Hi

Has anyone been to one of the national parks to see the wildlife. I’ve just had a quick Google and it seems there are far more national parks than I thought. Is it better to got to Tanzania to see the great migration? Can I just kind of turn up? I don’t want some posh tour with hunting hat wearing folk, but equally I don’t want to come up against a bull elephant in a fiat uno.

Any help would be great.

We went to Namibia a few years ago & Loved it, great country, saw loads of wildlife & did it ourselves (no guided tour) but we did have massive help of a good friend who lives there.
Flew to Windhoek (via Jo’berg), then on to Swakopmund, then traveled up to Etosha National Park & stayed in there & a few v. nice camps around it.
Highly recommend, feel free to be nosey: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonno101/sets/72157626439810463/

Spent a couple of days (& nights) in Etosha ten years ago – it was stunning. There was one particular campsite with a platform overlooking a waterhole which had fantastic night time animal viewing (loads of elephants, in particular, which were great to watch). Unfortunately I couldn’t tell you what it was called – we were on an overland truck trip passing through so I wasn’t involved in any of the logistics.

I’d highly recommend the Namib-Naukluft NP as well – spectacular scenery (Deadvlei in particular)

Tanzania i.e. the Serengeti very different, but also good. Apparently the Great Migration is declining steadily so if you want to see it, you probably should do ASAP as it might not exist much longer.

Nice pics, that lion’s got his eye on you!

In my head the zebras, wildebeest etc hang out in large groups like cattle do, but it appears not. Is a lot of the area quite desolate?

What language is commonly spoken their? German, Afrikaans?

The are so many parks it is hard to choose.

As a tour operator specialising in Africa – http://www.aardvarksafaris.co.uk – this is one of the few questions I feel qualified to answer on Singletrack.

Namibia is great for lots of things including stunning landscapes, huge areas with tiny numbers of people, desert adapted wildlife, interesting cultures, and traditional safari animals. You’ll note I put safari animals last since although they do have good wildlife and Etosha is an easy national park to see them on your own – they are drawn to waterholes in the arid landscape – there are other countries, including Tanzania that feel ‘more safari’. By this I mean the open plains, safari Landrovers, rocky escarpments, and natural waterholes that most people think of when they imagine going on safari.

But Namibia is magnificent, it’s relatively easy to drive yourselves around (although distances are great and a 4wd style vehicle feel more rugged on the gravel roads), the sense of space is awe inspiring, the skies at night are fantastic – I could go on. It’s also currently comparatively inexpensive compared to a couple of years ago as the Namibian Dollar is pegged to the SA Rand and that is down about 20% in the last 18 months or so.

Have a look on the Namibia page of our website – http://www.aardvarksafaris.co.uk/namibia – which links to a map, best times to go and some trip ideas. There’s various ways to travel around, lots of choice of accommodation, to suit a variety of styles and budgets.

If I can help, even with advice, please don’t be afraid to call or email. I’m Richard Smith at work rather than ManVsTarmac and started my tour operating life in Namibia arranging a charity bike ride there pre-millennium and have been back many times since.

Don’t overlook Botswana. There’s ace game in Chobe and the Okavango Delta. At Chobe I saw 28 different animals in one morning’s safari (arranged in situ, about £35 for the morning in a landrover and the afternoon on a boat). The roads in Botswana are very good and it’s no problem to drive all the way round the kalahari. We stayed with bushmen in Dqae http://www.dqae.org/ and that was amazing too.

I did an overland trip in ’94, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. Namibia was excellent, climbed the huuuuge sand dunes at Sossusvlei, checked out the Fish River canyon (2nd largest in the world) and did a safari in Etosha. Great camp sites also if you want to rough it a bit.

Can’t help with the specifics, but some friends of mine went in the summer and had a great trip, they knew someone who had a local contact and arranged it all through them.

Thanks for all the advice, I’ll have a look onthe website above. I like the idea of walking around the bush but I’m not sure my GF will agree.