Guided Game Drives in Namibia
If you’re looking to enjoy a holiday in Namibia, then booking yourself onto a game drive is a must! Though less well known than South Africa and Botswana, Namibia offers some incredible wildlife experiences, as well as some of the most beautiful desert landscapes in the world! It boasts much lower visitor numbers than many of its African neighbours, so you get to enjoy some really intimate wildlife experiences. And you can see all of the big five here: Leopard, Lion, Elephant, Rhino, and Buffalo.
Etosha National Park and Bwabwata
A guided game drive is a fantastic experience. You can enjoy the expertise of your tracker, who can point out and name the animals for you. The vehicles are designed for maximum viewing potential and you will stop frequently, so there’s plenty of opportunity to take pictures and watch the animals roaming around in the desert warmth.
The most popular site for game drives is Etosha National Park, known for its incredible abundance of wildlife: elephants, rhinos, lions, leopard, antelope, flamingos, black and white rhino, a huge number of antelope, and much more. It’s an enormous park and has four entrance gates. The dried-up salt pan attracts the largest number of animals, which are easy to spot when drinking around the watering holes in the dry winter months. The second most popular park for game drives is the Bwabwata National Park, in the Zambezi Region (formerly known as the Caprivi Strip). Here you will find a very different landscape, with dense greenery and a network of rivers.
If you’re keen to see all of the big five, then you will need to book game drives in a range of locations. Etosha is a great starting point, as it hosts most the big game, with the exception of the buffalo. Bwabwata National Park in the Zambezi Region is particularly popular for those looking for buffalo, as well as the large populations of crocodile and hippo. Waterberg is also a good spot for Buffalo.
Etendeke Concession and Waterberg National Park
Another great place to enjoy a game drive is in the Entendeke Concession in the Damaraland Region, which has desert adapted black rhino and a large population of Elephants. And if you’re keen to spot some of the rare animal species, head to Waterberg National Park. In the 1970’s many of Africa’s endangered animals were moved to this park because the waterberg plateau’s isolated location was considered ideal for protecting animals from pesky poachers. You can see many of the protected animals, such as the black and white rhino, the roan and sable antelope, hyena, aardvark, honey badger, and African wildcat, to name a few.
Okonjima Nature Reserve
Big cats can be notoriously hard to spot, you can increase your chances of seeing them by going to a dedicate reserve, such as Okonjima, which offers Leopard tracking. Hope into the vehicle with your ranger and head deep into the reserve to spot the majestic Leopard. Though the leopards here roam free in the grounds, some of them have collars so that the rangers can monitor their movements, making it much easier to seek out the leopards, if you haven’t come across one accidentally already.
The best game drives in Namibia
There are so many opportunities to enjoy the unique wildlife of Namibia, whether it’s on a self-drive safari, private game drive, a nocturnal game viewing, or simply watching free roaming animals within the grounds of your lodge . So do call us for a chat because we’re always happy to talk you through the options to help you working out what fits best with your Namibia holiday highlights.
