Southern Africa

imme

Has anyone got much experience of travelling in southern Africa

I'm checking out south Africa, Botswana, Namibia
As possibles for visiting in 2017 or 2018

At this stage scale is something I'm thinking about, ideally I don't particularly want to take flights

Practically though flights may be unavoidable

Anyone got experience of Namibia

cooperguy

I was in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana a few years ago. I loved it. You probably should take some flights though unless you have unlimited time. There are large areas of land with not much to see.

sarkozy

I lived in Lesotho for 18 months and travelled the region extensively, including Namibia.

Unfortunately, the lengthy post I wrote here disappeared.

So if you have any specific questions, I'll try to help.

sarkozy

I'm back. So, Namibia. The country is huge. If you want to drive, fine, the roads and drivers are good there. But it's huge. There are buses. You can use these. Or hire a driver, which aren't prohibitively expensive.

A bus from Windhoek to Cape Town takes 24 hours (operated by Intercape). If driving, this route is nice. Travelling into the Namib Desert is highly recommended. Everyone goes to Sossusvlei and Deadvlei. The nearby town, Swakopmund it nice for a couple of nights. Great oysters. Walvis Bay is crap. Never got Luderitz, nor north to Etosha or the panhandle.

Namibia is quiet, safe, beautiful, if a little weird. In a good way. If you're stuck on time, not driving or there aren't bus services, then you're just going to have to get flights.

Any other questions, let me know.

browne_rob5

sarkozy wrote: »

I'm back. So, Namibia. The country is huge. If you want to drive, fine, the roads and drivers are good there. But it's huge. There are buses. You can use these. Or hire a driver, which aren't prohibitively expensive.

A bus from Windhoek to Cape Town takes 24 hours (operated by Intercape). If driving, this route is nice. Travelling into the Namib Desert is highly recommended. Everyone goes to Sossusvlei and Deadvlei. The nearby town, Swakopmund it nice for a couple of nights. Great oysters. Walvis Bay is crap. Never got Luderitz, nor north to Etosha or the panhandle.

Namibia is quiet, safe, beautiful, if a little weird. In a good way. If you're stuck on time, not driving or there aren't bus services, then you're just going to have to get flights.

Any other questions, let me know.

Hey

Sounds like a great trip! I'm traveling from Cape Town to Windhoek on an organised tour in December with 4 days either side. We've plenty to do in Cape Town but any advice for 4 days in Windhoek?

We were going to do this on one of the days.
https://www.katutours.com/

And a night in Joe's bar looks like it would be fun. We've booked a nice hotel with a rooftop pool and bar so worst case scenario we can lounge around there for the day!

Thanks!