Welcome to Enchanting Journeys

A new day, a new place…rugged Namibia ….prepare to be charmed….        

Africa. There is nowhere like it on the planet for wildlife, wild lands & rich traditions that endure. How do you capture the essence of Africa on paper without using up every cliche in the book? No other continent comes close to it for scale, variety & pure, raw impact. If Namibia is 'Africa for beginners', as is often said, what a wonderful place to start. Few countries in Africa can match Namibia's sheer natural beauty. Flick through the glossy tourist brochures & the cliches come thick & fast & in Namibia - a country of dizzying diversity where you will find epic mountain ranges &, sweeping deserts.  Come….discover Namibia with us……

Africa’s natural history alone would make a dozen visits worthwhile - where else on earth can you fall asleep to the sound of lions roaring, or watch a million flamingos take off from the waters of a remote soda lake? Parts of Africa boast scenery so spectacular they will damn near blow your mind, but the essence of this incredible continent isn’t in any desert, mountain or lake. It is the spirit of the people - pushing, shoving, sweating, dancing, singing & laughing - that infects so many visitors with a travel bug so powerful they will never stop coming back, sometimes against all sense or reason.

Whether you are a wide-eyed first-timer or a frequent visitor, Africa cannot fail to get under your skin. The canvas upon which the continent's epic story is written is itself astonishing, & reason enough to visit. From the tropical rainforests & glorious tropical coastline of Central Africa to the rippling dunes of the Namib Desert, from the signature savannah of the Serengeti to jagged mountains, green-tinged highlands and deep-gash canyons that mark the Great Rift Valley's continental traverse - wherever you find yourself on this big, beautiful continent, Africa has few peers when it comes to natural beauty.

On this continent where human beings first came into existence, customs, traditions & ancient rites tie Africans to generations & ancestors past and to the collective memory of myriad people. In many rural areas it can feel as though the modern world might never have happened & they are all the better for it, and old ways of doing things - with a certain grace & civility, hospitality & a community spirit - survive. There are time-honoured ceremonies, music that dates back to the days of Africa's golden empires & masks that tell stories of spirit worlds never lost. Welcome to Old Africa.

Africa’s natural history alone would make a dozen visits worthwhile - where else on earth can you fall asleep to the sound of lions roaring, or watch a million flamingos take off from the waters of a remote soda lake? Parts of Africa boast scenery so spectacular they will damn near blow your mind, but the essence of this incredible continent isn’t in any desert, mountain or lake. It’s the spirit of the people - pushing, shoving, sweating, dancing, singing & laughing - that infects so many visitors with a travel bug so powerful they’ll never stop coming back, sometimes against all sense or reason.

The past retains its hold over the lives of many Africans, but just as many have embraced the future, bringing creativity and sophistication to the continent's cities & urban centres. Sometimes this New Africa is expressed in a creative-conservation search for solutions to the continent's environmental problems, or in an eagerness to break free of the restrictive chains of the past and transform the traveller experience. But just as often, modern Africans are taking all that is new and fusing it onto the best of the old.

Debate with venerable merchants among the cool, narrow streets of an Arabic medina, dance to the thumping reggae beats coming from a West African market stall, or shoot the breeze with fishermen under Indian Ocean palm trees, and you will be struck more than anything else by the honesty, warm-heartedness & vitality of the African people.

Africa’s not always an easy place to travel in. But don’t believe everything you see on TV. It is a fantastic, enlightening, surprising & intriguing continent. Try it once, and we guarantee you will dream about coming back for the rest of your life.

Wedged between the Kalahari and the South Atlantic, Namibia enjoys vast potential as one of the youngest countries in Africa. In addition to having a striking diversity of cultures & national origins, Namibia is a photographer’s dream - it boasts wild seascapes, rugged mountains, lonely deserts, stunning wildlife, colonial cities & nearly unlimited elbow room.

Few countries in Africa can match Namibia's sheer natural beauty. A predominantly arid country, Namibia can be divided into four main topographical regions: the Namib Desert and coastal plains in the west, the eastward-sloping Central Plateau, the Kalahari along the borders with South Africa & Botswana and the densely wooded bushveld of the Kavango & Caprivi regions.

The country's name derives from its (and the world's) oldest desert, the Namib, and there are few more stirring desert realms on the planet, from the sand sea & perfect dead-tree valleys at Sossusvlei to the otherworldliness of sand dunes plunging down to the sea at Sandwich Harbour & the Skeleton Coast. Inland, running through the heart of the country, a spine of mountains creates glorious scenery - the Naukluft Mountains, the Brandberg, Spitzkoppe, Damaraland & the jaw-dropping Fish River Canyon. With rivers & wetlands in the Caprivi Strip and the endless gold-grass plains of the Kalahari, it is difficult to think of an iconic African landscape that Namibia doesn't possess.

Make no mistake: Namibia is one of Southern Africa's best places to watch wildlife, at least in the country's north. Despite its harsh climate, Namibia has some of the world’s grandest national parks, ranging from the wildlife-rich Etosha National Park in northwestern Namibia, to the dune fields & desert plains of the Namib-Naukluft Park in western Namibia. Etosha National Park belongs in the elite wildlife-watching destinations - big cats, elephants, black rhinos & plains game in abundance.

Two other areas are emerging as complements to Etosha. Damaraland is a wonderful place to see desert-adapted elephants and lions, and also happens to host Africa's largest population of free-ranging rhinos - rhino tracking is a real highlight here. Over in the Caprivi Strip, the wildlife is returning, with Bwabwata & Nkasa Rupara becoming wonderfully rich parks to explore. This being Namibia, there are private reserves (Okonjima & Erindi premier among them) as well as game farms that serve as havens for rescued wildlife.

Windhoek, in the Central Highlands, is the country's geographical heart and commercial nerve centre, with an ethnic mix of people, while surfers and beach-lovers won't want to miss Swakopmund.

Watch a lion stalking its prey on a never-ending plain in Etosha. Fly down a giant dune on a sandboard. Spend a night alone in the desert under a sky so thick with stars you can’t differentiate between constellations.

Namibia's human story is every bit as interesting as that written in the rocks, soil & sand of the country. Through their architecture & museums, Luderitz, Swakopmund & Windhoek tell a complicated story of colonial settlement & oppression, while elsewhere the chance to interact with the many traditional people who call Namibia home will likely provide you with some of your most memorable moments. The Himba, in the country's far northwest, and the San in the east, in particular are soulful people with whom an encounter carries an older, deeper wisdom.

From Walvis Bay to Luderitz, the desert that forms the Sperrgebiet National Park is almost a truly trackless waste for much of its territory, but tours out of the latter can take you across it. Away to the north, along the Skeleton Coast to the Angolan border, shipwrecks along the shore only heighten the sensation that humankind is here very much at the mercy of the elements. Then there's the Kalahari, the Nyae Nyae Conservancy…

Something special about Africa touches the soul; it is a continent of 54 immensely diverse countries that is both deeply troubled & profoundly uplifting. But don’t believe everything you see on TV, It is a fantastic, enlightening, surprising & intriguing continent.

Namibia is one of those dreamlike places that make you question whether something so visually orgasmic could actually exist. Time and space are less defined here. Landscapes collide. Experiences pile up.

Welcome to Old ‘southern’ Africa. At some point during your stay in Namibia, you may well look around and wonder if you have fallen off the end of the earth. This tends to happen most often along the country's barren, sand swept coastline. Africa - there is nowhere like it on the planet for wildlife, wild lands & rich traditions that endure. Try it once & we guarantee you will dream about coming back for the rest of your life. Take the plunge now & yep…. Namibia awaits & The Journeys is ready to take you on well, a journey (or journeys) of discovery

Come……be inspired & discover the World with us

We are in the process of updating our Offerings of experiential journeys to Namibia. Please contact us in the interim if you want to explore more options & we will be happy to customise & offer suggestions based on your personal preferences………