Africa Adventure Holidays - Namibia & Botswana Family Adventure Southbound

Days 1-2: Victoria Falls

Experience the sheer wonder of Victoria Falls. There are plenty of optional activities on offer at the falls so jump in a canoe, go whitewater rafting or even take a flight to see the Falls from the air.

Mhoro! Welcome to Zimbabwe.

Your adventure begins with a welcome meeting at 10am on Day 1.

You can arrive at any time as there are no activities planned until this important meeting; please ask the hotel reception where it will take place. If you can't arrange a flight that will arrive in time, you may wish to arrive a day early so you're able to attend. We'll be happy to book additional accommodation for you (subject to availability). If you're going to be late, please inform the hotel reception. We'll be collecting your insurance details and next of kin information at this meeting so please ensure you have all these details to provide to your leader.

For those of you who arrive early, there are various activities and excursions available - either on the water, on land or high above it all. Choose from whitewater rafting, canoeing, horse riding, abseiling or gorge swinging (please see the 'Optional Activities' section of these notes for more details on what you can see and do around Victoria Falls).

Visit the magnificent Victoria Falls.

The Victoria Falls are an enormous curtain of water, about a mile wide, falling 108 m into a narrow gorge below. In the wet season, the spray created can rise up an incredible 400 m and the falls are an impressive raging torrent. The spray from the falls can sometimes be seen from kilometres away. It's no wonder that the local name Mosi oa Tunya means the 'smoke that thunders'. In the dry season, the view of the falls is unobstructed by spray and it's possible to see little islets in the river below.

Our campground is centrally located in the town of Victoria Falls, the perfect place to use as a base for the vast array of activities on offer in the area. Upgraded accommodation is available, please ask at reception.

Included in tour activity:
Visit Victoria Falls

Optional activities:
Bungee jumping, Victoria Falls - USD120.00
Gorge swing, Victoria Falls - USD70.00
Helicopter flight (15 mins), Victoria Falls - USD130.00
Helicopter flight (25 mins), Victoria Falls - USD260.00
Horseback safari, Victoria Falls - USD75.00
Rafting & river boarding combo (half day), Victoria Falls - USD155.00
Sunset cruise Zambezi river, Vic Falls - USD40.00
Whitewater rafting (full day), Victoria Falls - USD125.00
Whitewater rafting (half day), Victoria Falls - USD110.00

Day 3: Chobe National Park

See the mesmerising Makgadikgadi Pans stretch endlessly across the horizon. Spot elephants in an open-jeep safari through the Chobe National Park. Cruise along the Chobe River and catch a glimpse of fish eagles swooping for prey.

Travel to Chobe National Park in Botswana (100 km, approx 3 hrs).

Botswana's first national park, Chobe, is perhaps best known for its high concentration of elephants, which can often be seen swimming in the Chobe River. The river also attracts wallowing hippos, a variety of birdlife, crocodiles sunning themselves by the water's edge, and cheetahs and lions which come down to drink.

During our visit to the park, we remain in the north near the Chobe River and take a boat trip along the river to see how many animals we can spot. If you would prefer, you can substitute an open-top jeep safari for the boat trip. Both the boat and jeep trips provide ample opportunity to take stunning wildlife photographs and have intimate experiences without disturbing the fauna.

Included in tour activity:
Wildlife boat safari on Chobe River

Days 4-7: Okavango Delta

Accompanied by local guides, jump aboard a mokoro - a dugout canoe - to explore the Okavango Delta's reed beds and streams filled with birdlife, hyenas, antelope and hippos. Stay on a remote island and drift off to sleep amid the sounds of the bush.

Today we depart Chobe, and have a long driving day of approximately 7 hours, covering 432 km. In the late afternoon we reach our campsite at Ngepi, a stunning campsite on the Okavango River.

Formed by the Okavango River as it flows from the highlands of Angola down to a basin on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, the Okavango Delta is unlike anything else in the world. The river has no outlet from the desert and spreads out into thousands of small streams to form a wilderness that is totally unspoilt. The 16,000 sq km maze of wetlands is a wonderland of clear meandering waterways, green islands, lush plains and prolific wildlife. The delta is filled with a diversity of flora and fauna that includes hippos, crocodiles, elephants and the big cats. However, it's not for the game that we come as it can't always be found. The delta is about exploring one of the world's most fascinating ecosystems.

Stay at the Ngepi Camp, which is situated in the unspoiled upper reaches of the Okavango Panhandle on Namibia's Caprivi Strip. With clean Kalahari desert air, the camp is set on an island under amazing trees with river frontage and surrounded by seasonally flooded swamps. The area is a paradise of flooded plains and swamps, teeming with wildlife, and nestled between Mahango National Park and Bwabwata National Park. Ngepi is an absolutely stunning and quirky campsite, worth visiting just to use the ablutions. With 'thrones' open to the river, tin baths under the African skies, en suite tree-houses on the river, a great bar and bags of atmosphere, this is a place to spend some time chilling at. There's tons to see and do, such as swimming in the unique 'floating swimming' pool in the river, mokoro safaris, boat cruises, fishing or bird/village walks. If you have time, we'll try to get a soccer match going with the local Ngepi All Stars. There is a small payment for this direct to the football team. The camp was started 18 years ago to entice the nature and wilderness lover. If you want to upgrade from a tent, try out a tree house or a bush hut.

Head south along the Panhandle (the narrowest part of the delta that starts at Ngepi and stretches south until the Delta fans out into the vast swamps of the south). From Ngepi, we drive south into Botswana to Sepupa, where we leave our vehicle and board boats out into the swamps. Transfer by boat to Mokoba Island where we'll meet our mokoro team. We'll board these small dugout-style canoes and be poled out into the reed beds of the delta. Each canoe takes two people and is poled through the meandering waterways by a local tribesman. Reeds and lily pads line the streams, and birds startled by the mokoros rise out of the long grasses. Punting along, the peace may be shattered by the deep grunting of hippos.

You'll be in the middle of a wilderness area but we'll stay in a permanent camp complete with a bar and facilities. All food will be provided by our local hosts and on the first night out you will camp out on an island away from civilisation. The next day after a morning briefing we step out and explore the island on foot followed by another mokoro trip to a different island for more game walks, lunch and then mokoro back to camp. We stay overnight on the island. The next day, head back up the Panhandle to Namibia and stay overnight in Rundu.

For those wanting more adventure, there's an opportunity to fly over the delta in a small plane for a bird's-eye view - a great way to appreciate the immensity of this watery world.

Included in tour activity:
Mokoro trips & bushwalks

Optional Activity:
Scenic flight, Okavango Delta - USD385.00

Days 8-9: Grootfontein

Spend a day tracking and gathering with the San Bushmen. Learn about their culture and way of life during an overnight stay in Grootfontein.

Travel to Grootfontein and spend the night near a Bushmen homestead (400 km, approx 6 hrs).

Grootfontein is a pleasant market town with limestone buildings and tree-lined streets.

Visit a local San Bushmen community. This gives us the opportunity to go out tracking and gathering with the Bushmen and listen to the stories and songs of these fascinating people. The Bushmen are the oldest ethnic group in Namibia having inhabited Southern Africa for an estimated 20,000 years. Around 30,000 Bushmen live in Namibia, but only 2,000 of them still follow a traditional way of life. The Bushmen have a deep understanding of nature and the ecology, living in harmony with their environment.

Taking part in their everyday lives, you can help the men track animals and watch the women gather and prepare seeds and plants.

Included in tour activity:
Bush walk with Namibian Bushmen

Days 10-11: Etosha National Park

Embark on game drive through the salt pan of the Etosha National Park. Look for black rhinos, springbok, zebras, giraffes and more.

Travel to Etosha National Park (290km, approx 6 hrs).

Etosha National Park is home to a wide range of Southern Africa's wildlife, including all the big carnivores and five rare or endangered species: black rhino, Hartmann's mountain zebra, black-faced impala, roan antelope and the tiny Damara dik-dik. The wildlife is prolific and Etosha has every right to proclaim itself as one of the world's pre-eminent wildlife areas. Game viewing in the park is relatively easy due to the man-made waterholes and the large sparsely vegetated pans. The bushland surrounding the pans is difficult to see through but there are enough clearings, pans and waterholes to usually allow for some sightings. Namibia has protected its game reserves against poaching so there are large herds of elephants, antelope and other herbivores.

The following day we'll have a full day of game spotting, before returning to camp.

Included in tour activity:
Game drives

Day 12: Palmwag Desert Oasis

Search for the elusive Desert Elephant before setting up camp in the Palmwag Desert Oasis.

Travel to Palmwag Desert Oasis (370 km, approx 6 hrs).

The Palmwag area is home to the desert elephant. Travelling through this area you will have the opportunity to search for this elusive creature.

Set up camp in the oasis tonight.

Days 13-14: Spitzkoppe

Rising dramatically above the arid desert floor, the isolated granite outcrop at Spitzkoppe is an incredible sight.

Travel to Spitzkoppe (360 km, approx 5-6 hrs). Visit one of the most stunning areas of Namibia, the wild lands around the mountain of Spitzkoppe - 'the Matterhorn of Namibia'. The mountain, which is 700 million years old, is 1987 metres (5857 ft) high. Although you shouldn't attempt climbing to the top, there are some excellent hikes and guided walks throughout the area, rich in plant life and with some amazing bush paintings. This is a place to get away from it all and to appreciate the stunning harsh beauty of this sparsely populated country.

Bush camp in the midst of this remote region and witness the landscapes take on remarkable oranges and reds during the breathtaking sunsets and sunrises (for those who can manage to get up at 5.30am).

Optional activity:
Walk to bush paintings, Spitzkoppe Nature Reserve - ZAR30.00

Days 15-16: Swakopmund

Travel to Swakopmund and soak up stunning desert vistas and eerie silence before paying a visit to the seals.

Continue on to the town of Swakopmund (320 km, approx 5-6 hrs).

Stop en route to visit the amazing Cape Cross seal colony. As the Portuguese explorer Bartholemeu Diaz discovered 500 years before us, the cape is a breeding ground for Cape fur seals - it's now home to about 200,000 of them. Hyena and jackals wait on the edges of the colony for opportunities to steal pups while their mothers are at sea. It's important to bear in mind that while this is incredible and one of the 'must-sees' of the trip, it's quite a raw experience, very smelly and not everyone's cup of tea, so please don't go expecting idyllic scenes of seals basking on the shore!

Surrounded by the massive dune fields of the Namib Desert on three sides, and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, Swakopmund is an example of the extraordinary German culture that's found in all major settlements in Namibia. It's worth wandering around the town to admire the beauty of the Germanic architecture and take advantage of some excellent souvenir shopping.

Swakopmund has become the adventure capital of the region. This is a place for the adrenaline junky as there are some excellent adventure activities that you could try. Some of the most popular include sandboarding, quad biking across the beautiful dunes and tandem skydiving over the desert. Other activities here include deep-sea fishing, horse riding in the dunes, aerobatic flights, bike riding, dolphin cruises, paintball, uranium mine tours, pleasure flights around Namibia or balloon flights along the Skeleton Coast.

Our time here is free for you to explore the area, go to the beach, shop or participate in some of Swakopmund's adrenaline activities. For these nights we stay in permanent A frame dwellings in a bungalow setting.

Included in tour activity:
Visit to Cape Cross seal colony

Optional activities:
Fishing trip, Swakopmund - USD115.00
Horse riding, Swakopmund - USD65.00
Balloon flight (on request only), Swakopmund - USD344.00
Quad biking (2 hrs), Swakopmund - USD80.00
Sandboarding, Swakopmund - USD80.00
Seal and dolphin cruise, Swakopmund - USD60.00
Tandem skydive, Swakopmund - USD270.00

Day 17: Sesriem, Sossusvlei

Climb to the top of the world's highest dunes to survey a vast, sandy sea.

It's an all-day drive from Swakopmund to Sesriem, our base for exploring the incredible Namib Desert region (350 km, approx 6-7 hrs).

The most famous part of the Namib Desert is its vast dune fields, the most spectacular of which are found near the Sesriem Canyon. This canyon was formed when the Tsauchab River carved a gorge 30 metres into the gravel deposits about 15 million years ago. It's thought that this river once flowed to the Atlantic Ocean but its course was blocked by the encroaching sand dunes. Now the river flows out to the dune fields that stretch for hundreds of miles up the coast, and dries up in a clay pan at Sossusvlei. The dunes are stunning, with magnificent red/orange tones from the brightly coloured sands. They are the highest in the world and home to a plethora of animal life.

Venture into the heart of the Namib where there's an opportunity to climb the world-famous Dune 45 for unforgettable views over the desert. Explore the dunes on foot, enjoying a fascinating desert walk with a local guide who explains the huge variety of communities living in and on the sand, and what a simple animal track or spore can reveal.

Also visit the renowned Sossusvlei, an ancient lakebed in the middle of the desert with scattered skeleton camel thorn trees dating back over 1,000 years.

Included in tour activity:
Desert dunes climb and walk

Days 18-19: Windhoek

Wind up this Namibia and Botswana family adventure with a final night soaking up the vibe in Windhoek.

Travel to Windhoek - the capital of Namibia (300 km, approx 5 hrs).

The old German colonial town of Windhoek has been blended into a modern city. The German architecture of the older buildings lends the town an historic atmosphere that's enhanced after a few glasses of traditional German beer. Good examples of this German architecture can be seen in a number of buildings but the best are the Tintenpalast (Ink Palace), the Christuskirche (church), the gymnasium and the Genossenschaftshaus.

There are no activities planned for the final day and you are able to depart our accommodation at any time.