Namibia Safari aboard Rovos Rail’s Pride of Africa

After breakfast, transfer to Mokuti Lodge in Etosha National Park, home to 114 mammal species, including the rare and endangered black rhino and black-faced impala. Lunch, afternoon game drive, dinner and overnight at the lodge.

Early morning game drive in the Etosha National Park, where blue wildebeest, mountain and plains zebra, giraffe, hyena, lion, cheetah, leopard as well as 340 species of birds may be spotted. Return to the lodge for breakfast and check-out.  Rejoin the Pride of Africa at Tsumeb station for lunch, afternoon tea and dinner on board.

After breakfast, visit a cheetah conservation project in Otjiwarongo.

Founded in Namibia in 1990, the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) is dedicated to saving the cheetah in the wild.

Disembark at Windhoek station. Windhoek is an attractive city surrounded by clusters of hills and the impressive Auas and Eros Mountains. The Trans-Namib Transport Museum outlines Namibian transport history, particularly that of the railway. Visit the transport museum followed by a city tour en route to the airport.

Depart city in light aircraft for short scenic flight to Sossusvlei. After check-in and lunch at the lodge, embark on an afternoon desert drive followed by a bush dinner after sunset.

Enjoy an early morning desert drive with breakfast in the vlei (dry marsh).  The dunes of the Namib were created by sand carried by the wind from the coast. The sand here is over 5-million years old and is red due to its iron-oxide content. As the light changes during the day, so does the appearance of the dunes’ characteristic color, allowing for interesting photographs at any time. The wind in the Sossusvlei area blows from all directions causing the sand to form a star shape with multiple arms, hence the name “star dunes.”

Return to the lodge for breakfast and checkout before the one-hour flight to Mariental, where you will rejoin the train. Enjoy lunch, afternoon tea and dinner while traveling south through the Kalahari Desert.

Morning visit to Garas Park and the Quiver Tree Forest. The prehistoric trees have forked branches that reach up to 16 feet (5 m) making for great photographic opportunities.

Lunch on board and afternoon arrival in Holoog. Disembark for one-hour drive to explore the gigantic Fish River Canyon, largest canyon in Africa. The vast rocky landscape breaks up into a series of spectacular cliffs. Its size is impressive: 100 miles (161 km) long, up to 17 miles (27 km) wide and 1,800 feet (550 m) at its deepest.

Return to the train and travel east along the southern reaches of the Kalahari Basin. Dinner and Namibia/South Africa border formalities this evening.

After breakfast, disembark for a walking tour of Upington, oasis town on the Orange River, surrounded by the Kalahari Desert and famous for its wine.  Back on board, lunch and dinner are served as the train travels through the Karoo, a vast semi-desert region that was once an enormous inland sea. Over millions of years, volcanic matter was ground down and deposited as silt upon the seabed to form what geologists call the Karoo system.

Enjoy a leisurely morning with breakfast and lunch on board. Afternoon arrival in Kimberley. Capital of the Northern Cape, Kimberley is well known for the discovery of diamonds that led to its establishment in 1871. Enjoy a tour of the Big Hole and Diamond Mine Museum for tour the Big Hole Diamond Mine and museum. Enjoy an African themed dinner on board this evening.

Enjoy breakfast as the train continues to travel northeast through the goldfields of the Witwatersrand via Krugersdorp, Germiston and Johannesburg. Arrive at Rovos Rail’s private Capital Park station in Pretoria early evening.