Namibia Safari & South Africa on Rovos Rail

Our holiday begins at London Heathrow, where we meet our Tour Manager and group before boarding an overnight flight to Cape Town, South Africa's oldest city, in the beautiful Western Cape province, at the southern tip of the continent.

Touching down in Cape Town after our overnight flight, we are met and transferred to our hotel in the heart of the city. Enroute, we drive past some of Cape Town's main sights on an orientation tour. This cosmopolitan city is a cultural melting pot whose history dates back thousands of years. We pass City Hall and Cape Town's Parliament building, the Castle of Good Hope, and the city's Malay Quarter, known as the 'Bo-Kaap'.

After some free time to relax and settle into our hotel close to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, weather permitting, we are taken on a cable car trip to the top of Cape Town's iconic Table Mountain. Besides experiencing panoramic views across the city, on the mountain top you could follow a trail among the Cape 'fynbos', which includes varieties of coral-hued proteas, and look out for wildlife such as the rock rabbit or Table Mountain ghost frog.

Dinner is served at our hotel this evening.

Today we set out on a full day tour of the Cape winelands, including the Franschhoek valley and Stellenbosch. After getting to know the town of Franschhoek on a walking tour, we visit one of the original wine estates of this beautiful region, Rickety Bridge, for a tasting on the terrace with views of the Franschhoek mountains.

Back in Cape Town, your evening is free to continue exploring and to dine independently. You could wander down to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, which has a variety of eateries offering fresh seafood, traditional South African dishes and North Indian cuisine. At night, the wharf is illuminated and atmospheric with several restaurants overlooking the water.

Leaving Cape Town this morning we take a short flight from Cape Town International airport to Walvis Bay, a port city on Namibia's spectacular Skeleton Coast, where we are met by our local Namibian guide. The city's name 'Walvis Bay' translates as 'bay of whale fish' and, before setting off towards Swakopmund, we take an orientation tour of the historic town, sandwiched between the immense desert and the deep blue Atlantic, which was once part of South Africa.

Compared to Cape Town's V&A waterfront, Walvis Bay itself is a quiet port where the most likely visitors are seals or pelicans. We continue driving to Namibia's largest coastal town, Swakopmund, where we check in to our hotel for two nights. This evening we dine at our hotel.

This morning brings an exciting excursion in private, all-terrain 4x4s from Walvis Bay to the unique landscape of Sandwich Harbour. Here, massive sand dunes are engulfed by Atlantic tides, and a lagoon fed by freshwater springs is a haven for a variety of wetland birds. Travelling with the Namib's most seasoned drivers, 4x4 travel is the only way to access this pristine area, and enroute we may see desert ostrich striding past, springbok leaping ahead, or jackals lurking in the scant undergrowth.

At Sandwich Harbour you could climb the dunes for a bird's-eye view of the endless peaks of sand dunes and rolling Atlantic waves. Even without the climb, this is a pristine environment of absolute peace where we can experience encounter desert animals, plants and bird life. After refreshments, and time to soak up the atmosphere, we return to Walvis Bay then to our hotel, with an afternoon and evening at leisure. Coastal Swakopmund is an interesting blend of German colonial architecture, palm-lined streets and historic buildings. Restaurants here offer excellent seafood dishes including oysters, sushi, as well as international cuisine.

After breakfast we transfer to Walvis Bay to begin our luxury rail adventure into the vast and otherworldly Namib Desert - an epic journey of 11 nights, ending in Pretoria. The Namib is estimated to have endured arid or semi-arid conditions for around 55-80 million years, and is the oldest desert in the world. But today we enter Namibia's interior, towards Otjiwarongo.

Our exclusive train departs Walvis Bay Station and there's time to settle into your Pullman Gold suite before lunch, which is served in the dining cars. You may wish to relax in the lounge car or observation car. Usually at the rear of the train, the observation car will be leading the train until tomorrow lunchtime, which gives us an opportunity to spot wildlife and experience the unique landscape. Afternoon tea is served in the lounge car and observation car each day. Leaving behind a terrain of inland waves, we enter a landscape of gravel plains and mountainous outcrops in the rugged interior. We sit down to a formal dinner, as the African sun sets.

After a scenic breakfast in the dining cars, we disembark to visit a cheetah conservation project in Otjiwarongo, dedicated to saving the cheetah in the wild. Located near the city of Ojiwarongo, this full-scale conservation organisation is working to save the cheetah and its ecosystem.

We are shown the project's Ambassador Cheetahs at the Cheetah Run as well as the livestock guarding dogs. The setting here overlooks the picturesque Waterberg Plateau of open bushland and red mountains, where herds of impala may be seen grazing.

Lunch is served in the dining cars enroute to Tsumeb, followed by an afternoon at leisure on board. Afternoon tea is served in the lounge and observation cars, now at the rear of the train. This evening we enjoy dinner from the dining cars, as everchanging scenery passes our windows.

This morning we reach the great Etosha National Park, which forms part of the Kalahari basin. We disembark here to spend the night at a comfortable Etosha lodge style hotel. After checking in to our accommodation we are served lunch, before heading out on an afternoon game drive.

This immense National Park covers over 20,000 km² of open grasslands, scattered with thorny Acacias and Mopani trees, while the salt pan itself measures an incredible 5,000km². Etosha has an abundance of wildlife, which ranges from some of the most common species to the rarest. Elephants, endangered black rhino and sometimes leopard may be seen in areas of thicker vegetation. Lions are camouflaged in the paler grasslands, while giraffes range high above the plains.

Another rare animal which can be seen in Etosha is the graceful black-faced impala - one of Namibia's conservation success stories. The park has over 340 bird species and, after the rains, the salt pan fills with water which attracts flamingos and pelicans. We return to our lodge after our game drive, where there is time to relax before dinner.

Early this morning we set out in 4x4 vehicles for a second opportunity to view the wildlife of Etosha. The waterholes of the National Park attract elephants, giraffes, zebras, and a range of antelope such as kudus, springboks, eland and wildebeest. We may be lucky to spot a lion, cheetah or leopard, loping down to the waterside to drink, or to prey on the other creatures gathering here.

It is impossible to predict what an African bush drive will reveal, and that is part of the magic, but in Etosha there's a very good chance of encountering a variety of mammals, birds and reptiles. After our drive, we return to the lodge to freshen up and check out before transferring back to our luxurious train in the green 'garden town' of Tsumeb.

Lunch is served in the dining cars, while afternoon tea is taken in the lounge and observation cars. As we travel towards Kranzberg, we enjoy dinner while the light changes, as do the scenes outside our windows.

Breakfast is served in the dining cars as our train continues to Windhoek, capital of Namibia and the largest city, set on a plateau around 1,700m above sea level. Here, we transfer to the airport and take a one-hour flight in a light aircraft to the Sossusvlei lodge hotel for an overnight stay.

Lunch is served at the lodge before a desert drive into the remarkable red sand dunes of Sossusvlei, the tallest on earth. The sand here is over five million years old and its red colour is due to its iron-oxide content. The wind in the Sossusvlei region blows from all directions, causing the formation of extraordinary 'star dunes'.

Among these dramatic dunes is another phenomenon - the skeletons of camel thorn trees, scorched black and preserved for centuries by the dry desert heat. Standing in a parched white-clay marsh against the striking red dunes and blue skies, the trees make a dramatic subject for photographs.

After our desert drive we return to our lodge where, after sunset, we experience a 'bush dinner' beneath a starry African sky.

After early wake-up call with tea and coffee we set off on a desert drive with a stop to enjoy breakfast. We return to our lodge to freshen up, then check-out and transfer to the Sossusvlei airstrip, where we board a light aircraft for the one-hour flight to Windhoek.

Situated in Namibia's central highlands, Windhoek is an attractive city surrounded by clusters of hills and the Auas and Eros Mountains. On arrival, we lunch at the Windhoek Country Club followed by a city tour which includes a visit to the Trans-Namib Transport Museum, Namibia's Independence Memorial Museum, the striking Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Namibia Craft Centre in the old Breweries Building.

Returning to our train at the end of the afternoon, we travel south through the Kalahari Desert, crossing the Tropic of Capricorn as we make our way to Mariental.

Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10am then, after a leisurely morning and lunch, we disembark at the small town of Keetmanshoop. Here we drive into the Garas Park which has a small forest of ancient quiver trees (a type of aloe with soft barks) some hundreds of years old. These unusual trees are indigenous to this part of the world, and have adapted to the dry desert climate, amid a landscape of fantastic geological formations.

We return to our train for afternoon tea before continuing our journey south, towards a small settlement along the railway track, called Aus - whose Khoekhoe name means snake fountain - known for its history as a camp for German prisoners of World War I, and for its herd of feral horses. Tonight is a 'formal' theme at dinner.

After breakfast we disembark in Aus, then transfer to the sand-engulfed ghost town of Kolmanskop, inland from the port town of Lüderitz. Built by German miners, following the discovery of a diamond in 1908, the town and its Edwardian buildings was destroyed in World War I and later devoured by the Namib desert.

Our visit to this atmospheric ghost town is followed by lunch in the colonial port town of Lüderitz. During our drive here you may spot some of the elusive horses rumoured to roam the Namib. The bay of Lüderitz was the landing point of Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias in 1488 and he installed a cross, now replicated as a national monument, to mark his landing. Centuries later, the Dias Point lighthouse opened in 1915.

Lüderitz is known for its striking Lutheran church (Rock Church), museum, a colourful variety of colonial architecture, and its abundance of wildlife including seals, penguins, flamingos and ostriches. Back on board, the observation car leads the train until after dinner as we head towards Holoog, enroute to the South African border.

Breakfast is served in the dining cars until arriving in Holoog, where we disembark then drive to the jaw-dropping Fish River Canyon. Africa's largest canyon, second in size to Arizona's Grand Canyon, is a vast desolate landscape made up of a series of spectacular cliffs. It is an impressive 161km long, up to 27km wide, and almost 550m deep in places. The Fish River rises in the centre of Namibia and eventually flows south into the Orange River on the border with South Africa.

On our return to the train from the canyon, lunch is served in the dining cars. Later this afternoon, we reach the South African border where our train stops during the formal border crossing. Dinner is served in the dining cars as we travel towards South Africa's town of Upington.

Our train pulls into the historic South African town of Upington this morning, and we disembark for a walking tour followed by a cruise on the rust-coloured Orange River, the longest river in South Africa. Although surrounded by the Kalahari Desert, the fertile Orange River Valley which runs through Upington makes the town an oasis, best known for its agriculture, which includes raisins and wines.

After touring this historic Northern Cape town we rejoin the train and travel through the Karoo, a vast semi-desert region, once an enormous inland sea. Over lunch and afternoon tea in the observation car, we might spot ostrich or animals such as springbok and zebra that have adapted to the dry conditions.

This evening, dinner is served as we continue our journey to Kimberley with the observation car leading the train until breakfast.

This morning we arrive in Kimberley, capital of the Northern Cape - a town with a prosperous past, due to the discovery of diamonds there in 1871. The renowned diamond merchants, DeBeers, made their fame and fortune here. We disembark for a tour of Kimberley's Diamond Mine Museum and the 'Big Hole', created by the pressure of over-mining the diamonds in the open cast mine. A fascinating museum details the history of the site, which includes preserved and restored buildings from the diamond rush era.

We return to our train for lunch and continue the climb up the country towards Pretoria. As tea is served in the lounge and observation cars the vast rocky landscapes of South Africa's Free State Province open up ahead of us. Tonight is our last dinner on the train and is served in the dining cars.

Our rail journey ends this morning as we approach Gauteng Province. After enjoying our last leisurely breakfast and lunch aboard the train, we arrive into Rovos Rail Station in Pretoria, South Africa's administrative capital where the government and presidential offices are based in the historic Union Buildings. Met by a local guide, we are transferred to our hotel in a central suburb by coach.

If you are travelling in South African springtime, from early October to November, you are in for a treat as Pretoria's gorgeous purple Jacaranda trees should be in full bloom. Our hotel is in one of the city's residential suburbs, close to a shopping centre, the University of Pretoria, not far from the Union Buildings and the city centre. The hotel has a refreshing outdoor swimming pool which you may like to enjoy before dinner this evening.

Today you are free to relax at the hotel or to explore the attractions of Pretoria, possibly visiting the Union Buildings, where you could walk around the garden and see the larger-than-life statue of Nelson Mandela. The National Zoological Gardens is also worth a visit, around 3km from the hotel. This afternoon, our local guide accompanies us as we are driven to the airport before our flight back to London Heathrow.

We touch down in London early this morning where your epic journey to South Africa and Namibia ends, and you are free to make your way home.