Namibia

Namibia is a country in Southern Africa, bordered by Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and the Atlantic Ocean. It's a big country like France 2 times but with less than 2 million inhabitants, mainly covered by deserts and savannah. We were attracted by the variety offered by Namibia, human and cultural level, a variety of breathtaking and extremely rich and easy to observe wildlife landscapes. In short not to get bored in 3 weeks ...
It is a safe and well-equipped tourist facilities countries, tracks are generally of good quality, so it is easy to find out for yourself. However, public transport is underdeveloped, renting a vehicle is quickly established. We chose a 4x4 vehicle with a roof tent, which allowed us to spend almost all nights in campgrounds and not be limited in our movements by the quality of the track. To get to Windhoek, the cheapest solution was a direct flight from Frankfurt via Air Namibia.

 

Our trip started in Windhoek, the capital, located in central Namibia at 1650 meters altitude. This modern city does not have a huge interest, and the next day we took the road to the south, to stop us near Mariental, near the Kalahari Desert. Before that first cold night in tents in the middle of a beautiful savanna, we have seen some animals (zebras, oryx, ostriches ...) and watch a beautiful sunset on small red dunes of the Kalahari.
The next day we took the trail to Sesriem where for three days we traveled the Namib Desert (Deadvlei, Sossusvlei dunes Elim and 45 ...), whose beauty is stunning especially at dawn and dusk. A little further on, we stopped two days in the Naukluft mountains, very little traffic, we were alone during the hikes. Despite this, we were able to observe wildlife from a distance with the exception of baboons and a curious genet.

 
We then joined the Atlantic coast to Swakopmund to visit, a little further north to the seal colony at Cape Cross-. The next day we rented kayaks to Walvis Bay for an unforgettable boat trip in the middle of the sea lions Pelican Point. Taking the direction of Twylfelfontein, we stopped in the middle of the massif of Spitzkoppe, the red granite glows under raking sunlight. We then headed to the site of Twyfelfontein, a UNESCO World Heritage for its rock carvings. In the vicinity, some curiosities like the Burnt Mountain, pipe organs or the Petrified Forest deserve a visit. Just after crossing the sanitary barrier, we went into the reserve Palmwag, which was our first opportunity to see many animals up close (springbok, giraffe, zebra, kudu ...). Unfortunately we could not find the desert elephants ...
After long hours of trails through Kaokoland, some challenging enough, we finally arrived at the border with Angola, at the Epupa Falls on the Kunene River. We stayed two nights on the river which allowed us to make some trips up and down the falls. During his stay in Kaokoland we got to know the Himba people trying to preserve a traditional way of life.
Finally, the last part of our périble, we headed to the Etosha National Park. We traveled across the park from west to east, a lot of patience and a bit of luck we have observed many animals, including overnight camps: zebras, elephants, giraffes, kudu, impala, black rhino, lions and lionesses, hyenas, springbok, ostrich, elk Cape wildebeest ... On the road to Windhoek, through the curious Lake Otjikoto and Tsumeb, we enjoyed our last night in Okonjima lodge, a member of the Africat Foundation near Otjiwarongo. It was an opportunity to get up close and also very cheetahs sneak a leopard cat that we had not seen in Etosha.