Dunes, Wrecks & Wilderness: Namibia Unveiled

Day 2

Breakfast at your leisure

Chauffeur transfer provided to Windhoek Eros Airport in time for:

Departure private light aircraft charter flight from Windhoek - 2 hour flying time.

Arrive Keerweerder airstrip. Met on arrival and shared transfer provided to the lodge.

Your afternoon nature activity drive as per the lodge

Kwessi Dunes is a Sossusvlei safari camp located deep in Namibia’s striking NamibRand Nature Reserve, a vast desert wilderness of over 200,000 hectares. With its rolling desert plains and backdrop of craggy mountains and iconic red dunes, this is a place where time seems to stand still and the space is never-ending. Here, it’s not about chasing big game but rather soaking up the beauty of the colourful landscape, admiring the antelope that scatter the sand, and gazing at the stars that light up the night sky.

Dinner at the lodge

Day 3

Morning and afternoon nature activities as per the lodge.

• Morning and afternoon scenic drives in the striking NamibRand Nature Reserve
• Nature walks
• Skybeds experience and star gazing
• Quad biking
• Day trips to the highest dunes in the world at Sossusvlei (at an extra cost)
• Hot air ballooning (at an extra cost)
• Horse riding (at an extra cost)
• Scenic helicopter flights (at an extra cost)
• Spa treatments (at an extra cost)

Day 4

Morning activity as per the lodge

Transfer provided to the airstrip in time for your flight:

Departure private light aircraft charter flight from Namib Rand to Mowa Bay - 2 hour flying time.

3PM Arrive Mowa Bay airstrip. Met on arrival and shared transfer (about 2 hours) provided to the lodge.

Freedom, beauty and solitude - Uniquely designed around the enigmatic shipwrecks that line Namibia’s Skeleton Coast, there’s nowhere on the continent quite like Shipwreck Lodge. In fact, there’s nowhere on the continent quite like the Skeleton Coast. It’s a raw, rugged and impossibly remote slice of African wilderness, where towering dunes and wind-swept plains roll as far as the eye can see, buffeted by the icy Atlantic seas.

Leisure at the lodge, followed by dinner.

Day 5

The Skeleton Coast is an excellent year-round destination, and it stays relatively cool throughout the year – that’ll be that eerie Atlantic fog. But the desert temperatures can change at the drop of a hat, going from freezing to boiling in a matter of minutes, and you should always travel with a warm jumper (or two).

Shipwreck Lodge itself is located in an unrivalled spot in the Skeleton Coast Central Concession Area, a piece of land between the Hoarusib and Hoanib rivers. The lodge is within the Skeleton Coast National Park and roughly 45 kilometres from Mowe Bay. The area contains irreplaceable and vulnerable wildlife habitat for species of the highest conservation importance, including elephant and the elusive brown hyena. Importantly, it also hosts the only other viable lion population in Namibia outside of Etosha National Park.

• Day excursions to the Mowe Bay seal colony, with stops at the Suiderkus and Karimona shipwrecks, Westies Diamond Mine and the remains of the Ventura Bomber.
• Sundowners drives to the roaring dunes.
• Quad biking (mornings only; aged 16 and over) and sand boarding across the dunes. We recommend pre-booking the quad biking activity in advance.
• 4×4 drives along the Hoarusib River, including the Clay Castles and the chance to spot some of the unique, desert-adapted wildlife.
• Beach lunch (weather permitting).

Day 6

Morning and afternoon nature activities as per the lodge.

The Skeleton Coast is an area known for its extraordinary landscapes and wildlife sightings are rare – but when do you spot something, it’s a magical experience. First up are the desert-adapted elephant, digging deep beneath the sand for the last vestiges of water. Then, making use of the wells left behind by the pachyderms are giraffe, lion and baboon, and perhaps even a brown hyaena or two, but sightings are rare. There are also thousands of plants and insects that flourish in the sand, surviving from the moisture of the cold fog that drifts inland from the ocean. Incredible stuff – but that’s not all. Marine life positively thrives, feeding off the nutrients in the Atlantic, and the most iconic species are the Cape fur seals that line the rocky shoreline in large colonies. Birdlife is also prolific and you should most certainly pack your binos for Rüppell’s korhaans and Benguela long-billed larks. 

Day 7

Breakfast at leisure

9AM Transfer provided to the airstrip in time for your flight:

Departure private light aircraft charter flight from  Mowa Bay to Onguma Airstrip.

Arrive Onguma airstrip (or Mokuti airstrip weather dependent). Met on arrival and shared transfer provided to the lodge.

Lunch at the lodge

Afternoon game viewing in Etosha National Park, as per the lodge - Etosha is a 22 750km² wildlife sanctuary in Namibia – one of Africa’s most stable and accessible countries. Etosha, meaning ‘place of dry water’, and refers to a flat calcrete depression (or pan) of about 5 000km². The ‘Pan’ (overlooked by the Onguma Reserve) provides a great, parched, silver-white backdrop of shimmering mirages to an area of semi-arid savannah grassland and thorn scrub. The pan itself contains water only after very good rains and sometimes for only a few days each year, but is enough to stimulate the growth of a blue-green algae which lures thousands of flamingos.

Dinner at the lodge

Day 8

Morning and afternoon game viewing as per the lodge

Optional Bush Walk (additional cost applies) - Africa takes on a new perspective when you experience it on foot as the first explorers did. A bush walk is a unique physical, mental and spiritual adventure through nature. Experience the sights, smells and sounds of the Namibian bush by conducting an early morning leisurely walk accompanied by one of our experienced armed rangers.

Optional Onkolo Hide (additional cost applies) - Onguma's fabulous new water-level hide affords guests a great opportunity to calmly sit and enjoy nature unobserved. Amateur and professional photographers alike love the angles and light from this equipped hide. There is a small ablution facility nearby, benches from which to view the surroundings and lots of windows and vantage points for creative camera angles.

Day 9

Morning and afternoon game viewing as per the lodge

Optional Bush Walk (additional cost applies) - Africa takes on a new perspective when you experience it on foot as the first explorers did. A bush walk is a unique physical, mental and spiritual adventure through nature. Experience the sights, smells and sounds of the Namibian bush by conducting an early morning leisurely walk accompanied by one of our experienced armed rangers.

Optional Onkolo Hide (additional cost applies) - Onguma's fabulous new water-level hide affords guests a great opportunity to calmly sit and enjoy nature unobserved. Amateur and professional photographers alike love the angles and light from this equipped hide. There is a small ablution facility nearby, benches from which to view the surroundings and lots of windows and vantage points for creative camera angles.