Okay, I'm going on this trip next 2024; from what I have seen and the info I have already gather, plus some advice from friends... Namibia it's spectacular! but a totally different scenario.
It is not a country with the animal abundance everywhere like Kenya or Tanzania; yes! they have some throughout the country, but the biggest concentration it's mostly up north in Etosha a national park.
I love animals and love going on Safaris (3) already, but I have heard so many great things about Namibia that I'm curious and planning on keeping my plans as is.
I have added a couple of things to the tour (as always)... like a visit to the Sandwich Bay and also and air ballon flight as well as a day tour with a private guide on arrival at Windhoek.
Namibia has beautiful scenery and the desert it's enchanting and magical. I have also been told the people are super friendly, not surprise! and the food superb.
They also have an interesting history, sometimes very cruel, but today the country it's prosperous and driven.
"So, my final thought"
If you want the Safari experience- (all animals), Namibia it's not the one... if you want to see lots of animals stay with Kenya & Tanzania -next best one, Botswana-Zambia & Cape Town (which for me It's an amazing- and very complete tour)
But, if you decide on Namibia, you'll not be disappointed and I'm sure Tauck will have fantastic itinerary set for us to enjoy every min.
Just think, if it wasn't totally worth it, Tauck would not be going there..
Hey Mil.. happy to say that I just booked Namibia for many of the reasons you discussed. It sounds magical. Finally worked it out. Got a non-stop flight out of Victoria Falls (Taking South Africa Elegant tour first) to Windhoek.
Thanks for the info. The combination of these two tours back to back sounds like my cup of tea.
I'm on the July 30th. So feel free to share your thoughts after your return.
Happy Holidays!
Stellie Hi!
Actually, you are going before I do. Glad it worked out for you, and you can do it after the South Africa. -
I personally find the desert magical, mysterious and peaceful, a great way to center and balance our soul, plus the beauty of the Dumes... it's unbelievable, it's natures reaching perfection.
It will be a great experience.
We just returned from a 17 day tour of Namibia, our second visit in six years. We toured pretty much all areas of the country including the areas that Tauck visits. I’ve already posted my tips.
Tauck stays at the Strand hotel in Swokopmund, our tour had a nice lunch there. My husband and I chose the fish, chips and mushy peas, prepared in the typical British style, hake was the fish and the chips only slightly crisp, which I prefer. The mushy peas were not quite like the British version, but it was delicious and the fish so fresh. I think that is where we had oysters too.
A note about the craft market Tauck mentions near the Stand hotel, we drove by it but we elected not to visit as it mainly looked like lots of carved animals and not much else. We liked the shops that were open, some were closed as it was a Saturday and Sunday when we were there, many close on Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday.
On our previous trip, we stayed at a resort which is where the Ongava resort is that Tauck uses, the same Waterhole and hide still exist and that is where we took some fantastic photos of wildlife at the waterhole, giraffe and zebras drinking, rhino, oryx etc.
This trip, there was no wind when we visited the dunes, I only walked halfway up Dune 45 as it was a very hot day. When we went last time, the dune chosen was Big Daddy which Tauck climbs, it was extremely windy that day and we were blasted with sand. Be sure to take a buff to cover your mouth and nose and sunglasses for your eyes. I’ve previously mentioned that the sand ruined my camera mechanism, so do be careful just in case conditions are the same. A lady in our group wore white socks and complained the red sand ruined them, the stains would not wash out..choose your socks and closed toe shoes carefully, I suggest ones you don’t care about staining. My shoes were mid brown suede old Lands End ones similar to Merrill’s which I pretty much wore the entire trip, they wash up as good as new….a job on my agenda today.
Our tour had a two hour flight over the Skeleton coast, our plane had three passengers and young pilot, who let the lady sitting next to him toke the controls for a while. He did some fancy twists and turns for us too, awesome. We saw the flamingoes and seals. We visited one of the shipwrecks on a land excursion and saw the flamingoes and the famous seal colony, we walked along the broadwalk the midst of the colony, even seeing a baby seal literally just born, placenta still attached, seagulls pecking at the placenta…just up my street.
Etosha has some very open barren areas with natural and artificial waterholes where the wild life congregate. There are also areas with many bushes and trees which make animal spotting challenging. We saw three rhinos this trip but many more when we went six years ago. Etosha is definitely not the place to see lots of animals like East Africa unless you are lucky. We love Namibia, but do think the Tauck tour seems very limited with too much down time you might want to fill as Mil is going to do.
My photos get jumbled up when I download them here. Note the largest meteorite ever discovered on earth and also the girl who has the basin of tomatoes at her feet, she walked across the river from Angola to the Namibia side to sell her produce. Our driver bought some as we were on our way to visit a school and we gave them to to them for lunchtime.
British, your photos are wonderful. After going on Kenya and Tanzania and the Botswana Safaris, I'm thinking maybe we should repeat the Botswana one. I love the openness of Namibia but I think my husband would want more animals. I will have to look at the itinerary again.
As a side note, I met "Noreen" (a regular contributor) on a wonderful trip to Morocco. She is a lot of fun! Had a great trip and TD.
Debi, we will definitely be repeating the Botswana, Zambia trip in the future. We booked the Wildlife Oydessy tour for last year but had to cancel because flights would not work while Covid testing was still required. We did not rebook. Having just been to Chobe as well as Namibia on this trip, we learned that the land Chobe part of the tour, (as opposed to the river cruise on the Chobe which we did previously and again on this tour.) has a narrow ‘road’ so if a siting of a cat for instance, occurs, it’s very hard to get near. There are also thick bushes and trees, so it’s hard to spot any animals. Of course the river area is very different and you see hundreds of elephants, hippos and Buffalo. The birdlife is great, we saw hundreds of Maribou storks there last week, affectionally known as one of the ugly five.
The bird in the sunset was a fish Eagle, even with Gino it was a long way off. I just love those birds and I’m very good at spotting them, their white heads really stand out. All these pics are unedited iPhone ones. I got fed up of carrying my big camera around, it’s so much easier taking pictures I can share with my phone, that next year we will just take my husband’s big camera and I will use the iPhone. We always carry binoculars and use them a lot. As long as we have a few good close up photos for our Shutterfly book, they are good enough for us. Will be such a relief not carting the big camera around the airports and at Doha, you have to take the camera out of it’s case at security coming back to the US….which of course was at the bottom of my backpack on Saturday!
Thanks British. Even more excited now that I've seen your pics and description of the country. The I-phone 14 (the one I bought takes amazing pics) No "big" camera for me.
Amazing photos, British! Thanks for posting. I carry an iPhone but also take pictures with my mind. Sometimes photographing things is not always the best way to remember them.
Totally agree SandyFeet, but if you say that people think you are nuts. Research has shown if you keep taking photos you don’t retain what you actually see with your eyes. I said that once here and people were mean to me.
SandyFeet - Although I enjoy looking at the photos from "exotic" trips, I am not much on taking photos either. I have found that the best way to memorialize a holiday is with my memory.
OurTravels, exactly! Isn’t that why it is called “the present”?
British, water off a duck’s back. I can’t imagine anyone being mean to you although I think many weak and insecure people find it easy to be mean and insulting behind the safety of a computer screen. I learned a long time ago that what other people think of me is none of my business. That being said, I am on this Forum for helpful information - which you generously provide - and I ignore everything else ( although sometimes I find the childish posts to be quite entertaining and humorous ). Water off a duck’s back. Enjoy your Sunday, and Fly, Eagles, Fly🦅
I was in the mode back in the if taking pictures after pictures while hauling a camera and even my iPhone as well. I do enjoy the great pictures I’ve taken portrayed on some walls in my house. Those provoke fabulous memories when walking past them as well as some artifacts I’ve purchased. At this point in my life, I only wonder what’s the point of taking hundreds and hundreds and then hundreds again of pictures only to be stored on your computer in the cloud. The other day I literally sat for 2 hours while a good friend showed me her pictures of her trip. We are only proud of the pictures we take ourselves; others truly get a bit bored after sitting 2 hours. I did it only to be nice to a good friend. I can understand it for those of you are professional photographers because this pics are fabulous.
when I went last year to B,Z and Cape T. on our cruise in Chobe, we saw more then 600 elephants, every time we wanted to move on... more would show up, even the TD if you can call him that, mentioned he had never seen so many at once. It was Amazing!
this picture was taken with my camera, I did a Pano, that covers more than probably 3-350 elephants, looking for it.
I will repeat that safari, maybe in 3-4 years. I have other stuff in mind for 2024-2025.
Regarding the photography gear... I'm terrible! I have to admit it. I use my iPhone , but I also take my camera... and I use both specially on Safari, I like more my camera. - Yes, they are heavy but if you like photography and you have a good eye, taking pics it's part of the fun.
Now, as British said the phone it's very convenient and easy for picture sharing during the trip and on Forums.
This video it's from the last hotel Tauck visits in Namibia- it's in a private reserve and it does have a variety of animal viewing around the reserve.
Yes, I think that is the hotel which has the waterhole and hide which was built on the site where Andersson Camp was that we stayed in six years ago. That was a very basic camp. We must have been very close to it when we were there this time. Most of the camps we stayed in were pretty luxurious but not to that level. We had to balance that with knowing our tour was 23 days but cost less than the Tauck tour which was half that time. We are still happy.
British - We had to balance that with knowing our tour was 23 days but cost less than the Tauck tour which was half
that time. We are still happy.
True, comfort vs duration is a cost tradeoff.
For this 70+ person, a 23 day tour seems too long, especially for an exotic tour like you were on. Especially since it seems like the odds of getting some illness in that long of a tour, forcing one to miss tour days, seems much more likely as I age.
I'm going to be sticking with the ~14 day tour, with more comforts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rra2m7dVXSQ
Comments
Loved this Mil, thanks
Gladys , Hi
I really enjoy it; it is very informative and the cinematography it's amazing, something nice to share in this era of hate and violence.
Thanks, Mil.. How would this trip compare to the other safaris that you have taken?
,
Hi Debi.
Okay, I'm going on this trip next 2024; from what I have seen and the info I have already gather, plus some advice from friends... Namibia it's spectacular! but a totally different scenario.
It is not a country with the animal abundance everywhere like Kenya or Tanzania; yes! they have some throughout the country, but the biggest concentration it's mostly up north in Etosha a national park.
I love animals and love going on Safaris (3) already, but I have heard so many great things about Namibia that I'm curious and planning on keeping my plans as is.
I have added a couple of things to the tour (as always)... like a visit to the Sandwich Bay and also and air ballon flight as well as a day tour with a private guide on arrival at Windhoek.
Namibia has beautiful scenery and the desert it's enchanting and magical. I have also been told the people are super friendly, not surprise! and the food superb.
They also have an interesting history, sometimes very cruel, but today the country it's prosperous and driven.
I'm also planning a walking Photographic Safari for 2026. with Marlon Du Toit, so in that one I will see only animals and up-close.
https://www.instagram.com/marlondutoit/
"So, my final thought"
If you want the Safari experience- (all animals), Namibia it's not the one... if you want to see lots of animals stay with Kenya & Tanzania -next best one, Botswana-Zambia & Cape Town (which for me It's an amazing- and very complete tour)
But, if you decide on Namibia, you'll not be disappointed and I'm sure Tauck will have fantastic itinerary set for us to enjoy every min.
Just think, if it wasn't totally worth it, Tauck would not be going there..
Hope this helps.
Hey Mil.. happy to say that I just booked Namibia for many of the reasons you discussed. It sounds magical. Finally worked it out. Got a non-stop flight out of Victoria Falls (Taking South Africa Elegant tour first) to Windhoek.
Thanks for the info. The combination of these two tours back to back sounds like my cup of tea.
I'm on the July 30th. So feel free to share your thoughts after your return.
Happy Holidays!
Stellie Hi!
Actually, you are going before I do. Glad it worked out for you, and you can do it after the South Africa. -
I personally find the desert magical, mysterious and peaceful, a great way to center and balance our soul, plus the beauty of the Dumes... it's unbelievable, it's natures reaching perfection.
It will be a great experience.
We just returned from a 17 day tour of Namibia, our second visit in six years. We toured pretty much all areas of the country including the areas that Tauck visits. I’ve already posted my tips.
Tauck stays at the Strand hotel in Swokopmund, our tour had a nice lunch there. My husband and I chose the fish, chips and mushy peas, prepared in the typical British style, hake was the fish and the chips only slightly crisp, which I prefer. The mushy peas were not quite like the British version, but it was delicious and the fish so fresh. I think that is where we had oysters too.
A note about the craft market Tauck mentions near the Stand hotel, we drove by it but we elected not to visit as it mainly looked like lots of carved animals and not much else. We liked the shops that were open, some were closed as it was a Saturday and Sunday when we were there, many close on Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday.
On our previous trip, we stayed at a resort which is where the Ongava resort is that Tauck uses, the same Waterhole and hide still exist and that is where we took some fantastic photos of wildlife at the waterhole, giraffe and zebras drinking, rhino, oryx etc.
This trip, there was no wind when we visited the dunes, I only walked halfway up Dune 45 as it was a very hot day. When we went last time, the dune chosen was Big Daddy which Tauck climbs, it was extremely windy that day and we were blasted with sand. Be sure to take a buff to cover your mouth and nose and sunglasses for your eyes. I’ve previously mentioned that the sand ruined my camera mechanism, so do be careful just in case conditions are the same. A lady in our group wore white socks and complained the red sand ruined them, the stains would not wash out..choose your socks and closed toe shoes carefully, I suggest ones you don’t care about staining. My shoes were mid brown suede old Lands End ones similar to Merrill’s which I pretty much wore the entire trip, they wash up as good as new….a job on my agenda today.
Our tour had a two hour flight over the Skeleton coast, our plane had three passengers and young pilot, who let the lady sitting next to him toke the controls for a while. He did some fancy twists and turns for us too, awesome. We saw the flamingoes and seals. We visited one of the shipwrecks on a land excursion and saw the flamingoes and the famous seal colony, we walked along the broadwalk the midst of the colony, even seeing a baby seal literally just born, placenta still attached, seagulls pecking at the placenta…just up my street.
Etosha has some very open barren areas with natural and artificial waterholes where the wild life congregate. There are also areas with many bushes and trees which make animal spotting challenging. We saw three rhinos this trip but many more when we went six years ago. Etosha is definitely not the place to see lots of animals like East Africa unless you are lucky. We love Namibia, but do think the Tauck tour seems very limited with too much down time you might want to fill as Mil is going to do.
My photos get jumbled up when I download them here. Note the largest meteorite ever discovered on earth and also the girl who has the basin of tomatoes at her feet, she walked across the river from Angola to the Namibia side to sell her produce. Our driver bought some as we were on our way to visit a school and we gave them to to them for lunchtime.
British, your photos are wonderful. After going on Kenya and Tanzania and the Botswana Safaris, I'm thinking maybe we should repeat the Botswana one. I love the openness of Namibia but I think my husband would want more animals. I will have to look at the itinerary again.
As a side note, I met "Noreen" (a regular contributor) on a wonderful trip to Morocco. She is a lot of fun! Had a great trip and TD.
Debi, we will definitely be repeating the Botswana, Zambia trip in the future. We booked the Wildlife Oydessy tour for last year but had to cancel because flights would not work while Covid testing was still required. We did not rebook. Having just been to Chobe as well as Namibia on this trip, we learned that the land Chobe part of the tour, (as opposed to the river cruise on the Chobe which we did previously and again on this tour.) has a narrow ‘road’ so if a siting of a cat for instance, occurs, it’s very hard to get near. There are also thick bushes and trees, so it’s hard to spot any animals. Of course the river area is very different and you see hundreds of elephants, hippos and Buffalo. The birdlife is great, we saw hundreds of Maribou storks there last week, affectionally known as one of the ugly five.
As you can see, most of these photos were taken by the river, or on the river
The bird in the sunset was a fish Eagle, even with Gino it was a long way off. I just love those birds and I’m very good at spotting them, their white heads really stand out. All these pics are unedited iPhone ones. I got fed up of carrying my big camera around, it’s so much easier taking pictures I can share with my phone, that next year we will just take my husband’s big camera and I will use the iPhone. We always carry binoculars and use them a lot. As long as we have a few good close up photos for our Shutterfly book, they are good enough for us. Will be such a relief not carting the big camera around the airports and at Doha, you have to take the camera out of it’s case at security coming back to the US….which of course was at the bottom of my backpack on Saturday!
British Great photos - thanks for sharing. I feel your pain about carrying the "Big" camera.
Thanks British. Even more excited now that I've seen your pics and description of the country. The I-phone 14 (the one I bought takes amazing pics) No "big" camera for me.
Extraordinary and breathtaking photos!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Amazing photos, British! Thanks for posting. I carry an iPhone but also take pictures with my mind. Sometimes photographing things is not always the best way to remember them.
Sandy feet: I wholeheartedly agree. Live in the moment.
Totally agree SandyFeet, but if you say that people think you are nuts. Research has shown if you keep taking photos you don’t retain what you actually see with your eyes. I said that once here and people were mean to me.
SandyFeet - Although I enjoy looking at the photos from "exotic" trips, I am not much on taking photos either. I have found that the best way to memorialize a holiday is with my memory.
OurTravels, exactly! Isn’t that why it is called “the present”?
British, water off a duck’s back. I can’t imagine anyone being mean to you although I think many weak and insecure people find it easy to be mean and insulting behind the safety of a computer screen. I learned a long time ago that what other people think of me is none of my business. That being said, I am on this Forum for helpful information - which you generously provide - and I ignore everything else ( although sometimes I find the childish posts to be quite entertaining and humorous ). Water off a duck’s back. Enjoy your Sunday, and Fly, Eagles, Fly🦅
I was in the mode back in the if taking pictures after pictures while hauling a camera and even my iPhone as well. I do enjoy the great pictures I’ve taken portrayed on some walls in my house. Those provoke fabulous memories when walking past them as well as some artifacts I’ve purchased. At this point in my life, I only wonder what’s the point of taking hundreds and hundreds and then hundreds again of pictures only to be stored on your computer in the cloud. The other day I literally sat for 2 hours while a good friend showed me her pictures of her trip. We are only proud of the pictures we take ourselves; others truly get a bit bored after sitting 2 hours. I did it only to be nice to a good friend. I can understand it for those of you are professional photographers because this pics are fabulous.
when I went last year to B,Z and Cape T. on our cruise in Chobe, we saw more then 600 elephants, every time we wanted to move on... more would show up, even the
TD if you can call him that, mentioned he had never seen so many at once. It was Amazing!
this picture was taken with my camera, I did a Pano, that covers more than probably 3-350 elephants, looking for it.
I will repeat that safari, maybe in 3-4 years. I have other stuff in mind for 2024-2025.
Regarding the photography gear... I'm terrible! I have to admit it. I use my iPhone , but I also take my camera... and I use both specially on Safari, I like more my camera. - Yes, they are heavy but if you like photography and you have a good eye, taking pics it's part of the fun.
Now, as British said the phone it's very convenient and easy for picture sharing during the trip and on Forums.
British, wonderful pictures, I loved them, will have to look at this trip.
Stellie, Hi.
This video it's from the last hotel Tauck visits in Namibia- it's in a private reserve and it does have a variety of animal viewing around the reserve.
Yes, I think that is the hotel which has the waterhole and hide which was built on the site where Andersson Camp was that we stayed in six years ago. That was a very basic camp. We must have been very close to it when we were there this time. Most of the camps we stayed in were pretty luxurious but not to that level. We had to balance that with knowing our tour was 23 days but cost less than the Tauck tour which was half that time. We are still happy.
True, comfort vs duration is a cost tradeoff.
For this 70+ person, a 23 day tour seems too long, especially for an exotic tour like you were on. Especially since it seems like the odds of getting some illness in that long of a tour, forcing one to miss tour days, seems much more likely as I age.
I'm going to be sticking with the ~14 day tour, with more comforts.