Safari Adventurer, day by day

The first day is the desert journey: south-west from Windhoek through the central highlands, then down the escarpment into the Namib, arriving near the Sesriem gate in time for sunset over the dunes.

The second day is a full day for the dunes. You enter the park at first light, when long shadows fall across the red sand, and walk about a kilometre to Deadvlei, a white clay pan of dead camel-thorn trees hundreds of years old. If you want to climb a dune, the views from the top are huge.

With two nights here there’s no rush to leave. The afternoon is free to rest through the heat, and the evening is quiet, with some of the darkest skies you’ll ever see.

From the dunes you drive north-west, across the Tropic of Capricorn and through the Gaub and Kuiseb canyons, to the Swakop River area. Here you climb on the rock of the river valley, a very different setting from the granite to come.

Then it’s a short hop to the coast at Swakopmund, a small seaside town of palm-lined streets, German colonial buildings, a jetty and a beach promenade. After the desert, the cool sea air is a welcome change.

The coast days include a dedicated Sandwich Harbour 4x4 excursion south of Walvis Bay, where tall dunes run straight into the Atlantic and the drive follows the beach between the sand and the surf.

The rest of your time on the coast is yours: a walk along the beach, the Walvis Bay lagoon with its pelicans and flamingos, or a slow lunch in town.

A short drive inland across the gravel plains brings you to Spitzkoppe, its peaks rising about 700 metres above the desert floor. The first afternoon is for settling in, a walk to the rock arch and sunset on the granite.

The next day is a full climbing day. Routes are selected according to your experience and the conditions: friendly single-pitch slabs, easy multi-pitch, or longer advanced multi-pitch lines.

You climb in the cool of the morning, rest in the shade through the hottest hours, and often return to the rock later. This is the rock our guides grew up on, and they know its quiet corners.

North from Spitzkoppe into Damaraland: wide valleys, red table-top mountains and very few people. Look out for welwitschia plants, and for desert-adapted elephant in the dry riverbeds, though sightings are never guaranteed.

Then on to Etosha National Park, arriving in time for an afternoon game drive as animals move to the water.

A full safari day follows. Etosha is built around a vast white salt pan, and the waterholes along its edge draw elephant, zebra, giraffe, springbok and oryx. Lion and black rhino live here too. You head out early, rest through the heat, and go out again in the late afternoon light.

South from Etosha to Omandumba in the Erongo mountains, about four hours. The Erongo are the remains of an ancient volcano, now a landscape of rounded granite boulders and domes.

Here you climb or hike among the boulders, depending on what you’d like after nearly two weeks on the road.

The last leg is back to Windhoek, about three hours, completing the loop. If you are flying out at the end, tell us your flight time when planning and we’ll shape the day around it.