Tembo Safari, day by day

Your guide meets you at Hosea Kutako International Airport and drives you into Windhoek, about 45 km to the west through open bush and hills.

The rest of the day is yours to settle in after the flight. Windhoek is small and easy-going, and a quiet afternoon here is a good way to adjust to the dry air and the altitude before the road trip begins.

In the evening your guide runs through the route and the days ahead. It’s a good moment to talk about driving days, what you most want to see and anything you’d like to change.

You leave Windhoek in the morning and head south-west through the central highlands: farmland, camel-thorn trees and, often, kudu or oryx near the road.

Then the road drops down the escarpment and the country opens up into the Namib. Much of the way is on gravel, with stops for photos and to stretch your legs.

You arrive near the Sesriem gate in the afternoon, in time to watch the dunes turn from orange to deep red at sunset. Nights here are very quiet, and on a clear night the stars are worth staying up for.

The first morning starts early in 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. There’s time to climb a dune if you want the view.

By late morning it’s time to leave the desert. The drive north-west crosses the Tropic of Capricorn and winds through the Gaub and Kuiseb canyons before the long, open run to Swakopmund. You arrive in the late afternoon to cool sea air.

The next day has no long drive. Swakopmund is a small seaside town of palm-lined streets, German colonial buildings, a jetty and a beach promenade, and it’s easy to explore on foot.

It’s also the day to add an excursion if you’d like one: the dunes of Sandwich Harbour, where the desert meets the Atlantic, or a boat on the Walvis Bay lagoon to see seals, pelicans and flamingos. Or simply take it slowly.

A short drive inland across the gravel plains. Spitzkoppe appears long before you reach it: a cluster of granite peaks rising about 700 metres above the flat desert floor.

After settling in there’s time to explore. Walk to the natural rock arch and see the San rock paintings tucked among the boulders. Our founders spent much of their childhood around these rocks, and we know the quiet corners.

Late in the day the granite glows orange and red. Spitzkoppe is one of the best places in Namibia for sunset, and after dark the sky fills with stars.

Heading north, the road leaves the granite behind for the wide valleys and flat-topped mountains of Damaraland. It’s one of Namibia’s most open landscapes: red rock, pale grass and very few people.

Look out for welwitschia, a strange two-leaved desert plant that can live for well over a thousand years. Damaraland is also home to desert-adapted elephant, which follow the dry riverbeds. Sightings are never guaranteed, but your guide will know where they have been seen recently.

The region is rich in rock art. The engravings at Twyfelfontein, made by hunter-gatherers thousands of years ago, are a World Heritage Site. Evenings are quiet, with big skies and a real sense of distance.

The first day you drive north-east out of Damaraland, through mopane woodland and cattle country, and reach Etosha National Park in time for an afternoon game drive as the heat eases.

The second day is all wildlife. Etosha is built around a vast white salt pan, and the springs and waterholes along its edge draw animals in from the plains. You set out early, when the air is cool and animals are moving, and often wait quietly at a waterhole as elephant, zebra, giraffe, springbok and oryx come and go.

Lion and black rhino live here too, and with luck you may see leopard or cheetah. The middle of the day is hot and slow, a good time to rest, before heading out again in the late afternoon light.

The longest drive of the trip, so you leave early. The road runs east via Tsumeb and Grootfontein to Rundu on the Kavango River, which forms the border with Angola, then follows the river towards the Caprivi Strip.

The country changes completely along the way: dry bush gives way to tall woodland, villages and fields, and finally wide floodplains and riverine forest.

Divundu sits on the Kavango close to the rocky rapids of Popa Falls. After a long day, an evening by the river, with hippo calling in the dark, is a good reward.

East through Bwabwata National Park, where the main road crosses wildlife country and elephant are often seen near the road. We know this region well from years of guiding in the Caprivi.

At Katima Mulilo you leave Namibia and cross into Zambia, then follow the Zambezi towards Livingstone. Border formalities take time; we handle the vehicle paperwork and permits.

Livingstone is a lively town a short drive from Victoria Falls, where the Zambezi drops into a gorge more than a kilometre and a half wide. Paths opposite the main falls lead through the rainforest the spray keeps green. Your quotation sets out how your time here is spent.

A short drive west to Kazungula, where a bridge across the Zambezi takes you into Botswana, close to the point where Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia almost meet.

Kasane is the gateway to Chobe National Park, known for one of the largest elephant populations in Africa.

In the afternoon you head out on the Chobe River. From the water you watch elephant herds come down to drink and swim, alongside hippo, crocodile, buffalo and a remarkable variety of birds.

Another long drive, south through northern Botswana’s bush to Nata, then west along the edge of the Makgadikgadi salt pans to Maun. Elephant cross this road often, so the pace is steady and careful.

Maun sits on the Thamalakane River at the south-eastern edge of the Okavango Delta, where the Okavango River spreads into a maze of channels, lagoons and islands in the Kalahari sand.

The second day is a full day here, with no driving: time to rest after the long road and to see the Delta.

West out of Maun and across the Kalahari through Ghanzi on the long, straight Trans-Kalahari road. The country is flat and open: red sand, thorn scrub and very big skies.

You overnight at Ekori Lodge near the Mamuno border post, ready for an easy crossing back into Namibia in the morning.

Cross back into Namibia at Mamuno, then drive west through Gobabis and cattle country, climbing gently back up to Windhoek.

You arrive in Windhoek in the afternoon with a last night in the city, so there’s no rush to the airport after a long road trip. It’s a good evening to look back over sixteen days and four countries.

A relaxed final morning. Your guide drives you the 45 km out to Hosea Kutako International Airport in time for your flight home.

Tell us your flight time when planning and we’ll arrange the transfer around it.