Handpicked Namibia

When someone mentions safari in Namibia, they probably have one place in mind: Etosha. At over 20,000 square kilometres, this national park is one of Africa’s great viewing reserves, a giddy mix of post-rain wetland and dry season dust.

Etosha’s magic lies in the Etosha Pan, an endless, flat, saline desert that alternates between dustbowl and lake, dependent on rainfall. And when it rains, it pours. Etosha is transformed into a lake of nearly 5,000 square kilometres, home to flocks of flamingo and all manner of life. The park holds one of the largest populations of black rhino anywhere on Earth, as well as everything else you’d expect to see on an African game drive.

Elsewhere, spot elephant, rhino, zebra and lions in the barren expanse of Damaraland, Namibia’s mountainous region, as well as thousands of ancient rock paintings on the country’s highest peak: Brandberg. Pint-sized Okonjima Nature Reserve is a wonderful place to get up close and personal with some big cats.

One of the most iconic attractions in all of the continent, the Skeleton Coast is Namibia at its wildest. So-named because of the huge number of ships that went down in its treacherous waters and the wrecks of which pepper the shoreline, the coastline itself starts immediately south of Angola, in the country’s far north.

You’ve probably seen pictures of the landscape. Sand dunes that seem to break like waves, waves that actually do break (Skeleton Bay is home to one of the world’s best surf spots), mile upon mile of beach, interrupted only by the rusting hull of a ship, the skeleton of a whale, or one of the thousands of Cape fur seals.

We can hire you a Land Rover, book you into a luxury desert camp, and get the ball rolling on one of the greatest adventures of your life.

If the Skeleton Coast is one of the only things you know about Namibia, the other is probably Sossusvlei – even if you don’t know it. That’s the name given to the massive clay and salt pan just south of the country’s centre, which is flanked by blood red dunes and peppered with the Camelthorn trees whose spindly branches provide the only source of shade you’re likely to find round here.

Sossusvlei’s sand is somewhere in the region of 3-5 million olds, washed down the river from the Kalahari, before being swept out to sea and, eventually, ending up where it remains today. Climb the dunes and marvel at the valley below. But be warned, this is a hot, inhospitable place. The mercury regularly tops 40 and anyone walking on the pan itself (those without 4WDs) will need full water bottles.

Soussusvlei is a remarkable place, a wonder of Africa that needs to be seen in the flesh – not just the Insta feed – to be believed.

In a country as sparsely populated as Namibia, its cities and towns are a far-cry from the hustle and bustle of many of its African neighbours. That’s not to say that they’re not worth a visit, though.

The country’s capital, Windhoek, is wonderful; a city of neat lines and orderly roads – a throwback to Namibia’s German past; a culture that it retains in its food and architectural style. Take a city tour that dives into that past, as well as its more recent, more African, history, before enjoying a well-earnt beer – said to be the best in Africa.

Further afield, Swakopmund, on Namibia’s wild west coast, is a charming town with an equally Germanic feel. Think classic bier-houses, German restaurants and angular architecture. Take a pit-stop here to wash away the desert sand and indulge in some of the town’s iconic oysters.