Tour 7

KGALAGADI TRANSFRONTIER PARK / NAMIBIA
MALARIA FREE

DAY 1. UPINGTON – TWEERIVIEREN 260 KM
Depart from Upington to Molopo Lodge for drinks, stop at the Bushman craft place. At twee Rivieren we book in and stamp the passports for Namibia. Have lunch and game drive to some waterholes.

The Botswana and South African Wildlife authorities have cooperated in the management of the two parks since 1948. In 1999 the presidents of the two countries signed a treaty that would link the two parks under one name the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and become one of the largest parks in the world. The size of the park is quite overwhelming, the South African side is 9591 square kilometer with a further 28400 square kilometer on the Botswana side. The two conservation areas encompass two of the three Kalahari eco- types. The south-western part comprises duneveld with his unique semi-desert vegetation, and the north-eastern part comprises Kalahari plains thornveld. This area incorporates salt pans which play an important role in the life patterns of the Kalahari game.
The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is one of the most pristine conservation areas on earth.

Accommodation: Chalet or Camping
Meals: Lunch and Dinner

DAY 2. TWEERIVIEREN – MATA – MATA
After breakfast we depart to Mata – Mata, drive in the Auab Riverbed for 120 km. We stop at the waterholes. This is the best part of the park where we can expect most of the predators (Lions, Leopards, Cheetahs, Caracal’s and game (Blue Wildebeest, Gemsbok, Eland, Kudu, and Springbok.
Accommodation: Chalet/Camping
Meals: Breakfast Lunch, Dinner

DAY 3. MATA-MATA – KEETMANSHOOP NAMIBIA
After breakfast we cross the border to Namibia on a gravel road to Keetmanshoop. We visit the Giants Play ground, Mosasaurs Fossil Site and the Quiver tree Forrest
Accommodation: Chalet/Lodge or Camping
Meals: Breakfast Lunch, Dinner

DAY 4. KEETMANSHOOP – DUBISEB CASTLE
After breakfast we depart via Bethanie, Helmerinhausen to Dubiseb Castle, which has a rich history of romance and tragedy. A part from being a gift of love. Dubiseb Castle was a dream turned into reality for Baron von Wolf, who had planned on breeding horses in the semi-desert environment. Sadly, he died in 1916 in the First World War. Legends have it that some of the Barons horses escape and are the ancestors of the Wild Horses that roam in the Namib Desert. His wife left and never returned, leaving the Castle and all of its contents and dreams behind.

Accommodation: Chalet or Camping
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

DAY 5 – 6. DUBISEB CASTLE – SOSSUSVLEI
After breakfast we depart to Sossusvlei in the Southern part of Namibia and the most popular attraction that form part of the Namib Sand Sea World Heritage Site. This desert area is believed the highest sand dunes in the world, with the highest reaching 340 meters high and known as Big Daddy. Sossusvlei is a clay pan, of roughly elliptical shape, covered in the crust of salt-rich sand. The Tsauchab river flow into the pan in a good raining season. Surrounded by majestic star shape dunes with curvaceous lines. The pan and surrounding dunes are especially breathtaking in the early morning hours.

The Deadvlei that use to be an oasis with several Acacia trees is another clay pan 1 kilometer from Sossusvlei. The Tsauchabriver water that and changed its course. The pan is thus punctuated by blackened, dead acacia trees (estimated between 500 and 600 million years old, in vivid contrast to the shiny white of salty floor of the pan and the intense orange of the dunes.

We visit Sesriem Canyon carved by the Tsauchabriver about a kilometer long and 30 meters deep.
Accommodation: Lodge/Chalet/Camping
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

DAY 7. SOSSUSVLEI – LUDERITZ
After breakfast we depart to Lüderitz via the Namib Rand Private Nature Reserve extending over an area of 202000 hectares. This is the largest private nature reserve in Southern-Africa integrated 15 Sheep farms into one conservation unit, here we can expect some Zebras, Springbok, Gemsbok and Giraffes.

We visit the Desert Horses of the Namib near Aus on our way to Lüderitz.
Lüderitz was founded in 1883 and began life as a trading post, fishing village and guano-harvesting town. Lüderitz enjoyed the temporary surge of prosperity when diamonds were discovered in 1909 in the nearby ghost town Kolmanskop, now sand smothered.
Accommodation: Chalet or Camping
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner