I’ve booked the Namibian campsites and we have a route planned. Our Namibian route is going to be a little more harried and a lot more planned than other countries as we have a deadline: to meet our friends, the Lloyds, in Maun, Botswana on December 30 for New Years and a few weeks of camping and travelling together through Botswana and southern Zambia. The Lloyds are leaving Still Bay in the Western Cape after Christmas and heading straight to Maun to meet us.
Our general philosophy on the trip is not to plan too much but Namibia is planned to the day to ensure that we get to Maun vaguely on time. The rest of the trip we’ll probably just move from local recommendation to local recommendation rather than pre-booking things.
Keep in mind that we are Chris and Fiona, and that any plans we make are subject to the chaos that is our very existence. If you know us at all, you’ll know that we are bound to be late for most things and that we view time flexibility as a virtue.
We are starting in the morning of December 15th and heading to Springbok, Northern Cape where we will overnight before heading up through the Namibian border. We will then camp for two nights in the Ai-Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park where we will see Fish River Canyon and the Orange River. From there we’ll head to Aus for a night and drive to Luderitz and the ghost town of Kolmanskop. From there, we’ll head up gravel tracks to Duwiswib Castle for a night, then on to Sesriem/Sossusvlei – where we will head into the dunes of the Namib desert. Then we will drive to Swakopmond and explore the Skeleton Coast for two days before heading to Otjiwarongo to see the world’s largest concentration of cheetahs. Then off to Etosha National Park for 5 nights of safari camping and what promises to be a rather unique Christmas (do they sell boil-in-a-bag turkey?). Then one night in Bopa Falls (near the Caprivi Strip)… and then, deep breath, an 8 hour drive across the border and down to Maun, Botswana.
We are staying in established campsites throughout Namibia (no side of the road stuff) and mostly with the Namibia Wildlife Resorts (the national parks) – “resort” is overstating where we will be accommodated. For 6 nights we will be in camps with no electricity, but non-potable water at least (for showers). The remaining nights will be pretty luxurious camping: electricity, drinking water, showers, swimming pools and restaurants if we cave in.
The distances in Namibia are pretty big. We will be covering more than 3,800 kms – more than 22 hours of point-to-point driving on many crappy roads and sand tracks, plus whatever driving we do around the places we arrive at (which will be considerable in Etosha).