The Plan

Today, I made the first steps to booking each and every camp site, park and plane.




Departing from Frankfurt on the evening of 30th August - Arriving in Windhoek the morning of the 31st.

- Day 1: Car hire. Shopping for equipment, mechanical stuff, food.

- Night 1: Staying at the Rivendell guest house in Windhoek, stayed there last time. Nice place.

- Day 2: Driving up to Waterberg Plateau Park, do some hiking.
- Night 2, Day 3, Night 3: Still staying in the Waterberg.

Waterberg
This is a big 405Km2 park which protects the Waterberg Plateau. The plateau rises 200m above the surrounding Kalahari and has an amazing biodiversity. The rock is porous and so any water that falls seeps through the rock and comes out at the bottom, giving life to many different species. It was declared a nature reserve in 1972 and currently is used as a breeding ground to boost other animal populations. Rhino were brought here from Damaraland, and Sable, Roan and Buffalo are exported. Very optimistically there have been a few recent reports of the Critically Endangered Wild Dogs  in the area.

Wild Dogs in the Kruger (SA)

- Day 4: Drive up to Okaukuejo (pronounced Okakooyo) in Etosha. Drive and watch the waterhole
- Night 4: Okaukuejo campsite
- Day 5: Drive through Etosha to Halali
- Night 5: Halali Campsite
- Day 6: Drive to Namutoni
- NIght 6: Namutoni Campsite

Etosha National Park
This is Namibia's premier wildlife area. In the dry season (which is when we will be there!) all the animals are forced to migrate past permanent waterholes where predators lie in wait, producing some spectacular sights. The park covers approx 22,000Km2, which is a slight reduction from its colonial size of 100,000Km2.
The main feature of the park is the giant (visible from space) dried salt-pan, which is a RAMSAR wetland area of international importance, as it occasionally acts as a breeding ground for migratory birds.
There are three main camps within the park, Okaukuejo, Halali, Namutoni.

Satellite image of the Etosha Pan

Salvadora tree with the pan in the background

Waterhole at Okaukuejo in the wet-season

- Day 7: Drive up to Rundu. Visit local markets and eat local food (insects and stuff...)
- Night 7: Staying at the Hakusembe lodge along the river border with Angola.
- Day 8: Drive to the Mahango Reserve, explore.
- Night 8: Ngepi camp along the Kavango river, the beginning of the Okavango delta.
- Day 9: Driving through the Mahango game reserve, boat trips along the river, driving through the Bwabwata park.
- Night 9: Ngepi camp.

Mahango Game reserve
Little visited, this area protects the beginning's of the Okavango delta, where large herds of buffalo and elephant migrate. There are large herds of the rare Sable and Roan, and is probably the most valuable birding area in the country. Situated right at the beginning of the Caprivi strip.


Caprivi
This narrow strip of land was traded to the Germans in return for the island of Zanzibar,  in order to establish inland trade routes. For many years rebels here fought for independence and secession, but the government cracked down and many are still waiting trial.

Bwabwata National Park
This is a people's park that protects the entire (caprivi) strip of land, yet still allows people to live their traditional lifestyles within. 

- Day 10: drive East to the Bumhill Campsite. Explore!
- Night 10: Bumhill is a community campsite run by locals, along the Kwando river and within the Bwabwata national park. Beware of Leopard or Lion walking through at night.



- Day 11: Hiking around, driving to the Camp Kwando.
- Night 11: Also situated on the Kwando river.
- Day 12: Explore the Mudumu National Park and area.
- NIght 12: Camp Kwando
- Day 13: Relax in the area, walk, eventually move over to the Salambala conservancy

Mudumu & Mamili National Parks
Mudumu and Mamili are probably the least visited parks of Namibia, both in the far east of the Caprivi. Both protect Mopane forests, marshes and floodplains. The Mamili national park floods extensively and can only be entered in a self-sufficient convoy, but is currently inaccessible. We'll see.

- Night 13: Salambala community campsite.

Salambala
This is one of Namibia's many community conservancies, whereby the vast wilderness and wildlife in the area is used sustainably for the communities benefit. Mostly forest, awesome.

- Day 14: Cross the border to Botswana at Ngoma, drive through the Chobe National Park to the Chobe Game Lodge
- Night 14:Chobe Game lodge
- Day 15: Chobe!
- Night 15:Chobe Game Lodge

Chobe National Park
Botswana's Chobe National Park, 12,000Km2, protects the vast floodplains of the river Chobe right along the border with Namibia. One of the highest concentrations of elephants in the world migrates around the park and moves towards the Chobe riverfront in the dry season.


Day 16: Drive to Linyanti Swamp
Night 16: Linyanti Campsite

Linyanti
Remember the Mamili National Park in Namibia? Well this is just over the border into Botswana and is basically the same area. Very swampy, lots of marshes and forests. Not many people visit here but it is an incredible place to view animals as once again many herds migrate here.


- Day 17: Drive towards Savuti
- Night 17: Savut Safari Lodge
- Day 18: Savuti area
- Night 18: Savuti Safari Lodge

Savuti
This is a large channel that floods and stops almost randomly. When Livingstone came across the area it was flooding. Then it stopped. Then in 2009 it started again and has attracted masses of wildlife like a magnet, lucky us!

- Day 19: Drive towards the Okavango Delta, Khwai area.
- Night 19: Sango Safari Camp
- Day 20: Exploring the Khwai area
- Night 20: Sango Safari Camp

Khwai
The Khwai concession is a community area owned and run by the Khwai community. These are river-bushmen who have lived in the area of thousands of years. It is situated on the edge of the Okavango Delta.


- Day 21: Drive to Maun
- Night 21: Audi Campsite, Maun

Maun
Maun is like a wild-western town, where pickup trucks refuel and repair before they hit the desert. It is the closest town to the Okavango Delta and is used as a base to explore this.


- Day 22, Night 22, Day 23, Night 23, Day 24, Night 24, Day 25: Fly across the delta in a Cessna to Gunn's camp. From here canoe through the Okavango Delta, camping on different islands along the way. Fly back to Maun

Okavango Delta
This huge inland delta, also visible from space, is an incredbile natural wonder. Water drops in the Angolan and Congolese highlands and streams down through the Caprivi before spilling into the Kalahari desert like a hand. Every year all kinds of animals migrate here as the dry desert is transformed into a lush paradise of waterways and island.

Satellite image of the delta, with artificial national borders.

- Night 25: Audi Camp Maun
- Day 26: Prepare for the long drive through the Kalahari back to Windhoek, cross the border.
- Night 26: stay at the Kalahari Bush ranch campsite in Namibia.
- Day 27: Arrive back in Windhoek.

After this the real adventure begins, more to come....