Namibia safari

11:00 Depart from Rovos Rail Station, Pretoria. Travel south across the goldfields of the Witwatersrand.
Guests may freshen up in their suites before joining fellow travellers in the lounge car or observation car at the
rear of the train.
13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars.
16:30 Tea in the lounge and observation cars.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Kimberley. Dress: Smart Casual.

Please ensure that the Train Manager or Administration Deputy is in possession of your passport.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00.
10:00 Enjoy a tour of Kimberley’s Diamond Mine Museum and the Big Hole. Capital of the Northern Cape, Kimberley is well known for the discovery of diamonds that led to its establishment in 1871.
13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. The observation car will be leading the train until after tea – a different aspect that our rail enthusiasts enjoy. Travel through the Karoo, a vast semi-desert region that was once an enormous inland sea. Over millions of years, volcanic matter was ground down and deposited as silt upon the seabed to form what geologists call the Karoo system.
16:30 Tea in the lounge and observation cars.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to De Aar, an important railway junction. Dress: Smart Casual.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00.
13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars.
16:00 Enjoy a walking tour of Upington with a sundowner cruise on the Orange River.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. Border formalities with Namibia. Dress: “Africa” Theme or Smart Casual.

The Orange River is the longest river in South Africa (2432km/1511mi). It rises in the Drakensberg Mountains in Lesotho and flows westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. It forms part of the borders between South Africa and Lesotho and South Africa and Namibia. Except for Upington, it does not pass through any major cities. Attorney General of the Cape, Sir Thomas Upington was principally responsible for liquidating the business activities of all the Orange River pirates and capturing their leader, Klaas Lucas. When the desperadoes were finally chased away in 1884, the town was founded on the banks of the Orange River and named in his honour.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00.
12:30 Lunch is served in the dining cars. The train travels along the southern reaches of the Kalahari Basin.
14:00 Transfer (±60 min) to the Fish River Canyon.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Aus. Dress: Smart Casual.

The Fish River rises in the centre of the country before flowing south into the Orange River on Namibia’s border with South Africa. It has formed the great Fish River Canyon – the largest canyon in the southern hemisphere and probably only second to Arizona’s Grand Canyon in terms of size. The vast rocky landscape breaks up into a series of spectacular cliffs. Its size is impressive: 161km long, up to 27km wide and almost 550m at its deepest.

06:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure.
08:00 Transfer (±60 min) to the ghost town of Kolmanskop followed by lunch in Lüderitz. Lüderitz is known for its museum, colonial architecture and wildlife including seals, penguins, flamingos and ostriches. Look out for the illusive legendary horses rumoured to roam the Namib.
18:00 Return to the train. Depart for Keetmanshoop. The observation car will be leading the train until after dinner.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. Dress: Smart Casual.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until departure.
09:00 Visit Keetmanshoop and Garas Park (Quiver Trees), home to roughly 300 specimens of the Aloe dichotomy. The prehistoric trees have forked branches that reach up to 5m making for great photographic opportunities.
13:00 Return to the train for lunch. Depart for Mariental.
16:30 Tea in the lounge and observation cars.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Rehoboth. Dress: Smart Casual.

Please pack a small overnight bag for the stay in Sossusvlei. Tog bags have been placed in your suite for your convenience.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars en route to Windhoek.
10:00 Transfer to the airstrip. Depart in a light aircraft for a one-hour flight to a Sossusvlei lodge for overnight.
After check-in, enjoy lunch and an afternoon at leisure.
16:30 Afternoon desert drive and a bush dinner after sunset. Overnight at the lodge. Dress: Casual.

The dunes of the Namib Desert were created by sand carried by the wind from the coast of Namibia. The sand
here is over five million years old and is red in colour due to its iron-oxide content. As the light changes during
the day, so does the appearance of the dunes’ characteristic colour allowing for interesting photographs at any
time. The wind in the Sossusvlei area blows from all directions causing the sand to form a star shape with multiple arms, hence the name “star dunes”.

Please ensure your overnight bag is ready to be collected from your suite before the drive. Bags will be stored in the lodge’s baggage area. Time of drive to be confirmed.

An early wake-up call with tea and coffee. Enjoy a desert drive with breakfast in the vlei.
Return to the lodge to use the facilities, check-out and transfer to the airstrip.
12:30 Depart in a light aircraft for the one-hour flight to Windhoek.
14:00 Lunch at Windhoek Country Club followed by a city tour. Visit the Trans-Namib Transport Museum, the
Independence Memorial Museum, the Evangelical Lutheran Church (a striking landmark) and the Namibia
Craft Centre in the old Breweries Building.
18:00 Depart for Kranzberg.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. Dress: Smart Casual.

Situated in Namibia’s central highlands, Windhoek is an attractive city surrounded by clusters of hills and the impressive Auas and Eros Mountains. The Trans-Namib Transport Museum outlines Namibian transport history, particularly that of the railway. The Independence Memorial Museum focuses on the anti-colonial resistance and the national liberation struggle of Namibia.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00.
12:30 Lunch is served in the dining cars.
14:30 Transfer (±60 min) to a cheetah conservation project in Otjiwarongo. Founded in Namibia in 1990, the
Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) is dedicated to saving the cheetah in the wild.
18:00 Depart for Otavi.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. Dress: Smart Casual.

Please pack a small overnight bag for the stay in Etosha.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00.
Transfer (±60 min) to an Etosha lodge for overnight. Guests are welcome to use the pool and lodge facilities.
Enjoy lunch followed by check-in.
15:00 Afternoon game drive (approximately 3 hours).
19:30 Dinner at the lodge and overnight. Dress: Smart Casual.

Etosha National Park (22270 km2) offers great game viewing with many species of mammals, birds and reptiles. It gets its name from the Etosha pan (4760 km2), which almost entirely lies within the park. Etosha is a large salt pan forming part of the Kalahari basin and means ‘Great White Place’.

Please ensure your overnight bag is ready to be collected from your suite and proceed to checkout by 10:45. Your bag will be loaded into the vehicles. Time of game drive to be confirmed.

06:00 Breakfast at the lodge until 07:00 followed by a game drive in the Etosha National Park. Return to the lodge to freshen up and check-out by 10:45.
11:00 Transfer (±60 min) to the train at Tsumeb Station.
13:00 Lunch is served in the dining cars. The observation car will be leading the train until tomorrow.
16:30 Tea in the lounge and observation cars.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. The train travels southwest towards the Atlantic Ocean.
Dress: “1920s” Theme or Smart Casual.

Please ensure luggage is ready for collection 15 minutes before departure and that you have your passport.

07:00 Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00. Traverse the Namib Desert towards Walvis Bay.
12:00 Arrive at journey’s end in Walvis Bay, Namibia.

The Namib stretches for more than 2000km along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia and South Africa. The
geology consists of sand seas near the coast while gravel plains and scattered mountain outcrops occur further inland. The name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means “vast place”. Having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for roughly 55-80 million years, the Namib may be the oldest desert in the world.

The above itinerary is available in reverse too (Walvis Bay to Pretoria).