In the early parts of the year some areas of Namibia receive sparse rainfall and become particularly stark and beautiful. The haunting Skeleton Coast stretches along the Atlantic Ocean, once littered with whale bones. Land is dry but not barren, supporting plants, insects, and birds. Inland are the dramatic deserts of Damaraland home to desert-adapted rhino and elephant, neither of which the least bit concerned by the shortage of water.
Namibia is at its most beautiful as the arrival of the rains brings the landscape to life. Vegetation flourishes and animals once again can feast. Take the chance to see as much of the country as possible whilst it’s in this glorious state. Consider overlanding for two weeks across Sossussvlei, Swakopmund, and Etosha. If you’ve an appetite for hiking, the walking trails of Damaraland are equally sublime.
Namibia is starting to become dry once again, but this means game viewing conditions are excellent. Head for Etosha as herds of elephant, zebra, and giraffe concentrate around increasingly sparse waterholes. In Damaraland see desert elephant and rhino that have adapted to their dry environment. We recommend this time of year for exploring Fish River Canyon: Namibia’s winter is cool enough to make hiking in the canyon a pleasurable experience.
Summer is well on its way and parts of the country heat up. The Skeleton Coast is an exception, however, as the weather barely changes year round. Hot-air balloon rides give a whole new perspective on the area. Combine a flight over this rugged landscape with superb game viewing in the wildlife conservancies. Zebra, elephant, oryx, and wildebeest are present in great numbers and spotting cheetah is likely too.
Namibia’s Himba people have walked the sands of northern Namibia for at least 6,000 years. We know this as their rock art at Twyfelfontein attests to their presence, their creativity, and their desire to make their mark on the landscape. The Himba are pastoralists, hunter gatherers, and one of the last nomadic populations in west Africa. To witness their culture and share in their way of life is inspiring.
Etosha stretches across northwestern Namibia, centring on the Etosha National Park but including a number of superb private reserves. It’s in this diverse landscape, which varies from salt pans to grasslands and dolomite hills, that you can have the richest safari experience in Namibia, spotting significant numbers of African elephant, Angolan giraffe, Southwest African lion, and leopard. White rhino have been reintroduced, and black rhino numbers are steady.
Namibia’s is a landscape made for walking. Yes, there are great expanses of desert, but even that is never empty, never dull. The world’s highest sand dunes give way to salt pans, and then to dry mountain vistas. Along the western shore, the blue of the Atlantic Ocean meet the fine golden coloured sand of the Skeleton Coast. On foot you are able to appreciate even the subtlest changes in nature’s colour scheme, in the undulation of the terrain, and to feel the breezes on your face. It’s also one of the best ways to appreciate the plants and wildlife; without the noise of an engine, you can often get remarkably close.
For 30 years the Schoeman family has been synonymous with Namibia's Skeleton Coast. First Louw Schoeman and subsequently his sons Bertus and Andre have personally flown their guests on exciting four day small plane safaris from Windhoek along the Skeleton Coast to the Kunene River on the Angolan border.
Deserts are rarely empty: you just need to know what you’re looking for. In Namibia’s Kalahari and Namib Deserts, the landscapes change from salt pans to soaring dunes. Desert adapted mammals include the Kalahari lion, meerkat, gemsbok, baboon, and oryx. Here too you’ll meet San bushmen, some still living in traditional ways. Listen to them speak and they will share with you their age-old wisdom of the desert.
The term 'awe inspiring' is overused. But when you step off a charter flight in Namibia, arriving at a remote airstrip in the desert, we expect that it will take your breath away. Part of it is the scale and the beauty of the landscape, and the sense that you are so far from civilisation, but it is also the sudden, often unexpected realisation of how tiny you are in the world.
Nothing prepares you for the experience of standing on the Skeleton Coast. Atlantic breakers foaming with plankton crash against the shore. Sometimes it’s shrouded in fog. This has caused countless shipwrecks, but in a place where it never rains the condensing water droplets sustain fragile plants and creatures. The shoreline is littered with planking, whalebones and massive seal colonies surrounded by jackals.
Our Senior Safari Designer, Ross Cambray, recently returned from the wilds of Namibia.
Contact him today to find out what it feels like to walk across the iconic, red sand dunes of Sossusvlei, where he recommends staying and why he describes the Skeleton Coast as ‘somewhere that can only be experienced and not explained’.
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