Last-Minute Namibia

Some trips you’ve planned in your head from the age of five, while others come to you in a moment of inspiration. Consider this your moment of inspiration.

This one goes out to the impulsive among you—can I get a show of hands? If I could bestow upon you one perfectly constructed and heavily discounted last-minute trip, sure to blow your mind and leave you humbly shaking your head in awe, it would look a little something like this:

Step 1: Fly to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. You can get there via London on Air Namibia (a safe and reputable airline more Germanic than African) or via Johannesburg on South African Airways. It’s easier than you think.

Step 2: A scheduled charter flight takes you south to the Sossusvlei Wilderness area for three days playing among giant sand dunes, petrified trees and winding slot canyons. Depending on your budget & style, stay at Kulala Desert Lodge or Little Kulala.

Step 3: Fly to Etosha National Park—a massive and blindingly white depression of salt and clay known as the “Great White Place”—and spend three days and nights on safari tracking the Big 5 as they jockey for position around elusive waterholes. Base yourself out of Ongava Lodge, Andersson’s Camp or Little Ongava.

Step 4: Fly far north to the border with Angola and spend three days based out of the extraordinary Serra Cafema Camp, where you can take boat trips on the Kunene river, visit the dunes on ATV’s (quad bikes), and spend time with the nomadic Himba tribes.

Step 5: Fly back to Windhoek in time to make your connection home.

Namibia is an evocative place—wide open and wild like Patagonia, it feels like you are at the ends of the Earth. April through to September is the best time for game viewing, and right now until June 15th we can score you a 33% discount when you book six nights or more at these Wilderness Safaris camps. Blessed are the spontaneous who will inherit this special.

Greg Sacks is our resident safari pro and dune-scaling guru. Call him (+1 416 628 1272) to get your Namibian planning underway.