Some facts and ideas planning a trip for Africa

You need to plan early if you want most options

If you want many options, you need to book at least 6-9 months in advance. Especially, if you want the best camp sites and mid-range places in Namibia and Botswana, as both countries are very popular.

Unfortunately, we were only able to book the trip three months in advance this year due to family matters. This limited some of our options to budget or high-end places, as the best mid-range places are booked well in advance - often one year ahead. Therefore, many of the best campsites and mid range places were already gone.

Near Madisa Camp, Damaraland, Namibia,  2012
Link to homepage (link)

How do you plan the route?

Planning the route, I enjoy reading many guidebooks and stories from other travelers (like this blog). I also enjoy studying maps and whatever information available on the internet. It´s a joy and hobby for me to spend hours dreaming about the trip considering different routes.

Near Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch, Namibia 2009 

When the plans start to materialize, I usually contact a specialized travel agent to book the accommodations for us and to suggest alternative options when necessary. For Southern Africa, we have used "Expert Africa" three times, and we are very satisfied with this agent (link homepage). They tailor the trip for us based on our own ideas, and they can handle both budget and luxury. If you dont want to do a lot of planning yourself, you can find many trip ideas and get inspiration from on their homepage (trip ideas)

Heading for Sandwich Harbour, Namib Naukluft Park
South of Swakopmund, Namibia 2009

Playing in Dunes near Sandwich Harbour, Swakopmund, Namibia 2009

We also had good experiences using another agent called "Safari Drive" once (link homepage). Their concept is often more expensive as it is based on their own fully equipped (and very nice) Land Cruisers and Land Rovers.

Both travel agents are located in UK.

Our accommodations for 2019, more luxurious than planned 

Accommodations driving clockwise from Windhoek with destination
Livingstone in Zambia . Also a short deviation into Botswana 

Due to the late planning, we ended up with more luxurious accommodations than planned. Many of the best mid-range places were already gone. If you want a less expensive trip, replace some of the places below with nice campsites and bring your own tent along. We have done that several times before.  

1. Luxury Room at Galton House, Windhoek (link)
2. Standard Room at Sam's Giardino, Swakopmund (link)
3. Villa at Desert Breeze Lodge, Swakopmund (link)
4. Beach Chalet at Terrace Bay, Skeleton Coast (link)
5. Camp site at Palmwag Lodge, Damaraland (link)
6. Sleep-out Deck at Etendeka Walking Trail, Etendeka Mountains (link)
7. Luxury Room at Opuwo Country Lodge, Kaokoland (link)
8. Safari Tent + campsite at Epupa Camp, Kaokoland (link)
9. Camp Site at Kunene River Lodge, Kunene Riiver (link)
10. Standard Room at Toko Lodge, vest Etosha (link)
11. Thatched Family Chalet + Thatched Chalet at Ongava Lodge, vest Etosha (kopi)
12. Bush Suite at Onguma The Fort  (link) + Settler's Room at Onguma Bush Camp, east Etosha (link)
13. Tented Chalet at Nunda River Lodge, Caprivi Strip (link)
14. Thatched Chalet at Nxamaseri Lodge, Okavango Delta (link)
15. Tented Room at Nambwa Tented Lodge, Capivi Strip (link)
16. Chalet at Serondela Lodge, Caprivi Strip (link)
17. Standard Room at Avani Victoria Falls, Livingstone (link)

Simple living conditions, on the road near Twyfelfontein, Namibia 2012