Namibia Self Drive Tour, Deserts and Canyons

Twelve nights in a loop from Windhoek, self-guided and tailor-made, through the deserts and canyons of Namibia, away from the standard circuit.

The operator pitches this as the off-the-beaten-track version, and the accommodation choices carry most of the argument: these are lodges with conservation work attached rather than places that simply sit near a park gate.

The Olive Grove in Windhoek opens it, then Okonjima Plains Camp in its own reserve, home to the AfriCat Foundation, which rehabilitates predators and runs research on leopard and on pangolin, the most trafficked and least understood mammal in the world. Etosha follows, where the game gathers at the waterholes round the salt pan. Grootberg Lodge comes next in Damaraland, owned by the Khoadi-Hoas conservancy and run by it, and partnered with the Namibian Lion Trust’s Predator Fund, which compensates farmers for livestock losses and is one of the few mechanisms that makes lions worth more alive than dead to the people living alongside them. No day-by-day itinerary is published, since the trip is built to order.

Breakfast at the Olive Grove, half board at the other lodges, the Windhoek transfers, the car rental and the specified activities are included; flights, park entrance fees and other activities are not, so the park fees are worth adding to the budget rather than discovering at the gate. The price shown is per person excluding flights. The dry season from May to October is the window, when the game comes to the water and the gravel roads are at their best. No wildlife sighting can be promised, which on a self-drive trip is worth saying twice. Thirteen days is the right length for the distances involved here.