Classic Adventure Namibia

Depart Windhoek and drive north to the Okonjima Nature Reserve, home of the AfriCat Foundation. Settle in at Okonjima Plains Camp and head out to track rehabilitated cheetah and leopard on foot and by vehicle. The reserve is a sanctuary for these big cats alongside brown hyena and honey badger. Dinner, bed & breakfast.

Travel north-west to the eastern boundary of Etosha National Park. Check in at Etosha King Nehale, a Gondwana collection lodge close to the Von Lindequist Gate, and take an afternoon game drive onto the eastern pan for elephant, giraffe, zebra, springbok and the cats that hunt them. Dinner, bed & breakfast; first of two nights.

A full day of game drives across the eastern reaches of Etosha, from the wooded Namutoni area to the Fischer's Pan and the springs that draw large herds of springbok, blue wildebeest and zebra — with lion, cheetah and elephant never far away. A second night at Etosha King Nehale.

Drive south-west across the pan to the Okaukuejo area and the southern boundary of the park. Check in at Taleni Etosha Village, just outside the Andersson Gate, and take an afternoon game drive to the Okaukuejo waterhole — famous after dark for black rhino and elephant. First of two nights.

A full day of game drives across the central salt pan and its perennial springs, where elephant, lion, black rhino and large herds of plains game gather. Return to Taleni Etosha Village for a second night.

Travel west through the park and out via the Galton Gate to the western boundary. Settle in at Hobatere Lodge, a classic safari lodge on a private concession bordering western Etosha, and take an afternoon drive for the desert-adapted elephant and lion that favour these western woodlands. Dinner, bed & breakfast.

Leave the lodge life behind and join your Namibia Tracks & Trails mobile safari crew. Drive south-west into the remote north-west, setting up the first private bow-tent camp at Khowarib on the edge of the Hoanib riverbed. A fully-inclusive mobile safari begins — evenings around the campfire under a sky full of stars.

Strike camp and travel into the Hoanib, a dry riverbed fringed with ana trees and the route of the famous desert-adapted elephant. Track elephant, giraffe and gemsbok through the riverbed and set up a second mobile camp deep in the valley. Fully inclusive; first of two nights in the Hoanib.

A full day exploring the Hoanib — searching for desert-adapted elephant and, with luck, the desert lion that follow the herds here. Walk the riverbed with your guide, visit a Himba settlement where the route allows, and enjoy a second night under canvas in the river valley.

Move south into the Palmwag Concession, a vast wilderness of gravel plains and ephemeral rivers that protects the largest free-ranging population of black rhino in the world. A final mobile-safari night, tracking rhino and desert game with local Damara trackers before the crew breaks camp tomorrow.

Rejoin the lodge circuit and drive south to Twyfelfontein. Settle in at Malansrus Tented Camp and visit the UNESCO-listed Twyfelfontein rock engravings, the Burnt Mountain and the Organ Pipes basalt columns. The surrounding hills are home to desert-adapted elephant and gemsbok. Dinner, bed & breakfast.

Travel south-west through the Namib gravel plains and past the Brandberg to the Atlantic coast. Arrive in the German colonial town of Swakopmund and check in at the Beach Lodge, sitting on the oceanfront. Afternoon at leisure to walk the beach or browse the town. Bed & breakfast; first of two nights.

A free day of optional activities — a catamaran cruise on Walvis Bay for dolphins, Cape fur seals and pelicans; a living desert tour finding chameleons, shovel-snouted lizards and sidewinding snakes; quad biking over the dunes; or a visit to the Cape Cross seal colony. A second night at the Beach Lodge.

Drive inland and south through the Kuiseb Pass to Sesriem, gateway to the Namib-Naukluft. Stop at Sesriem Canyon, carved by the Tsauchab River. Check in at Desert Camp at the foot of the dunes. Dinner, bed & breakfast; first of two nights.

A pre-dawn start to reach the towering apricot-coloured dunes of Sossusvlei at sunrise. Climb Dune 45 for views over the sand sea, then walk into Deadvlei, a white clay pan of fossilised camel thorn trees against orange dune walls. Look for ostrich and oryx on the pan. Return to Desert Camp for a second night.

A long drive north-east over the escarpment and back to Windhoek. Settle in at Villa Violet, a renovated B&B in the leafy suburb of Klein Windhoek, for a final evening on a bed & breakfast basis.

Breakfast and onward departure from Hosea Kutako International Airport.