6 Week family "Trip of a Lifetime" suggestions

Just to bump this thread with an update - enjoyed this thread during lockdown and took some of the advice on board and said we're doing that.

Planning it got ride of the boredom of covid restrictions and gave us something to look forward too.

so thanks to the OP @saggycaggy for starting the thread.

We went to Namibia and South Africa (Cape Town only) for about 6-7 weeks in June / July.

Family of 3 (3 kids Ages : 19 to 8)

We stayed in Windhoek (capital of Namibia) a few days and then hired a 4x4 (Toyota Hilux)to self drive Namibia - which we did! drove over 5000km .

Hilux had 2 tents on the roof which we used every night in campsites on the way.

For the most part the campsite are cheap and well run (unless I bitch about it below) with showers , washing and a bbq. They also will sell basic and firewood. the bigger ones will have other services such as vehicle repair.

Initially my wife was skeptical having never been to Africa before - id' been to south africa only.

Namibia is an ex-German colony (south west Africa to be precise) so there is much German and English influence and english is very widely spoken.

Namibia is really safe , people are very decent and we were only hassled once (see below). none of the racial vibes exist that so in South Africa.

We went in June & July which was winter there but most days were mid 20s. Some days went up to 32degress and a few times down to 15. Just to note due to its position on the globe Namibia has sun kinda only 0700 to 1900 all year. Sunsets are weird to see (for Irish people) the sun goes down so fast literally drops. They have a big cultural thing about "sundowners" basically drinking watching the sun go down.

Overall it cost about 15,000 euro but a repeat journey wouldn't be as much cos

• we have some of the gear now - this was a 1st time
• More experience means you know what is needed and what isn't.
• In hindsight I blew money on sh1te we didn't need
• Also once off expenses popped up like a cat flap for our house cost 550 (which I never want to pay for again)
• Also probably not go to a 2nd destination like south Africa which we did this time

Covid

We went as Covid was kinda over - none of us took the vaxx but had no hassle with recovery and PCR tests . In fact they didn't know what a recovery cert was - i had to explain and they went "ah...." during our stay in Namibia South Africa scrapped all requirements so we didn't need anything to go there either

There were no mask mandates in namibia either and apart from the odd advertisement generally nothing covid.

The journey went as follows:

Day 1 Dublin- Frankfurt

nothing to see here. usual flight . Dublin well ...you know yourself...told to be 3.5h early , desk opens 2h before flight :( 6hour layover. Frankfurt is such a **** airport . overnight flight to Windhoek . Frankfurt to Windhoek is an 10h flight.

Day 2-5 Windhoek

Landed in the morning in Windhoek International .

Nice but tiny airport . All good. Namibian officials love paperwork and bureaucracy but they are all grand to deal with. recommend you buy a sim card at airport they for nothing and you'll need it.

I had booked the jeep for a few days later - no need for one in windhoek and that fella arranged an airport transfer for us to our apartment.

I booked 4 nights in an apt on booking.com and it was lovely and central. Big main street called Independence.

Windhoek is small (600k population) but plenty of rich history esp stuff around the mid 20th century and the war between south africa and angola. they love Robert Mugabe too , a great friend to Namibia Also a big street named after our own Sean McBride.

The main township area in Windhoek is called KATUTURA which means "the place people don't want to live" - you can arrange a tour of the area with local drivers. I would high recommend , people there were very nice and friendly and it's a bit "far out" so a wonderful and kinda sobering experience. But you'd need a local driver , don't wander up and say "story lads?" on your tod. We went to the Tourist Info and they rang a guy - he isn't their employee but I figured you only live once , and turns out he was a dead one fella - even brought us to his house in katutura.

Windhoek has a load of restaurants ,bars and coffee shops that are at a very high standard. It has a decent middle class that seem to eat out a lot.

There are nightclubs but with the kids meant I didn't partake.

If you want supermarkets there are a large variety - I'd recommend FOOD LOVERS MARKET - its the best supermarket I've been in EVER . It's a chain and we found them in South Africa also. Shout out the SPAR - which over there is a full on supermarket not the eurospars of Ireland but as good as Tesco /Dunnes.

Also plenty of taxis to drive you about which are cheap.

6 Windhoek - Keetmanshoop

Met the dude with the jeep - picked up at our apt and driven to his house - did the paper work and was on our way.

cost about 2300 for the 21 days in the jeep all included. I liked this guy there was no messing or extra. one price . all in.

Was mad - neither of us driven a 4x4 before and we handed the keys and told "see ya" and sent off to drive a place we'd never been.

First shop was 500km away in Keetmanshoop. This was our first time driving and within 10 mins we were in rural Namibia and it was great craic.

Took about 6hours drive but we really enjoyed it and the Hilux was great to drive - stopped for many photos on the way. I wanted a drink and let my wife drive (big mistake) . she loved it so much she wanted to drive all time...which was a turnaround cos she was wary and didn't want to drive before the hols.

Lovely and sunny just watching the landscape . The road is very road here and plenty of petrol stations.

We were staying in a place called Quiver Tree Forest Campsite - gets great reviews online and on blogs but was somewhat meh.

https://quivertreeforest.com/

Wasn't great but not shite. But they had cheetahs there which was cool

first time camping and in rural africa was a bit daunting but fun esp the wild blew all night and our first time sleep on the roof of the jeep.

7 Keetmanshoop Fish River Canyon

We went to stock up in Keetmanshoop - just a basic town looks nice. Went to the Spar there and loaded up. met some locals.

Then set off further south to fish river canyon . Fish River Canyon has hot water springs and also the 2nd largest canyon in the world (after grand canyon) . Takes 5 days to hike through the canyon and when you finish you ring a bell as Ai Ais (where we were going) and everybody at the bar cheers. But wasn't doing that with the kids so it's for another day.

Drive was nice , lovely sun again and this was a new experience. Took photos and were generally in awe of the most basic stuff.

the Ai Ais resort was quite nice , gives the impression it used to be fab but some parts run down but in their defence - they rely on tourism and covid ruined that for 2 years. We camped and it was busy enough with plenty up from South Africa.

http://www.aiaisresort.com/ai-ais-resort.html

The hot water is great fun and the canyon kinda traps the air and it's quite warm and v still.

We walked into the canyon to look about but didn't go too far.

8 Fish River Canyon Helmeringhausen

We left Ai Ais after one night and drove north then to Hemminghaus. Helmeringhausen is on all the maps but it's pretty much a junction with a few house and 2 hotels (that look ****) . On the way we stopped at a farm for coffee and apple strudel . Met the farmer called wally and his wife who joined us - really friendly people and we ate loads and ended up staying about 2 hours. He had crocodiles in his garden which was pretty cool and not something expected. This was our first experience of long driving on gravel (un tarred) this is where you say - "Thank fcuk I've the Hilux".

All tourism sites and blogs say you don't NEED a 4x4 to travel Namibia. You do. Unless you are staying on the main routes and towns . You do..no ifs or buts. Not necessaryily the 4 wheel aspect but the jeep . we didn't use the 4 wheel drive that often but you'd have issues doing this in a Toyota Corolla.

We were staying beyond Helmeringhausen in a place called Mount Durban which was a lovely campsite run by a farming family.

https://www.mountdurban.com.na/see-do

This is really in the middle of nowhere and the campsite was lovely and well constructed. The hosts will sell you homemade bread, jam and biltong which is top quality (and v cheap in price) . the bread and jam were so nice we stocked up before we left.

We had the campsite to ourselves and had a look about the valley - there is a pool there too.

Chilled out lit bbq and had a few beers listening to the wildlife in the background.

I'm not doing this place justice .

9 - 10 Helmeringhausen Sesriem

We left Mount Durban and drove to Sesriem . the road is nearly all gravel . you get used to it nothing terrible just we weren't used to it. that was about a 3hour drive.

Sesriem is where the world famous sand dunes are ( most famous being Sossusvlei )

We had booked 2 nights in Sossus Oasis - which is a campsite with shop , petrol and garage. you can get car looked at here and punctures repaired.

Shop is grand but mostly non fresh food https://www.sossus-oasis.com/

after the first night we went to see the dunes and deadvlei (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadvlei)

you are recommended to get up early and climb Sossusvlei before the sun rises too high cos it gets super hot. But we are eejits and with kids etc...stripping tents etc...we arrived at midday and after deadvlei we climbed Sossusvlei in 30degrees plus heat . pure sun. but it was wonderful and we were never giving up but tiring and the sweat was lashing of us . some insta hun was beside us climbed for 30secs got her bf to take pics and then left...the utter fraud ! We all climbed to the top and tbh was one of those memories I'll treasure that we did as a family.

the dunes and deadvlei are in a national park and you can drive to either an office and get a shuttle around to the various spots (hop on hop off ) or drve your own 4x4 only allowed. We took the shuttle and it was a wild drive . just insane the up/down like bumper cars with added vertical vector.

Campsite was decent , had a nice pool to relax in too.

in deadvlei we met the only other Irish we met on the holiday - couple on their honeymoon . Deadvlei doesn't get the love of Sossusvlei but its' fascinating.

11 - 14 Sesriem Swakopmund

After 2 nights we left Sesriem and drove to Swakopmund . its about a 4 hour drive . just outside Sesriem is a town called solitaire - which is a petrol station , shop and a bakery. the bakery has world famous apple pie - i kept reading about it. So we stopped for coffee and i ate the pie.

It was fcukin delicious , I had a second and then tried the apple and blueberry version. stuff and over caffeinated I left . The apple pie hype was real. The drive to Swakopmund was very desert-y . real wilderness.

Swakopmund in an old German town on the coast - big German influence here. Its a lovely town with a nice beach and great seafront that the Namibians use as a seaside town .

We stated here 3 night for some chill out time. went to the beach and swam in the sea. and ate loads of cakes.

 Plenty here to do and trips in to the dessert. we also drove to Walvis bay (1h) to see the pelicans - 1000s of pink yolks .

Learned a costly lesson here - you cant buy alcohol in shops from 1300 SAT to Monday 0900 . **** my life. Pubs/restaurants/clubs unaffected.

15 Swakopmund Cape Cross

After Swakopmund we drove to Cape Cross about 90min up the coast. This is far out there country - barren wild dessert at the sea. Roads got v quiet as well.

Cape Cross is really just a seal sanctuary where 250,000 seals live. It was amazing to walk among the horde of them , but if you don't like the smell of sh1t and rotten fish then .......there are a quarter of a million of them...

We stayed at Cross Cross Hotel camping - was nice but instead of barbequing we ate out in the hotel that night and got slaughtered drunk too. Food was decent and staff nice.

https://www.capecross.org/

Also went for a swim in the sea here , was colder than Swakopmund and i was the only person in the sea.

This hotel at the edge of the dessert and sea with nothing around - lovely but really remote. Sounds ominous but was wonderful and real edge of the world stuff but you wanted to fish here the only thing is the seal sanctuary - but we are so glad we went.

16 Cape Cross - Palmweg

Next day we drove up the coast through the Skeleton Coast National Park - it's a mass of sand dunes with some ship wrecks and other abandoned building from a by gone era. It was very quiet here and apart from the gate to the national park and the gate out the other end we only pass a handful of cars. It was right on coast and quite windy here.

There is a hard left before Torra Bay which you must take, it's illegal to go further and that brings you to Palmweg and the vegetation becomes less sand and more green. Some cool windy roads in the mountains too.

We met our first armed police checkpoint on this route very friendly , they never heard of ireland and we showed them on map - kids thought it cool they were tooled up with assault rifles.

We stayed the night in Palmweg here

Was a very nice place with bars and pools .

We also saw our first wild elephants and this was the start of seeing more tribal living.

17 - 21 Palmweg Epupa Falls

We left Palmweg and we supposed to drive to a "living village" to stay the day/night with a Himba Tribe just out Opuwo (a regional capital)

No problem till Opuwo and we decided to stop there to go to the Spar to stock up. On arrival I knew it was a mistake Opuwo is a sh1thole. Anyway we didn't need diesel so went straight to the Spar. Immediately we were surrounded by women and kids begging, it wasn't like anything before . real aggressive begging and abuse for not wanting to buy their tat. Also demanding the clothes off my kids back - weird I know but they asked for the clothes he was wearing at the time. So I said I'd stay mind the jeep with one kid while the others went into the spar. my wife and the 2 eldest kids were followed around the spar by kids (well teens) picking up items demanding she buy the item for them. She came out pretty freaked out. So we legged it. That was the only bad experience we really had. It's hard to describe tbh and while I accept the people are poor there is a level of behaviour that isn't acceptable and that line was well crossed.

Anyway after we left Opuwo - forever christening it a sh1thole - we found the Himba village but there was nobody there and after Opuwo we have a general "**** this" attitude and made us decide to skip staying in the village . I rang ahead to Epupa Falls and asked to start our stay a night earlier and that was sorted.

Meant that day was a 9h drive instead of a 5h.

So we drove to Epupa Falls - which is right on the boarder with Angola. The countryside is amazing , plenty of tribal villages and a sense of being in the heart of Africa. The road is rough at hell , gravel and pothole - dunno how you can do it without a jeep. Eveyrbody who goes to Epupa Falls loves it but many skip it cos it's out of the way - which I think is a huge mistake.

Epupa falls is amazing, just wonderful . We booked a campsite on booking.com and stayed 4 days. Campsite was great bar/restaurant - the best bathroom facilities even those its communal -and pool right on the Kunene River which separates Namibia and Angola. We got some repairs done here too - the rough road had broken the fridge but the camp staff fixed it handy enough.

There are plenty of locals offering themselves as guides and we hired one for an afternoon to walk/climb around the waterfall and surrounding area. You can get a boat ride too - you need a local as there are crocodiles in the water.

Was very sunny and everyday was 30degrees or more. Had a lovely 4 nights here and even went into the local village to use their shop which was an experience - me and one of the kids went for bread and ended up in their Saturday market which was cool and just very different. The people are friendly but the women and kids will ask you for food . It seems a feature up here and you cant give all your food and saving the world isn't possible. That said the people are poor but they aren't starving either and there is an element of them assuming that cos you're white that you're as rich as Donald Trump . I guess its about balance.

22 Epupa Falls - Ruacana

We left Epupa Falls and drove along the Kunene River . The road is called the DR3700 and I'd planned to drive it from the planning stage back in Ireland. You can see videos on youtube of people trying it. Its a wild road , real off road roller-coaster experience while seeing some lovely untouched country. it took about 4hours and was great fun.

We stopped by the Ruacana Falls which used to be amazing but the Angolans built a dam up river and it's not great now. We went into Angola briefly - you may need a visa (we got different advise but you don't need a visa to visit the waterfalls) but it was a Sunday afternoon and the boarder crossing was closed so we just drove in. Sound mad but Africa is like that.

Ruacana is a nothing town , its fine but pretty much a stop over for people crossing boarder. Campsite was very poor here.

23 - 26 Ruacana - Etosha

Etosha is the major national park safari in Namibia , its the big one prob the size of Leinster. We drove ourselves - a 4 day pass was about 80e. We stayed in the campsites in the park - they were a mixed bag - some poor (OLIFANTSRUS) while others like Halai and Namutoni are decent but they are reasonable.

The safari experience was super. 4 days was probably a day too long , 3 would have been perfect. Got to see all the animals bar leopard which we couldn't find. Not much to say other than it's wonderful here.

There is a trading post (kinda a village tbh) in the park to buy supplies and eat/drink. You can also drive out to a town but it's about 1hour - we did that and went to Outjo which was a really nice town with good supermarket and we went to a hardware there where the staff were v helpful to a useless fcuker like me

27 - 28 Etosha Windhoek

After leaving Etosha we drove to Windhoek - we thought about staying in Waterberg but decided after 21 nights in tents on the roof of a jeep we deserves a hotel . Booked 2 nights in the safari court hotel at last minute - which was top notch . Great value and a really high quality hotel . These two days were just us being lazy eating and drinking.

29 Windhoek Cape Town

Dropped the jeep back to the guy and he drove us to the airport. The jeep guy had quick look at jeep and that was it. None of that nit-picking you get with car rentals . I liked that.

Flew to Cape Town on Airlink Airlines. Really good airline to fly with. Food was actually decent - take that lufthansa!

Stayed 10 days in Cape Town - got an apt from booking.com in the Strand Area - mostly beach, few day trips and eating and drinking. I'd been to cape town 15years before and sadly to say Cape Town isn't as nice or good as I remembered. Also beware in South Africa there is a thing called "loadshedding" which is scheduled power cuts. Its a pain with young kids we mostly got 6 hours a day in cuts (in 2h blocks). Ive we'd known we'd have avoided.

I'd written loads and I wont bore you with Cape Town as it's a place many have gone.

Quick Notes.

This isn't the holiday for everybody , there is work involved and if you love sitting at the pool with cocktail all day , probably not for you.

Would we go again? - Namibia without a doubt , cape town prob not in a hurry back . We have unexplored parts of Namibia left - north east the Caprivi Strip . So highly probable there will be a next time in Namibia but defo Southern Africa - this is the holiday template from now on albeit prob 3-4 week holiday not 6 weeks. The expense is getting there its cheap to eat/stay there and petrol is half the price of Ireland.

Could have cost 12k or less if we hadn't gone Cape Town but my wife wanted to see it - It wasn't bad just not as good as I remembered.

Lufthansa aren't a great airline.

This is the longest post I ever wrote.