Captivated by Namibia

Eleven nights from Windhoek to Etosha, privately guided, with one guide and one vehicle to the party alone.

A private guide changes a Namibian trip more than it changes most. The distances are long, the gravel roads demand attention, and having someone else drive while explaining what is out of the window is worth a great deal on a route like this.

No day-by-day itinerary was available, so the detail is worth settling at booking, but the Windhoek to Etosha axis takes in the classic ground. Windhoek sits on the central plateau, and the road north and west leads into Damaraland, where the rock engravings at Twyfelfontein are world heritage listed and desert-adapted elephants move along the dry riverbeds. The Skeleton Coast lies beyond it, where the cold Benguela current keeps the shore in fog and the wrecks are still where they ran aground. Etosha closes it: a salt pan large enough to be seen from space, with the game concentrating round the waterholes on its edge through the dry season, which is as reliable as African game viewing gets.

The price shown is per person sharing in Namibian dollars, as the operator quotes it. The dry season from May to October is the window, when the game comes to the water and the gravel is at its best. No wildlife sighting can be promised, however good the odds at Etosha. Twelve days is the right length for the distances involved, and a private guide and vehicle for the whole trip makes this a considerably more comfortable proposition than driving it yourself.