the drier, restricted western-half of Etosha National Park, which only a few registered Namibian safari guides are authorized to visit. You're on the way to visit the Kavita Lion Lodge, a private game reserve that is also a sanctuary for lions unable to survive in the wild. Kavita is the home of the Afri-Leo Foundation, the non-profit Namibian partner of EcoVitality in running predator conservation programs. The Kavita Lion Lodge staff will take our clients on a game drive around their large property and will introduce you to the several resident lions the Afri-Leo Foundation is protecting. They plan to increase the scope and size of their lion sanctuary with EcoVitality's assistance.
Day 13. Wednesday: You'll drive southeast to Okonjima, an exceptional luxury resort and predator rehabilitation center. Okonjima also serves as a sanctuary for cheetahs and lions that cannot safely be returned to the wild, and the resort is the home base for the AfriCat Foundation of Namibia. Close-up sightings of resident cheetahs and lions will provide you with excellent wildlife photography options, and there is also a good chance to see leopards. Hiking trails, spectacular sunsets, and nocturnal wildlife viewing from nighttime hides add to the adventures you will experience while visiting at Okonjima. Overnight in luxurious Okonjima cabanas. Day 14. Thursday: Enjoy more Okonjima activities, including game walks in the cheetah enclosure and possible leopard sightings at an enclosed feeding ground. You’ll also have an opportunity to learn about all of the conservation efforts this unique big cat rehabilitation center and sanctuary offers from their resident experts. Overnight again at Okonjima Resort. Day 15. Friday: After the morning activities at Okonjima, you will head for Windhoek and the fabulous Heinitzburg Castle Hotel. Along the way you will stop at handicraft and gem markets where you can buy a wide range of distinctive Namibian and African products for yourself or as gifts for relatives and friends. Overnight at the Heinitzburg Castle Hotel, the best in Namibia, and eat dinner at Leo's at the Castle, the highest-rated restaurant in the country. Day 16. Saturday: After breakfast at the Castle, you'll take a short tour of Windhoek and then will have time to shop in the capital's finest handicraft and gem stores. You'll eat a picnic lunch on the road to the airport and will catch your afternoon flight to Johannesburg before the evening flight back to New York or Atlanta. |
Ø Be one of the few to experience the Khaudom Game Park wilderness
Ø Get
acquainted with the Bushman (!Kung San) people while visiting one Ø Explore world-famous Etosha National Park, Africa’s largest wildlife park Ø Travel with one of the few safari groups granted access to the restricted western half of Etosha Park Ø Visit Okonjima, a luxury resort and rehabilitation center for predators, and also the home of the AfriCat Foundation
Ø Visit
Kavita Lion Lodge, a luxury resort, sanctuary for lions that cannot
survive in the wild, and
OUR GUIDES
Our tour leader and
head guide, "Hobby" Kreiner, has BSc and MSc degrees in agriculture
and animal husbandry. He taught courses in nature conservation and
development, wildlife management, and also animal studies until 1995 at the Technikon and
the Polytechnic Colleges of Namibia and he was a founder of the Environmental
Society of the University of Namibia. Many current officials in
the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism are former students of
his. In 1996, Hobby took over management of his father's game ranch near Etosha National Park, and since then he has become one of Namibia's
leading professional tour guides. He is a Director of the Afri-Leo Foundation, our Namibian conservation partner.
Rodger Murangi has served as a tour guide
in Namibia for several years after completing his education in Capetown.
He is a truly outstanding wildlife spotter and has a great many
fascinating stories to tell about his Herero tribal culture and other
aspects of rural and city life for black Africans. When not leading
or guiding safaris, he manages a farm owned by his grandfather in the Hereroland province.
"For a novice like
me, the tour was a wonderful introduction to African wildlife. The
guides were terrific. I loved the challenge of spotting animals in the
wild."
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