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Destination Options Africa

Guided journey

Johannesburg, Botswana and Namibia.

Three countries and three kinds of wild. Three nights in the Okavango by mokoro, on foot and by open vehicle, two on the Chobe River by boat, then west to Namibia for sunrise on the red dunes, two nights on the cold Atlantic coast and the white pan of Etosha. Flights and long desert roads link it together, and the plan is honest about both.

Ask about this journey or write to enquiries@vdoafrica.com

Red-orange dunes at Sossusvlei under a deep blue sky
days
14
nights
13
stops
7

As set out in VDO’s own journey outline of 6 October 2026.

At a glance.

Style
Guided, with a private English speaking guide on touring days
Where
Johannesburg, Okavango Delta, Chobe, Namib Desert, Atlantic coast and Etosha
When to go
June to October: dry in all three regions, with the Delta in flood and Etosha’s animals at the waterholes. Desert nights are close to freezing from June to August.
Suits
Travellers who know the Kruger and want what comes next, photographers, and anyone who enjoys a real road journey. Not for those who dislike small aircraft or long drives.

What it is remembered for

  • A mokoro at water level in the Okavango Delta.
  • Sunrise in the dunes at Sossusvlei, and the walk into Deadvlei.
  • A full day at the waterholes of Etosha, watching for elephant and rhino.

The route.

7 stops, in order.

  1. JohannesburgCity. 1 night.
  2. Okavango DeltaSafari. 3 nights.
  3. ChobeSafari. 2 nights.
  4. WindhoekCity. 1 night.
  5. SossusvleiDesert. 2 nights.
  6. SwakopmundCoast. 2 nights.
  7. EtoshaSafari. 2 nights.

Day by day.

Breakfast is daily from the first morning. Other meals are included only where a day shows them. Travel times are approximate.

  1. Day1 Arrive JohannesburgJohannesburg.

    Travel: private transfer from the airport, about 30 minutes.

    Morning. Met at arrivals and driven to Houghton, one of the old garden suburbs, where the streets run under tall trees.

    Afternoon. Rest. Long flights land here and tomorrow you fly again. The garden is quiet and the pool is yours.

    Evening. A welcome dinner, and a briefing on the days ahead.

    Included
    • Private airport transfer.
    • Welcome dinner.
    Stay
    A boutique hotel in Houghton, Johannesburg.
    Meals
    Dinner.
  2. Day2 Fly to Maun and into the DeltaJohannesburg to the Okavango Delta.

    Travel: a flight of about one hour and 40 minutes to Maun, then about 20 minutes by light aircraft to your camp’s airstrip.

    Morning. Back to the airport for the late morning flight north, across the Kalahari.

    Afternoon. At Maun you change to a small plane, and this flight is part of the safari. The Delta opens below you: channels, islands, palm trees, elephants the size of ants. Your guide is waiting at the airstrip. By four you are out on the water or on a first drive.

    Evening. Dinner in camp by lantern light, with hippos calling from the lagoon.

    Included
    • Private transfer to the airport.
    • Light aircraft flight from Maun to camp.
    • Afternoon activity with your camp guide.
    • Dinner in camp.
    Worth knowing
    • Pack in a soft bag. Light aircraft have a strict weight limit and no room for hard cases.
    Not included
    • The flight from Johannesburg to Maun.
    Stay
    A classic tented camp in the Okavango Delta, with comfort: a proper bed, your own bathroom and a deck over the floodplain.
    Meals
    Breakfast, dinner.
  3. Day3 The Delta by waterThe Okavango Delta.

    Morning. A mokoro: a slim canoe poled by a guide who grew up on these channels. You sit at water level among the lilies while reed frogs and kingfishers go about their morning, and sometimes elephants cross ahead of you. Then a walk on an island, reading tracks.

    Afternoon. Lunch and a siesta through the heat. At four, your first proper game drive across the floodplains, in search of red lechwe, buffalo and giraffe, and the lions and leopards that follow them.

    Evening. Drinks at the fire, then dinner. The camp is unfenced, so a guide walks you to your tent.

    Included
    • Mokoro excursion.
    • Guided island walk.
    • Afternoon game drive.
    • All meals in camp.
    Worth knowing
    • Mokoro trips depend on water. The flood is highest from June to August, and most camps pole from about May to September. Outside those months the day moves onto land.
    Stay
    As day 2.
    Meals
    Breakfast, lunch, dinner.
  4. Day4 The Delta by landThe Okavango Delta.

    Morning. Out at first light in an open vehicle. This is predator time: your guide follows tracks and alarm calls, and in a private concession can leave the road to stay with a leopard or a pack of wild dog.

    Afternoon. Back on the water by boat or mokoro for the last of the light, or out on foot with an armed guide.

    Evening. A last dinner in camp, and a drive home with a spotlight for the owls and the small cats.

    Included
    • Morning game drive.
    • Afternoon water activity or walk.
    • Night drive.
    • All meals in camp.
    Stay
    As day 2.
    Meals
    Breakfast, lunch, dinner.
  5. Day5 To ChobeThe Okavango Delta to Chobe.

    Travel: about one and a half hours by light aircraft, from the camp airstrip to Kasane.

    Morning. A last early activity if the flight allows, then back up over the Delta. North of the water the land dries into woodland, and then the Chobe River appears.

    Afternoon. Kasane, and a lodge on the river bank. At three you are on a boat. In the dry season elephants often come down to the Chobe in their hundreds to drink and swim, and a boat is the way to be near them when they do.

    Evening. Sunset on the river, then dinner at the lodge.

    Included
    • Light aircraft flight from camp to Kasane.
    • Airport transfers in Kasane.
    • Afternoon boat cruise.
    • Park fees.
    • Dinner.
    Stay
    A lodge on the Chobe River at Kasane.
    Meals
    Breakfast, dinner.
  6. Day6 Chobe by land and by riverChobe.

    Morning. Into Chobe National Park at first light, along the river front. Lion and leopard hunt this strip, buffalo come down in herds of hundreds, and there are more elephant here than almost anywhere in Africa. Which of them shows itself is the morning’s luck.

    Afternoon. Lunch and the heat of the day at the lodge. Then back onto the water in a small boat. From the river you are at eye level with whatever comes down to drink, very often elephants, and you can drift where a vehicle cannot go.

    Evening. Sunset on the river, then dinner at the lodge.

    Included
    • Morning game drive in Chobe National Park.
    • Afternoon boat cruise.
    • Park fees.
    • Dinner.
    Stay
    As day 5.
    Meals
    Breakfast, dinner.
  7. Day7 Across to NamibiaChobe to Windhoek.

    Travel: about two and a half hours by road to Victoria Falls airport, including the border, then a direct flight of about one hour and 20 minutes and about 40 minutes by road into Windhoek.

    Morning. East by road and across the border into Zimbabwe, to the airport at Victoria Falls. The flight to Windhoek leaves in the early afternoon.

    Afternoon. Under an hour and a half in the air across northern Botswana, and you land in a different country in every sense: high, dry and golden. Your Namibian guide is waiting. Windhoek sits in a bowl of hills, and the hotel is quiet.

    Evening. Dinner at the hotel with your guide, and the route for the week ahead on the table.

    Included
    • Private road transfer to Victoria Falls airport.
    • Private transfer in Windhoek.
    • Dinner.
    Worth knowing
    • This day crosses into Zimbabwe for a few hours. Check the visa rules for your passport before you travel.
    Not included
    • The flight to Windhoek.
    • Any visa needed for the crossing into Zimbabwe.
    Stay
    A boutique hotel in Windhoek.
    Meals
    Breakfast, dinner.
  8. Day8 Into the NamibWindhoek to Sossusvlei.

    Travel: about four and a half to five hours, most of it on gravel.

    Morning. South out of the city, then west off the tar. The road crosses ranch country to the edge of the plateau and drops down a mountain pass to the desert floor.

    Afternoon. A stop at the desert outpost of Solitaire, then on to your lodge near Sesriem by mid afternoon. When the heat goes, a short walk into the Sesriem Canyon, cut thirty metres deep by a river that almost never runs.

    Evening. Sundowners while the dunes turn red, then dinner under a sky full of stars.

    Included
    • Private guide and vehicle.
    • Sesriem Canyon walk.
    • Park fees.
    • Dinner.
    Stay
    A desert lodge near Sesriem, the gateway to the dunes.
    Meals
    Breakfast, dinner.
  9. Day9 Sossusvlei and DeadvleiSossusvlei.

    Travel: about one hour each way inside the park on tar, then the last five kilometres through deep sand by four wheel drive.

    Morning. At the park gate when it opens at sunrise. The road runs sixty kilometres down a corridor of dunes that are among the highest in the world, red on one side and black with shadow on the other. A climb on Dune 45 for those who want it, then the walk into Deadvlei: a white clay pan, camel thorn trees that died centuries ago and never rotted, and the dune they call Big Daddy standing over it.

    Afternoon. Back at the lodge before the heat of the day. Pool, shade, sleep.

    Evening. Dinner at the lodge.

    Included
    • Private guide and vehicle.
    • Park fees.
    • The four wheel drive transfer to Deadvlei.
    • A picnic breakfast in the dunes.
    • Dinner.
    Worth knowing
    • The gate opens at sunrise for everyone sleeping outside the park. Only guests of the camps inside may go in an hour earlier.
    • Carry water and a hat. Deadvlei is a walk of about a kilometre each way through soft sand.
    Stay
    As day 8.
    Meals
    Breakfast, dinner.
  10. Day10 Across the desert to the seaSossusvlei to Swakopmund.

    Travel: about five hours of driving on gravel, most of a day with stops.

    Morning. North through the Namib on a wide gravel road. Solitaire again, the Gaub and Kuiseb passes, and a signpost in the middle of nowhere where you cross the Tropic of Capricorn.

    Afternoon. The desert flattens into gravel plains, the temperature drops, and the Atlantic appears at Walvis Bay, where flamingos feed in the lagoon. Half an hour up the coast is Swakopmund, a small German colonial town between the dunes and the sea.

    Evening. Dinner on your own account. The fish here comes out of very cold water, and it shows.

    Included
    • Private guide and vehicle.
    Worth knowing
    • The coast is cool and often foggy, even in summer. Keep a jacket within reach.
    Stay
    A hotel in Swakopmund, near the sea front.
    Meals
    Breakfast.
  11. Day11 The coastSwakopmund and Walvis Bay.

    Travel: about 30 minutes each way to Walvis Bay.

    Morning. A morning on the Walvis Bay lagoon by catamaran: pelicans, a colony of Cape fur seals out at Pelican Point, and often dolphins.

    Afternoon. Free in Swakopmund: the old jetty, the cafes, the colonial buildings. Or go further, with one of the options below.

    Evening. At leisure.

    Included
    • Lagoon cruise.
    • Private transfers.
    Stay
    As day 10.
    Meals
    Breakfast.
  12. Day12 To EtoshaSwakopmund to Etosha.

    Travel: about five and a half hours on tar, the longest drive of the journey.

    Morning. An early start inland. The fog lifts within the hour, and the granite peaks of the Spitzkoppe stand on the horizon to the north.

    Afternoon. Through farm towns and thornveld to the southern edge of Etosha by mid afternoon. For those who cannot wait, there is time for a first short drive inside the park before the gate closes at sunset.

    Evening. Dinner at the lodge.

    Included
    • Private guide and vehicle.
    • Park fees.
    • Dinner.
    Optional
    • A seat on the scheduled light aircraft that links the coast and Etosha, in place of the drive. Its times are confirmed the day before.
    Worth knowing
    • Etosha carries a malaria risk, highest in the wet months and low in the dry winter. Speak to your doctor before travel.
    Stay
    A lodge just outside the southern gate of Etosha National Park.
    Meals
    Breakfast, dinner.
  13. Day13 EtoshaEtosha National Park.

    Travel: game drives inside the park, between sunrise and sunset.

    Morning. Through the gate at sunrise. Etosha is built around a white salt pan of nearly 5,000 square kilometres, and in the dry season the animals gather at the waterholes along its edge: often elephant coated in pale dust, giraffe, zebra, oryx and springbok in their thousands, and with luck lion.

    Afternoon. Lunch at a rest camp, then waterhole to waterhole through the afternoon. Black rhino live here in good numbers. Buffalo do not: Etosha has four of the Big Five.

    Evening. Out of the park by sunset, and dinner at the lodge.

    Included
    • A full day of game drives with your guide.
    • Park fees.
    • Dinner.
    Worth knowing
    • For the floodlit waterhole, where rhino and elephant often come to drink after dark, one of your two nights can be spent at the main rest camp inside the park. The rooms are simpler. The waterhole is the reason.
    Stay
    As day 12.
    Meals
    Breakfast, dinner.
  14. Day14 To Windhoek, and departEtosha to Windhoek airport.

    Travel: about five hours on tar.

    Morning. A last look at the bush from the lodge, then south on a good tar road, with a stop at the woodcarvers’ market in Okahandja.

    Afternoon. At the airport by mid afternoon. Flights to Johannesburg leave in the late afternoon and evening and take just under two hours. There are also direct night flights from Windhoek to Europe.

    Included
    • Private transfer to the airport.
    Worth knowing
    • Book a flight that leaves after five in the afternoon.
    Not included
    • The flight from Windhoek.
    Meals
    Breakfast.

Take it whole, or in parts.

This journey is built in parts that follow one another. Take the whole journey, or a run of parts that suits your client.

  • A night in JohannesburgLand, rest and meet your guide before the flight north. Day 1.
  • Three nights in the Okavango DeltaBy light aircraft into the Delta, then mokoro, walks and game drives from a tented camp. Days 2 to 4.
  • Two nights on the Chobe RiverA boat on the Chobe at sunset, where elephants often come down to drink, and the river front of Chobe National Park at first light. Days 5 to 6.
  • Across to NamibiaBy road to Victoria Falls airport and by air to Windhoek, where your Namibian guide is waiting. Day 7.
  • The dunes of the NamibDown off the plateau to the desert, and sunrise among the dunes at Sossusvlei and Deadvlei. Days 8 to 9.
  • The Atlantic coastAcross the Namib to Swakopmund, with a morning on the Walvis Bay lagoon, home to a seal colony and often to dolphins. Days 10 to 11.
  • EtoshaInland to the great white pan, a full day at its waterholes, and the road back to Windhoek. Days 12 to 14.

Take the whole journey, or any parts that follow one another, starting where you may join and ending where you may leave. If you start in the middle, be at the starting place by the hour we give you. A night before can be added.

What is included.

Included

  • Private airport transfers and a private vehicle throughout.
  • A private English speaking guide on touring days.
  • Hotels and lodges, with breakfast daily and the lunches and dinners named in the plan.
  • Entrance and park fees for everything marked included.

Not included

  • International and domestic flights, unless a day says otherwise.
  • Travel insurance, visas and tips.
  • Drinks, and meals not named in the plan.
  • Anything marked optional.
  • On self drive tours: fuel, tolls and entrance fees paid on the day.

Good to know.

  • Why 14 days: every flight from the Chobe side lands in Windhoek in mid afternoon, too late to reach the dunes by road the same day. So there is a night in Windhoek, and it is added to the journey, not taken from the Delta or the coast.
  • The four road days in Namibia run from four and a half to five and a half hours. That is what the desert asks. No two of them fall on days next to each other: each is followed by a day without a long drive, and the last one ends at the airport.
  • The flight from Victoria Falls to Windhoek on day 7 does not run on Mondays, so this journey should not begin on a Tuesday. If it has to, day 7 goes by road to Katima Mulilo, about two hours from Chobe and inside Namibia, and flies to Windhoek from there.
  • Day 7 leaves from Victoria Falls airport, so the Victoria Falls add on fits between Chobe and Windhoek without a detour.
  • Four of the Big Five in Botswana, then rhino but no buffalo in Etosha, so all five are possible between them. Northern Botswana is a malaria area and Etosha carries a seasonal risk: speak to your doctor before travel.
  • Stays are described by style and place.
  • Travel times are approximate driving or flying times without stops, rounded up.
  • Flights are not included unless a day says so. Scheduled flights change by season: the days and times are checked for each journey.
  • The Kruger and northern Botswana are malaria areas, and Etosha carries a seasonal risk. Speak to your doctor before travel. The Cape, the Karoo and the Garden Route are free of malaria, and in Windhoek, the Namib and on the Namibian coast the risk is very low.
  • Wildlife is wild. Each tour says plainly what its reserve holds, and no sighting is ever promised.

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