We had seen a picture of the famous Skeleton Coast hotel, the Shipwreck Lodge in a magazine once. I remember us both saying wow wouldn’t it be amazing to stay there.
With this in mind, we planned our Namibia trip over the course of one week with three stops. We would start with Sossusvlei for the huge sand dunes, then fly north to the Skeleton Coast to see shipwrecks and the barren landscape, finishing off at Etosha National Park for some animal viewing. We got help from Namibia Tours and Safaris who were great to work with and helped us with the logistics of chartering a small plane, the transfers and picking the lodges.
Getting there
We ended up flying on our birthdays and the friendly Qatar cabin crew even signed a birthday card for us and brought it out with a cake and sang for us. Such a great airline.
Getting to our Namibian adventure was no small feat. We took a 14-hour flight to Doha, an overnight stop and another 9-hour flight to Johannesburg. After that we had another overnight stopover followed by yet another 4-hour flight to Windhoek where we met our pilot who would fly us on a small Cessna 210 4-seater to our first camp.
The whole ordeal would amount to 60 hours from the time we stepped into our Uber to when we would finally set foot in the first lodge on our itinerary.
Private pilot experience
Getting into our own private Cessna 210 was quite something. I think the young pilot (from Portugal) was relieved that we had flown small planes before. He was also happy to see the small soft bags we had brought. There was not a lot of room on the rear fold down seats.
The flight took off from the same commercial airport where we landed in Windhoek and before we knew it we were flying over the mountains heading towards the majestic sand dunes of Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert.
In the small plane you really do see and feel everything. Our first landing was in high winds and the plane was literally flying at a 45-degree angle to the landing strip. Below we saw a jeep chasing oryx off the runway and quickly pulling out of the way. As soon as the tires touched, our pilot straightened it out for a perfect landing.
Sossusvlei, Namibia
&Beyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge
KK was there at the landing strip to meet us and told us he would be our guide for the following 2 days. KK was short for something long and he laughed when we tried to pronounce it.
We quickly checked into the lodge (which was amazing, both modern and pure luxury)! Floor to ceiling windows and all the creature comforts you’d expect in any 5-star hotel in a major city. All this in the middle of nowhere.
Tired and groggy we were still thrilled that we would finally see the huge sand dunes of the Namib Desert. We wanted to get out onto the first game drive as soon as we could. We’d been anticipating this for 60 hours already!
Sossusvlei scenic drive
Heading out from the lodge we drove towards one of the close by dunes. We saw a herd of zebras. The zebras here were different in color with a beige color between the black stripes instead of the usual white we were used to. KK explained that these were plain zebras, and their cousins, the mountain zebras were whiter and blacker. We thought it just might be all the dust!
He went on to explain that the reason for the stripes was to confuse predators into thinking they were seeing a large animal when it was a group of zebras close together. The stripes would throw off the predator looking for an outline that they could recognize as prey.
We saw many oryx and springboks along with the zebras. In this dry and arid climate there are not many predators for the local animals. An occasional leopard or hyena that may attack young juveniles, but the older ones have virtually no predators.
The real enemy here is the weather. The last drought lasted 10 years. With little or no rain, many of the animals died due to a lack of vegetation and water.
We stopped at a local dune to attempt some climbing. I think KK wanted to assess our skills before taking us to the huge dunes the next day. Dune climbing is surprisingly tough as the sand is soft and gives way underfoot. The guides all had boots up to their shins, but we only brought running shoes! These were quickly full of sand. That said we had fun and got some laughs and some great photos.
Back at the lodge
Finally, back at the lodge, we got to sample some of what this wonderful, clearly 5-star resort had to offer. Dinner was fabulous.
Later, we got to hang out with the resident astronomer, Paul. He was passionate about astronomy and showed us various sights with his telescope and explained the constellations.
Namib-Naukluft National Park
Our second day in Sossusvlei was the day we had been waiting for. Going to visit the famous sand dunes of the Namib-Naukluft National Park. It’s hard to imagine sand dunes almost a thousand feet high. Our guide told us the sand came from as far as South Africa’s southern coast.
On the way we saw a large herd of oryx grazing on a strip that looked like just sand to us. KK explained that this was the spot that got a few drops of rain 3 weeks ago, enough to turn some of the grass from a dry white to a slightly greenish brown but appetizing enough to attract the large herd.
The sand blown around the base of the mountains made for some spectacular scenery shots along the way to the national park. This park is huge and made up of over 50,000 sq. km. It is a World Heritage Site under UNESCO.
Sossusvlei sand dunes
As we got closer we saw people climbing Dune 45. It was impressive to see, and KK told us this one was only 90 meters high; we’d be climbing Big Daddy which was 325 meters.
This sounded like a huge challenge, and we opted to start by climbing the arm, which was about halfway to the top. This too was impressively high, enough to give me a bit of vertigo. Climbing up you really try to straddle the edge but it’s unpredictable how much the sand will give. Some steps are fairly firm where others sink in giving way enough to throw you off balance.
Deadvlei
Next to the Big Daddy Dune is Deadvlei, a dry clay pan with iconic 900 year old petrified camel torn trees. This is a popular Instagram photo spot. Eerie and cool at the same time. The lake dried up when the sand dunes blocked the river flow.
We did see some green trees further down the dry river and our guide explained that these were a kind of Acadia tree that had roots that went down 30 meters to the underground water flowing below. Isn’t nature amazing?
Back at the Sossusvlei Desert Lodge we took part in another adventure using ATV vehicles to climb the local dunes. This was certainly faster than walking. All included with the lodge.
Sossusvlei night sky
After another fabulous dinner, we joined Paul the astronomer again this time with our new camera. He fiddled with the settings putting it on full manual and setting it up for a 20 second exposure and said watch this! We could hardly believe the shot of the desert sky showing the Milky Way and more stars than we’ve ever seen.
Next morning after some hugs and thankyous we were back in our plane for the scenic trip over Namibia’s Skeleton Coast.
Scenic flight over the Namib Desert
From the air we would see old and abandoned diamond mines, multiple shipwrecks, huge seal colonies, pink flamingos, vast salt pans and more. The coastline went on seemingly forever. We saw colossal sand dunes dropping straight down into the ocean. It was very picturesque.
Our little Cessna carried about 300 liters of fuel, enough to cruise for about 5-6 hours. We had to stop in Swakopmund to refuel. After topping up, our pilot told us he had felt some rough idle and that he was going to call in for maintenance. We overheard him talking about fuel dripping after shutoff. Oh-oh! As we sat at a local café, we anxiously discussed what would happen if…
As the pilot approached with a smile, we were fortunate that it was just a small adjustment to the fuel system. And then, we were off for another hour of flying taking us to Mowe Bay.
Namibia’s Skeleton Coast
The Mowe Bay Airstrip was funny to see. Basically an airstrip in the desert with nothing around it. We were happy to be there and happy to see the Shipwreck Lodge safari jeep there to greet us.
Abel, told us he was a back-office helper (we later found out he was the manager!), and gave us a warm welcome and took us on our first afternoon excursion on the way to the lodge.
Mowe Bay seal colony
We visited the Mowe Bay seal colony with a population of 30-40 thousand Cape fur seals. So cute, but what a smell! And what a racket! Our pilot laughed about a local resort that has been overrun with seals and the racket went on 24/7 (as did the smell) much to the chagrin of the residents and guests. We were happy to be staying where we were.
Skeleton Coast shipwrecks and vestiges
We also stopped at the Suiderkus (or southwest in African) shipwreck. This was mostly a rusty shell left from 1978. All sailors survived. Abel told us there were many wrecks undiscovered and how hard it was to salvage or to even find the wrecks in these rough conditions.
We also saw the Karimona wreck. A police vessel sunk and lit on fire to attract attention and to get help. On the way we also saw what was left of an abandoned diamond mine, and a crashed bomber from 1942, the Ventura Bomber.
Shipwreck Lodge, Skeleton Coast
Arriving at the Shipwreck Lodge we were taken aback by the rugged landscape, the howling wind. It looked like what one might envision to be a base camp in the barren Arctic.
The individual eclectic lodges were made to look like they were pulled together with parts salvaged from shipwrecks. Cozy and cool.
Hoarusib River and Clay Castles
The following day, we left the lodge on an excursion heading north where we would find some natural clay castles along the riverbed. We saw springboks, and even a chacma baboon that was surprisingly dark in color. Shiimi our guide explained that the baboons and even oryx here were darker that their southern counterparts.
The dry riverbed had turned into clay, and we even saw jackal tracks imprinted in the clay. The mountains looked like they had snow on them. Comoran poop, Shiimi said. We stopped at some great vantage points looking at the lush riverbed below. They had spotted two cheetahs a few days ago and a pair of lionesses previously but we wouldn’t have any luck spotting big cats here.
The Clay Castles were an interesting rock formation similar to hoodoos we had seen made of sandstone in Utah. These fragile clay structures had formed 30-40 thousand years ago from layers of clay deposited by the river flow over time.
These had been subsequently eroded by wind. Normally these structures would be wiped out by rain but here there is so little rain that the castles are protected from erosion.
Skeleton Coast dunes and beach
For the afternoon we had a good time dune climbing with the jeep. Amazing what these jeeps can do! No problem at all climbing the steep sand dunes. We had a fun racing up and down and we were glad Shiimi was driving!
He then brought us down to the beach for a beach walk along the rugged coast. It was beautiful. We saw some hyena tracks and were told that the hyenas would come to the beach looking for seals. But no luck spotting the long-haired brown hyena, a solitary and very shy creature.
Etosha National Park and Ongava Game Reserve
Our last leg of our Namibia adventure was the Etosha National Park. We made our way from the Shipwreck Lodge to the small airstrip in Mowe Bay. But thick fog had rolled in and we had to wait for a couple of hours while our pilot watched the horizon.
We were the lucky ones as our plane was parked. Others had to wait longer because their planes could not land and were diverted, waiting for a sign that they could take off to come back to pick up passengers.
Landing in Ongava we were not far from the lodge. This was one of the places to see the rare black rhino. We hoped we’d see one.
Ongava Private Game Reserve
The Ongava Private Game Reserve is located just south of the boundary of Etosha National Park making it easy to visit this natural wonder. But within the reserve there’s plenty of wildlife to see. It’s also one of the largest private game reserves in Namibia and spans over 125 sq. mi. In 1991, a few families bought four unproductive cattle ranches and established a private game reserve that is now a haven to large concentrations of wildlife.
Little Ongava
The Little Ongava was simply amazing. Our cottage/room was like a bungalow for a family. Pure luxury on top of a hill with a sweeping view of the plains below. Within the private reserve there are a few other accommodations, including a tented camp.
We were in time for the afternoon game drive which proved to be very exciting. First, we saw some kudus, and various antelopes including the black-faced impala which is only found in Namibia.
Things got really exciting when we spotted a black rhino with a baby. They were shy and kept their distance and we moved on only to find a heard of elephants. As we watched the smaller ones, a huge male came right up to within 3ft of the jeep sniffing to see what we were up to. An exciting encounter. Shortly afterwards we came across a lone white rhino that walked across the road next to the jeep. Wow!
We moved on as it was getting dark and found a male lion that was roaring to its brother. What a beautiful lion this one, he was just lying down without a care. We came back to the lodge for dinner and actually saw another five rhinos drinking from the watering hole near the lodge. Not bad for a first day.
As we headed to our suite, we asked the armed guard whether we had to worry about the monkeys trying to get into the room. A common problem on other safaris we’ve been on. The guard laughed and said: “No, no, don’t worry about monkeys, they are all hiding in the trees because of the leopards and lions.” Ooh!
Etosha National Park
Established as a game reserve in 1907 it’s one of the oldest and largest conservation areas in Africa. Bigger than Kruger National Park in South Africa. Etosha is 300 km west to east and spans over 22,270 sq. km. Within its boundaries there is one of the largest salt pans in the world which covers almost one quarter of the park. Unlike the private reserves however it is busy with vehicles, and one must stay on the main roads.
We saw lots of antelopes including a small steenbok with huge ears. Cute ground squirrels, oryx, kudus, wildebeest, ostriches, hyenas, jackals, springboks, giraffes, and various birds of prey.
We saw six lions at the watering hole but there were quickly 20 jeeps. It was amazing to see all the other animals keep a respectful distance and stay at full attention watching the lions. Once they were on their way, the normal activity resumed.
We saw another pride of lions under an acacia tree lazing around. Such beautiful beasts.
Back to the Ongava reserve
On the private reserve there are less rules, and you can go out later, and even go off-road and do walking safaris. In the afternoon, we spotted a white rhino. Our guide Mike took us out of the jeep for a closer look. These creatures don’t have very good eyesight and we could approach from the side as we were downwind. It was a close encounter with this endangered animal. Mike told us that this would not be possible with the black rhinos as they are much more aggressive.
We also had an overly grumpy elephant charge the vehicle. At the last minute he stopped in a cloud of dust and eyed each row in the jeep one after the other. He then turned around letting out some loud popping farts in our general direction! After a brief shocked silence we all started laughing at the scene. Fortunately we were not downwind!
Later back at the camp we went to the camp’s viewing hide (a camouflaged spot near the watering hole) where we saw two black rhinos and two white rhinos both drinking from the watering hole. Amazing to see so many rhinos here and especially the very shy and very endangered black rhino.
Scenic flight
As we took off in our private plane again, we flew over the huge salt pan and really saw the enormity of it. At over 120 km long and 50 km wide even from the air we could not see all of it. Impressive!
Conclusion
We were happy to add Namibia to our safari destination list and to have seen the desolate but famous Skeleton Coast and the huge sand dunes of Sossusvlei.
A week seemed to be enough with the flying between camps. The distances were vast and driving, while more flexible would have been extremely long and we believe quite monotonous (and also tough on the back as the roads were not great). So, if we did this again, we would not hesitate to fly with Wings Over Africa.
Should we ever come back we might opt to check out the eastern side of Etosha National Park where there seemed to be more water (and likely more animals).
We did splurge on the camps like Little Ongava which was fabulous, but truth be told we were out on the game drives much of the day and didn’t really have much time to enjoy all that the room or lodge had to offer. In June, the plunge pool was freezing and served more as a watering hole for wildlife and a huge bird bath. We would probably have been just fine with the standard Ongava Lodge rooms which were even closer to the watering hole viewing hide.
Being all the way in Africa and connecting in Johannesburg, we had opted to add a few days of safari in South Africa at the MalaMala Game Reserve in Sabi Sands just to make sure our animal viewing cravings were fully satisfied.