Namibia Fact File

Getting there

Air Namibia has direct flights from London to Windhoek twice a week so you can be gazing in blazing sunshine at 800 feet high apricot coloured dunes as you make your selection from the rather fine buffet lunch at your luxurious safari camp.  Windhoek is also a couple of hours from Johannesburg and Cape Town.   Travel between locations is either by small plane or you may prefer an overland safari with your own private guide.

Seasons

What little rain falls in Namibia does so in January and February, but in some parts, like the Skeleton Coast it never rains. So Namibia is good at all times of year.  Although you would expect Namibia to be really hot, it is quite bearable partly because of the cool onshore breeze, and because the temperatures drop sharply when the sun goes down.  Most of the vehicles are air-conditioned.

Is Namibia for you?

While Namibia has good numbers of animals in Etosha you go there principally for the spectacular and immensely varied desert scenery, and for desert adapted wildlife and vegetation. No other desert in the world has a “Skeleton Coast” with giant seal colonies and littered with huge whalebones and shipwreck planking.  In no other desert do you find families of elephant wandering the mountains and valleys living on apparently nothing.   You can see Namibia either by flying from one luxurious camp to another which enables you to drop in to a series of beautifully different settings.  Or you can go the overland route in a fully equipped private vehicle with your own private guide which is slower, takes longer yet gives you a fuller appreciation of country.  We do not recommend self drive as you miss so much without a guide, you can easily leave the road (involuntarily) and there is no RAC if you break down.

We suggest Namibia is not for children or for those seeking a wildlife focussed holiday.

Combining Namibia

Nowhere combines more spectacularly with Namibia than the watery Okavango Delta in neighbouring Botswana which can give you the animal component of your holiday.  Cape Town is a couple of hour’s away opening up possibilities of combining with South Africa.   The Skeleton Coast is only attractive as a beach destination if you’re a seal, so for your Indian Ocean islands you need an overnight stay in Johannesburg before continuing the following morning.