Namibia, Savannah and Desert

Five nights between two lodges, each on its own private land. Two near Windhoek in a reserve run with the N/a'an ku sê Foundation, tracking rhino on foot and going behind the scenes at its sanctuary and anti-poaching unit, then three in the far south, with breakfast on the summit of a red dune and a balloon over the Namib at first light.

Length: Five nights
Pace: Two stays
Style: Safari, desert, conservation
Route: Near Windhoek to The Namib Desert

Near WindhoekTwo nights
The Namib DesertThree nights

A long pool beside a deck of loungers, with thatched huts and distant mountains. — Photo: Zannier Hotels

Days 1 to 3 · two nights

Near Windhoek

Met at Windhoek airport and driven half an hour out to the reserve, for drives among its rhino, elephant and big cats in open vehicles, one at sunrise and one as the savannah turns nocturnal. A morning on foot behind the wildlife experts, on the tracks of rhino, and five hours behind the scenes with the N/a'an ku sê Foundation: the Shiloh sanctuary, the research centre, the Clever Cubs school and the anti-poaching unit. On the way in or out, a three-hour morning in Windhoek can be arranged to meet the needlecraft makers of Casa Anin, see the Namibia Craft Centre and go into a diamond jeweller's workshop.

Where you stay

Zannier Omaanda

Omaanda lies within a 22,000-acre private reserve half an hour's drive from Windhoek, run with the N/a'an ku sê Foundation for wildlife rescue and conservation. Guests stay in thatched huts of one or two bedrooms with fireplaces, and there is an infinity pool, a spa, the Ambo Delights restaurant and a boma.

Lit tents on stilts among granite boulders above the desert at dusk. — Photo: Zannier Hotels

Days 3 to 6 · three nights

The Namib Desert

South into the desert. Morning and afternoon drives, the second ending with a cold glass at sunset, guided walks in the cooler hours, a ride on horseback up the red dunes and among old acacias, and electric fat bikes on marked trails. One sunrise climb to the top of the Sonop dune for a 1920s-style safari breakfast with champagne, a balloon over the desert if you wish, and films under the night sky by the pool.

Where you stay

Zannier Sonop

Sonop sets 10 tented suites in 1920s colonial style on granite boulders, within 13,800 acres of desert on the edge of the NamibRand Nature Reserve. Days bring horse riding, electric fat bikes, walking trails and balloon flights, and evenings an open-air cinema and stargazing.

Arranged on request

On the tracks of rhino

At Omaanda, a morning on foot following the reserve's wildlife experts on the trail of rhino, learning their behaviour and the reality of poaching.

Behind the scenes at N/a'an ku sê

Five hours with the foundation that co-runs the reserve, through the Shiloh sanctuary, its research centre, the Clever Cubs school and the anti-poaching unit.

Breakfast on the Sonop dune

A sunrise climb to the summit of the dune for a 1920s-style safari breakfast with champagne.

A balloon over the Namib

Sonop arranges a hot-air balloon safari over the desert, alongside private sunrise and sunset drives.

The makers of Windhoek

A three-hour morning in Windhoek to meet the needlecraft makers of Casa Anin, see the Namibia Craft Centre and go into a diamond jeweller's workshop.

Subject to availability.

Ways to make it yours

A fourth night at Sonop, to leave a morning free for the balloon.
Two nights on the Skeleton Coast to finish, at an eight-tent camp on the Hoanib River, for shipwrecks, Cape fur seal colonies, the stone circles of the Strandlopers and the welwitschia, weather permitting.
A walk beside the foundation's habituated cheetahs, animals that cannot survive in the wild, before leaving Omaanda.

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.