Touring

CUNENE RIVER EXPEDITION (12 days)

The guests would need to be in Windhoek by the night of Thursday 26th July, 2007,

They would stay in hotels/guest houses etc. This is for the guests account but I can help with their bookings.

Collection will be at the Windhoek accom. on the Thursday morning at 09h30, which is ideal, as that would give you the chance to transfer to your o/n accommodation in Windhoek the previous day and have the afternoon to have a look around the city. Very N.B. - because alcoholic and canned/bottled beverages are not supplied in the Cunene package, Thursday is the ideal time to purchase what you need for the trip (guidelines closer to the time).

When the guide team meets the guests the following morning - these drinks and your luggage will be loaded into/onto the transport.

Friday 27th July - the guide team with transport will meet the guests at the various accommodation places (preferably the same place) so as to leave Windhoek by no later than 10h00 that morning.

The journey heads north, via Otjiwarongo (a chance to visit an extensive curio market - not to buy, as we will be coming back this way at the end of the trip), before swinging west to Outjo, where lunch is arranged - normally at a roadside lay-bye. From Opuwa it is north to the Etosha National Park and the Okaukuejo campsite. The group needs to be there by 16h00 so as to set up camp in time to watch the outstanding sunset over the water hole situated right at the camp. This water hole is flood-lit throughout the night and experience has shown that the most wonderful sighting of game takes place there every night.

Saturday 28th July - an early morning game drive out to the Etosha Pan whilst some of the guides cook breakfast. After breakfast, it is a day trip via the Halali camp (for lunch and a swim in the pool) to Namutoni, the Beau Geste look-alike fort (camp) on the western shore of the pan where it is a tradition to have sundowners at the top of the fort tower, watching the sun sink over the vastness of the pan.

Sunday 29th July - an early morning game drive whilst breakfast is being prepared, before the group heads out of the National Park and North West through Ovamboland towards the Cunene River.

During this day drive, there is a stop at the incredible open-air market in Ondongwa. Lunch is had in Oshakati. By mid afternoon the group will have reached the escarpment of the Cunene River valley, before dropping down to view the Ruacana Falls (if there is time) before heading for the first night of camping on the river banks (there is a good possibility that this will be at the Cunene River Lodge).

Monday 30th July - after breakfast, rafting instructions are given before the group takes to the river upstream of the lodge, at the start of the Onderusso Gorge. A day of adventurous rafting takes the group back down to the Lodge where they spend a 2nd night - this lodge has bar facilities and is a place where we might meet up with overland travellers and share stories.

Tuesday 31st - this is an easy day on a wide, lazy river as the group rafts down to the overnight stop called the Ruins and beneath the impressive Zebra Mountains, so called because alternating granite scree and blonde-coloured grass that gives them a striped appearance. The paddling is easy, but that is not to say that there aren't interesting rapids cropping up at regular intervals.

Wednesday 1st August - rafting on this day takes the group to the area known as 13 Cascades, where the river splits into a myriad of streams - again, a big river, fast flowing and with interesting rapids throughout the day.

Thursday 2nd August - getting through the 13 Cascades section is a huge amount of fun where the group will encounter some big rapids running between Palm covered islands to the campsite know as MGB - this stands for “Moer Groot Boom”!

Friday 3rd August - depart from MGB and head towards the final stop on the Cunene - the incredibly beautiful Epupa Falls. The late Patrick Wagner, a photo and travel journalist, who was on one of the first commercial trips on the Cunene coined this description of it...."the Eden of Africa".....

Saturday 4th August - this is a rest day, spent alongside the Epupa Falls, which gives guests the opportunity to spend time walking the gorge ramparts of this amazing sight, taking photographs as well as the opportunity to meet with the amaHimba people. These are the ochre-red covered nomadic tribes people who inhabit the region. The opportunity of visiting a amaHimba kraal is also possible on this day.

Sunday 5th August - depart from Epupa and head south through the Kaokoveld to Opuwo, the capital of this region (lunch normally at the lodge there) and on to the overnight stop on the escarpment for the final night of the safari. The views from this site are spectacular and again, photographers should be ready for an outstanding sunset.

Monday 6th August - early departure heading back to Windhoek, with the possibility of stopping at a Cheetah ranch near Kamanjab (time dependent) and definitely, Otjiwarongo for the curios, with the intention of getting back to Windhoek in the late afternoon. Here the tour ends. Guests will be dropped off at their pre-booked accommodation.

Traditionally, everyone congregates for a final meal together at one of Windhoek's famous beer gardens (good German beer, ja!!!) that tends to take us through to the late hours.

Tuesday 7th August - guests depart Windhoek for their onward destinations