Etosha National Park
Covering more than 20,000 sq km, Etosha National Park is one of the world’s great wildlife-viewing venues. Unlike other parks in Africa, where you can spend days looking for animals, Etosha’s charm lies in its ability to bring the animals to you. Just park your car next to one of the many water holes, then wait and watch while a host of animals – lions, elephants, springboks, gemsboks etc – come not two by two, but by the hundreds.
Etosha is also one of the best places to spot the highly endangered black rhino in Southern Africa.
There’s no public transport into and around the park, which means that you must visit either in a private vehicle or as part of an organised tour. Etosha's four main entry gates are Von Lindequist (Namutoni), west of Tsumeb; King Nehale, southeast of Ondangwa; Andersson (Okaukuejo), north of Outjo; and Galton, northwest of Kamanjab. The vast majority of roads in Etosha are passable to 2WD vehicles.
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Erindi Private Game Reserve
It may lack the scale of Etosha National Park, but many travellers rank Erindi as their most memorable wildlife-watching experience in Namibia. With over 700 sq km of savannah grasslands and rocky mountains, Erindi lacks the zoo-like feel of many smaller private reserves in the country and you can reliably expect to see elephants and giraffes, with lions, leopards, cheetahs, African wild dogs and black rhinos all reasonable possibilities. Night drives, too, open up a whole new world of nocturnal species.
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Okonjima Nature Reserve
The 200-sq-km Okonjima Nature Reserve (www.okonjima.com) is the epicentre of one of Namibia's most impressive conservation programs. Home of the AfriCat Foundation, it protects cheetahs and other carnivores rescued from human-wildlife conflict situations across the country, and gives them room to move. Aside from excellent accommodation and fascinating education programs, Okonjima offers the chance to track wild leopards, as well as cheetahs, African wild dogs and (coming soon) lions within the reserve.
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Waterberg Plateau Park
The wild Waterberg is highly recommended – there is nothing quite like it in Namibia. It takes in a 50km-long, 16km-wide sandstone plateau, looming 150m above the desert plains. It doesn’t have the traditional big wildlife attractions (such as lions or elephants). What it does have are some rare and threatened species, which include sable and roan antelope, and little-known populations of white and black rhino.
- Waterberg Unguided Hiking Trail is a four-day, 42km unguided hike around a figure-eight track begins at 9am every Wednesday from April to November. Book through Namibia Wildlife Resorts in Windhoek. Hikers stay in basic shelters and don’t need to carry a tent but must otherwise be self-sufficient. Shelters have drinking water, but you’ll need to carry enough to last you between times – plan on drinking at least 3L to 4L per day.
- From April to November the four-day, guided Waterberg Wilderness Trail operates every Thursday. The walks, which are led by armed guides, need a minimum of two people. They begin at 2pm on Thursday from the visitor centre and end early on Sunday afternoon. They must be pre-booked through NWR in Windhoek. There’s no set route, and the itinerary is left to the whims of the guide. Accommodation is in simple huts, but participants must carry their own food and sleeping bags.
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Tsumeb
Tsumeb is one Namibian town worth a poke around, especially if you are trying to get a feel for the country’s urban side. The streets are very pleasant to wander, made more so by the plentiful shady trees; it’s reasonably compact, and there’s usually a smile or two drifting your way on the busy streets. There are a few attractions to guide your visit, but it's more about getting a window on the world of an appealing northern Namibian town.
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Khaudum National Park
Exploring the largely undeveloped 3840-sq-km Khaudum National Par is an intense wilderness challenge. Meandering sand tracks lure you through pristine bush and across omiramba (fossil river valleys), which run parallel to the east–west-oriented Kalahari dunes. As there is virtually no signage, and navigation is largely based on GPS coordinates and topographic maps, visitors are few, which is precisely why Khaudum is worth exploring – it's home to one of Namibia's most important populations of lions and African wild dogs, although both can be difficult to see.
In addition to African wild dogs and lions, the park protects large populations of elephants, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, kudus, oryxes and tsessebes, and there’s a good chance you’ll be able to spot large herds of roan antelopes here. If you’re an avid birder, Khaudum supports 320 different species, including summer migratory birds such as storks, crakes, bitterns, orioles, eagles and falcons.

Rundu
Rundu, a sultry tropical outpost on the bluffs above the Okavango River, is a major centre of activity for Namibia’s growing Angolan community. Although the town has little of specific interest for tourists, the area is home to a number of wonderful lodges where you can laze along the riverside, and spot crocs and hippos doing pretty much the same. As such, it's a fine place to break up the journey between the Caprivi Strip and Grootfontein or Etosha.
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The Caprivi Strip
Namibia’s spindly northeastern appendage, the Caprivi Strip (now officially known as Namibia's Zambezi region, although the name is taking time to catch on...) is typified by expanses of mopane and terminalia broadleaf forest, and punctuated by shonas (fossilised parallel dunes that are the remnants of a drier climate). For most travellers, the Caprivi serves as the easiest access route connecting the main body of Namibia with Victoria Falls and Botswana’s Chobe National Park. But Caprivi is also one of Southern Africa's wildlife destinations to watch. After decades of poaching, the region's wildlife is returning and visitors with time and patience can get off the beaten path here, exploring such emerging wildlife gems as Nkasa Rupara and Bwabwata national parks.
The paved Trans-Caprivi Highway between Rundu and Katima Mulilo is perfectly suited to 2WD vehicles, as is the gravel road between Divundu and Mohembo (on the Botswana border). Drivers may transit Bwabwata without charge, but you will incur national-park entry fees if you use the loop drive through the park.
- Only recently recognised as a national park, Bwabwata National Park was established to rehabilitate local wildlife populations. Prior to the 2002 Angolan ceasefire, this area saw almost no visitors, and wildlife populations had been virtually wiped out by rampant poaching instigated by ongoing conflict. But the guns have been silent now for well over a decade and the wildlife is making a slow but spectacular comeback. If you come here expecting Etosha, you’ll be disappointed. But you might very well see lions, elephants, African wild dogs, perhaps even the sable antelope and some fabulous birdlife, and you might just have them all to yourself.
- Nkasa Rupara National Park is one of Namibia's, perhaps Southern Africa's, most exciting national parks. In years of good rains, this wild and seldom-visited national park (formerly called Mamili National Park) becomes Namibia’s equivalent of Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Forested islands fringed by reed and papyrus marshes foster some of the country’s richest birdwatching, with more than 430 recorded species to count. Poaching has taken a toll on Nkasa Rupara’s wildlife, but lions are returning to the area; sightings of wild dogs across the water on the Botswana side are also possible while semiaquatic species, such as hippos, crocodiles, pukus, red lechwes, sitatungas and otters, will still impress.
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Erongo Mountains
The volcanic Erongo Mountains, often referred to as the Erongoberg, rise as a 2216m massif north of Karibib and Usakos and they're among the most beautiful and accessible of Namibia's mountain areas. The Erongo range is best known for its caves and rock art, particularly the 50m-deep Phillips Cave.
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Phillips Cave
This cave, 3km off the road, contains the famous humpbacked white elephant painting. Superimposed on the elephant is a large humpbacked antelope (perhaps an eland), and around it frolic ostriches and giraffes. The Ameib paintings were brought to wider attention in the book Phillips Cave by prehistorian Abbè Breuil, but his speculations about their Mediterranean origins have now been discounted. The site is open to day hikers via Ameib Gästehaus.
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Twyfelfontein
Unesco World Heritage–listed Twyfelfontein (Doubtful Spring), at the head of the grassy Aba Huab Valley, is one of the most extensive rock-art galleries on the continent. To date over 2500 engravings have been discovered. Guides are compulsory; (note that tips are their only source of income.)
Mostly dating back at least 6000 years to the early Stone Age, Twyfelfontein’s rock engravings were probably the work of ancient San hunters, and were made by cutting through the hard patina covering the local sandstone. In time, this skin reformed over the engravings, protecting them from erosion. From colour differentiation and weathering, researchers have identified at least six distinct phases, but some are clearly the work of copycat artists and are thought to date from the 19th century.
In the ancient past, this perennial spring most likely attracted wildlife, creating a paradise for the hunters who eventually left their marks on the surrounding rocks. Animals, animal tracks and geometric designs are well represented here, though there are surprisingly few human figures. Many of the engravings depict animals that are no longer found in the area – elephants, rhinos, giraffes and lions – and an engraving of a sea lion indicates contact with the coast more than 100km away.
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Damaraland
From the glorious rock formations of Spitzkoppe, Erongo and the Brandberg in the south to the equally glorious red-rock, wild-desert mountains around Palmwag in the north, Damaraland is one of Namibia's most dramatic collections of landscapes. Hidden in the rocky clefts is Twyfelfontein, which along with the Brandberg contains some of Southern Africa’s finest prehistoric rock art and engravings, and there's even a petrified forest nearby, as well as palm-fringed, oasis-like valleys. Damaraland is also one of Southern Africa's most underrated wildlife-watching areas, one of Namibia's last ‘unofficial’ wildlife areas with critically endangered black rhinos, desert-adapted lions and elephants, as well as the full range of Namibia specialities such as gemsbok, zebra, giraffe and spotted hyena.
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Spitzkoppe
One of Namibia’s most recognisable landmarks, the 1728m-high Spitzkoppe rises mirage-like above the dusty pro-Namib plains of southern Damaraland. Its dramatic shape has inspired its nickname, the Matterhorn of Africa, but similarities between this ancient volcanic remnant and the glaciated Swiss alp begin and end with its sharp peak. First summited in 1946, the Spitzkoppe continues to attract hard-core rock climbers bent on tackling Namibia’s most challenging peak.
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Brandberg
Driving around this massive pink granite bulge, and marvelling at the ethereal light during sunset which appears to bounce off it, is a highlight of the region. But inside lies the real treasure – one of the finest remnants of prehistoric art on the African continent.
- Tsisab Ravine is the epicentre of the Brandberg's rock-art magic. The most famous figure in the ravine is the White Lady of the Brandberg, in Maack’s Shelter. The figure, which isn’t necessarily a lady (it’s still open to interpretation), stands about 40cm high, and is part of a larger painting that depicts a bizarre hunting procession. In one hand, the figure is carrying what appears to be a flower or possibly a feather. In the other, the figure is carrying a bow and arrows.
- Numas Ravine, slicing through the western face of the Brandberg, is a little-known treasure house of ancient paintings. Most people ask their guide to take them to the rock facing the southern bank of the riverbed, which bears paintings of a snake, a giraffe and an antelope. It lies about 30 minutes’ walk up the ravine. After another half-hour you’ll reach an oasis-like freshwater spring and several more paintings in the immediate surroundings.
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Palmwag
The 5000-sq-km Palmwag Concession and the surrounding areas together make up a rich wildlife area amid stark red hills and plains, surrounded by a bizarre landscape of uniformly sized red stones. It serves as something of a buffer zone between Etosha in the north and the Skeleton Coast, with a reasonable chance that you'll see black rhinos (most of the camps offer rhino tracking), desert elephants and lions, as well as spotted hyenas, giraffes, gemsboks and other antelopes. The area is home to a handful of luxury lodges, and also serves as a study centre for the Save the Rhino Trust (SRT), making it a good mix of great wildlife watching and serious conservation, quite apart from being stunningly beautiful country.
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Kaokoveld
The Kaokoveld is a photographer’s dreamscape of wide-open vistas, lonely desert roads and hardly another person around to ruin your shot. A vast repository of desert mountains, this is one of the least developed regions of the country, and arguably Namibia at its most primeval. The Kaokoveld is also the ancestral home of the Himba people, a culturally rich tribal group who have retained their striking appearance and dress.
West of Epupa Falls is the Kaokoveld of travellers’ dreams: stark, rugged desert peaks, vast landscapes, sparse, scrubby vegetation, drought-resistant wildlife, and nomadic bands of Himba people and their tiny settlements of beehive huts. This region, which is contiguous with the Skeleton Coast Wilderness, has been designated the Kaokoveld Conservation Area and it's one of Namibia's true gems. It's also a pretty rough ride on bad tracks – getting here and around is part of the adventure.
Allow plenty of time to explore the wild and magical Otjinjange (better known as Marienflüss) and Hartmann’s Valleys – broad sandy and grassy expanses descending gently to the Kunene River. Note that camping outside campsites is prohibited at both valleys.
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Opuwo
In the Herero language, Opuwo means 'The End', which is certainly a fitting name for this dusty collection of concrete commercial buildings ringed by traditional rondavels (round huts with conical roofs) and huts. While first impressions are unlikely to be very positive, a visit to Opuwo is one of the cultural highlights of Namibia, particularly for anyone interested in interacting with the Himba people. As the unofficial capital of Himbaland, Opuwo serves as a convenient jumping-off point for excursions into the nearby villages, and there is a good assortment of lodges and campsites in the area to choose from.
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Epupa Falls
At Epupa, which means 'Falling Waters' in Herero, the Kunene River fans out into a vast flood plain and is ushered through a 500m-wide series of parallel channels, dropping a total of 60m over 1.5km. The greatest single drop, an estimated 37m, is commonly identified as the Epupa Falls. Here the river tumbles into a dark, narrow, rainbow-wrapped cleft, a stunning sight to behold, particularly when the Kunene is in peak flow from April to May.
Although you’d think this remote corner of the Kaokoveld would be off the tourist trail, Epupa Falls is a popular detour for overland trucks and organised safaris, and can get swamped with tourists. But if you’re passing through the area, the falls are certainly worth the detour – the sight of so much water in the middle of the dry Kaokoveld is miraculous to say the least, and if the pools are free from crocs, a dip is a possibility.
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The Skeleton Coast
This treacherous coast – a foggy region with rocky and sandy coastal shallows, rusting shipwrecks and soaring dunes – has long been a graveyard for unwary ships and their crews, hence its forbidding name. Early Portuguese sailors called it As Areias do Inferno (The Sands of Hell), as once a ship washed ashore, the fate of the crew was sealed. This protected area stretches from Sandwich Harbour, south of Swakopmund, to the Kunene River, taking in around 20,000 sq km of dunes and gravel plains to form one of the world’s most inhospitable waterless areas in the world's oldest desert.
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Cape Cross Seal Reserve
The best-known breeding colony of Cape fur seals along the Namib coast is at this reserve, where the population has grown large and fat by taking advantage of the rich concentrations of fish in the cold Benguela Current. The sight of more than 100,000 seals basking on the beach and frolicking in the surf is impressive to behold.
There are campsites on the water’s edge 1.7km back along the coast from the seal colony. They're far enough away from the stink and have uninterrupted sea views, but facilities are basic and they only open from November to July. They operate on a first-come, first-served basis; ask at the entry to the reserve.

Swakopmund
Sandwiched between Atlantic rollers and the Namib Desert, Swakopmund is one of those great traveller waystations along the African road. At once Namibia's adventure capital and surreal colonial remnant, part destination in its own right and part launch pad for an exploration of the Skeleton Coast and Namib Desert, this is a city with as much personality as it has sea frontage.
Swakopmund brims with numerous historic examples of traditional German architecture. For further information on the town’s colonial sites, pick up Swakopmund – A Chronicle of the Town’s People, Places and Progress, which is sold at Swakopmund Museum and in local bookshops.
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Deadvlei
No visit to Sossusvlei, Namibia, would be complete without checking out the famous trees of Deadvlei. The clay pan is characterized by dark, dead camel thorn trees contrasted against the white pan floor. Formed when the Tsauchab River flooded, the abundance of water allowed camel thorn trees to grow in the pan.
Although it's much less famous than its neighbour Sossusvlei, Deadvlei is actually the most alluring pan in the Namib-Naukluft National Park – it's arguably one of Southern Africa's greatest sights. Sprouting from the pan are seemingly petrified trees, with their parched limbs casting stark shadows across the baked, bleached-white canvas. The juxtaposition of this scene with the cobalt-blue skies and the towering orange sands of Big Daddy, the area's tallest dune (325m), is simply spellbinding.
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Namib-Naukluft Park
Welcome to the Namib, the oldest desert on earth and certainly one of the most beautiful and accessible desert regions on the planet. This is sand-dune country par excellence, silent, constantly shifting and ageless, and an undoubted highlight of any visit to Namibia. The epicentre of its appeal is at Sossusvlei, Namibia’s most famous strip of sand, where gargantuan dunes tower more than 300m above the underlying strata. Elsewhere, the land lives up to its name: the Nama word namib inspired the name of the entire country and rather prosaically means ‘vast dry plain’. And then there are the Naukluft Mountains – barren and beautiful and filled with an appeal all of their own.
Appropriate for this vast country with its epic landscapes (its number-one tourist attraction) Sossusvlei still manages to feel isolated. The dunes, appearing other-worldly at times, especially when the light hits them just so near sunrise, are part of the 32,000-sq-km sand sea that covers much of the region. The dunes reach as high as 325m, and are part of one of the oldest and driest ecosystems on earth. However, the landscape here is constantly changing – wind forever alters the shape of the dunes, while colours shift with the changing light, reaching the peak of their brilliance just after sunrise.
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Sossusvlei
Sossusvlei, a large ephemeral pan, is set amid red sand dunes that tower up to 325m above the valley floor. It rarely contains any water, but when the Tsauchab River has gathered enough volume and momentum to push beyond the thirsty plains to the sand sea, it’s completely transformed. The normally cracked dry mud gives way to an ethereal blue-green lake, surrounded by greenery and attended by aquatic birdlife, as well as the usual sand-loving gemsboks and ostriches.
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Hidden Vlei
This unearthly dry vlei (pan) amid lonely dunes, makes a rewarding excursion. It's a 4km return hike from the 2WD car park. The route is marked by white-painted posts. It’s most intriguing in the afternoon, when you’re unlikely to see another person.

Sesriem Canyon
The 3km-long, 30m-deep Sesriem Canyon, 4km south of the Sesriem headquarters, was carved by the Tsauchab River through the 15-million-year-old deposits of sand and gravel conglomerate. There are two pleasant walks: you can hike upstream to the brackish pool at its head or 2.5km downstream to its lower end. Check out the natural sphinxlike formation on the northern flank near the canyon mouth.

Windhoek
If Namibia is Africa for beginners, then Windhoek is very much its capital in more than name only. It's the sort of place that divides travellers, with those who love it for the respite it offers from the rigours of life on the African road facing off against those who find it a little too 'Western' for their African tastes. And they're both right: Windhoek is a modern, well-groomed city where office workers lounge around Zoo Park at lunchtime, tourists funnel through Post St Mall admiring African curios, and taxis whizz around honking at potential customers. Neo-baroque cathedral spires, as well as a few seemingly misplaced German castles, punctuate the skyline, and complement the steel-and-glass high-rises.
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Kolmanskop Ghost Town
Named after early Afrikaner trekker Jani Kolman, whose ox wagon became bogged in the sand here, Kolmanskop was originally constructed as the Consolidated Diamond Mines (CDM) headquarters. Although Kolmanskop once boasted a casino, bowling alley and a theatre with fine acoustics, the slump in diamond sales after WWI and the discovery of richer pickings at Oranjemund ended its heyday. By 1956, the town was totally deserted, and left to the mercy of the shifting desert sands.
Today, Kolmanskop has been partially restored as a tourist attraction, and the sight of decrepit buildings being invaded by dunes is simply too surreal to describe. You can turn up at any time, and you’re not required to arrive as part of an organised tour, though you do need to purchase a permit in advance through either the Lüderitz office of Namibia Wildlife Resorts (www.nwr.com.na) or a local tour operator. Guided tours (in English and German), which are included in the price of the permit, depart from the museum in Kolmanskop. After the tour, you can return to the museum, which contains relics and information on the history of Namibian diamond mining.
Unfortunately the coffee shop and gift shop and often-large tourist numbers dampen the potentially eerie effect of this old town. If there are a lot of tourists around (likely) then you’re better off skipping the organised part of the trip here and focusing instead on wandering around the decrepit buildings and piles of sand, getting a bit of a taste for this old deserted town.
Kolmanskop is only a 15-minute drive from Lüderitz, just off the main B4 highway. Tour agencies sell tours to Kolmanskop, or you can drive yourself so long as you have arranged the permit beforehand.

Lüderitz
Before travelling to Lüderitz, pause for a moment to study the country map and how the town is sandwiched between the barren Namib Desert and the windswept South Atlantic coast. As if Lüderitz’ unique geographical setting wasn’t impressive enough, its surreal German art nouveau architecture will seal the deal. A colonial relic scarcely touched by the 21st century, Lüderitz recalls a Bavarian dorfchen (small village), with churches, bakeries and cafes. Unlike its more well-heeled Teutonic rival Swakopmund, Lüderitz feels stuck in a time warp, a perception that delivers both gloom and a certain charm (at least for visitors). In short, it's one of the most incongruous places in Africa.
Lüderitz is chock-a-block with colonial buildings, and every view reveals something interesting. The curiously intriguing architecture, which mixes German imperial and art nouveau styles, makes this bizarre little town appear even more other-worldly. Check out the prominent Evangelical Lutheran church, Felsenkirche, for views over the water and the town.
The Lüderitz Peninsula, much of which lies outside the Sperrgebiet, makes an interesting half-day excursion from town.
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Fish River Canyon
The largest canyon in Africa (the second largest worldwide), it forms part of the state-run Ais-Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park. The Fish River is the longest interior river in Namibia and over time managed to cut deep into the plateau - in total about 160 km long and up to 27 km wide and in places, almost 550 meters deep.
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