Audley Travel
View company profile →
The most wonderful Namibian Safari
We had the most fantastic Safari in Namibia organised by Arista Midwinter from Audley Travel who used the most efficient local Namibian company Ultimate Safaris for guiding us through the country. From our departure from London Heathrow till our return approximately two weeks later everything ran as smoothly as clockwork. A very well balanced safari. Our guide for the whole trip Jason was absolutely incredible, his knowledge of everything relating to this safari and much more knew no bounds. Animals, birds, plants and trees. We even had a lesson in astronomy. The lack of light pollution gave a wonderful view of the starry night. All accommodations were well chosen for their locations and all meals were very good. The first couple of nights staying in Windhoek in the first class hotel The Weinberg gave a chance to acclimatise and get used to the high temperatures we were going to experience. From there onto Sossusvlei where we stayed in Dead Valley Lodge and from where we were taken to the dunes and dried out pan of Sossusvlei - an incredible experience with our first sighting of Oryxes. From here we travelled to Swakopmund via Walvisbay where we saw beautiful flamingos and had an outing on a catamaran seeing the enormous population of seals. Then onto Damaraland staying in the most unusual but comfortable lodge Camp Kipwe. The rooms were built in between the rocks with outdoor facilities, but all very private and of course air conditioned. From here we did elephant tracking and thanks to our knowledgeable guide found a small herd. The following day we visited Twyfelfontein with its rock etchings which apparently were between 2000 and 6000 years old - fascinating! In the evening while having sundowners we saw the most beautiful sunset we’ve ever seen. From Camp Kipwe we travelled on to Etosha National Park where we stayed just outside the park in Ovanga Lodge, which was set in an enormous reserve with its own wildlife. On late afternoon/evening game drives besides Impalas, springbok, wildebeests, zebras, kudos we saw Rhinos and a pride of 6 lions. That was before we got into Etosha! The lodge again was very comfortable and the meals as everywhere before was excellent. Etosha National Park is very large- somebody mentioned it is about the size of Belgium, so it was again thanks to our excellent guide that during the next couple of days we got to see so much wildlife including rhinos, giraffes and lions. A first for even our guide was the sighting of 5 cheetahs together! Then one morning around 11.00 we got to a water hole where there must have been at least 50 elephants drinking and messing around and after about 10 minutes a further herd of about 25 to 30 approached through the bushes. Well what more did we want. The only animals we did not see were leopards and hyenas, but as they are more nocturnal this wasn’t surprising. Our safari finished with a very comfortable stay at the Omaanda reserve about 3/4 hr drive from Windhoek airport. All in all this was one of our best holidays we’ve had (and we have travelled a fair bit). We can’t praise Audley Travel and the local company Ultimate Safaris enough and of course our excellent guide Jason !!