Namibia Photography Tour

16-30 March 2026

Kalahari Namibia - Quiver Tree Forest - Fish River Canyon - Luderitz - NamibRand Nature Reserve - Sesriem - Sossusvlei - Walvis Bay - Spitzkoppe - Swakopmund - Okonjima Private Nature Reserve
 

Namibia offers a rich variety of landscapes, people and wildlife. From the spectacular red dunes of the Namib desert to the shifting sands of the Skeleton Coast, the ever-changing landscape is a dream for photographers.

 Our journey through this sparsely populated country in South-West Africa begins on the edge of the Southern Kalahari desert. Our first 2 days will be spent in the beautiful Bagatelle Kalahari game Ranch where we have organised game drives at sunrise and sunset. You'll see oryx, giraffe, rhino, antelopes, ostriches, zebra and maybe some cheetah. The backdrop of the golden sand dunes and grasses is stunning around dawn and dusk. The sunset shoot will finish with a famous sundowner, one of many to be enjoyed on this tour. 

 Our next stop is Keetmanshoop, home to the Quiver Tree forest and the ‘Giant’s playground’, an expanse of strange rock formations. The colours and shapes are amazing to photograph at sunset and against the night sky. We'll shoot the trees and rock formations at sunrise and sunset and for those of you who enjoy night photography, this is one of the best places on earth to shoot the Milky Way.

 We head south towards the majestic Fish River Canyon where we'll stay in the beautiful  Fish River Lodge.  The canyon  is 160 kms long and up to 27 kms wide and plunges 550 metres deep in some place.This is a wonderful  place to capture the night sky which looks incredible set against the rocky landscape.

 Sandwiched between the rugged Atlantic Coast and the arid Namib Desert, the town of Luderitz is set in an incredibly unique geographical setting. This seaside town is something of an anomaly frozen in time – a piece of 19th-century Bavaria bordering the pinkish sand dunes of the Namib Desert. Lutheran churches, German bakeries, and colonial buildings boasting German art nouveau architecture are dotted about the settlement, while its windswept beaches are home to flamingos, ostriches, seals and penguins.

Amongst the sands of the Namib, the crumbling buildings of a small, once-luxurious town emerge from the drifting dunes. This ghost town is Kolmanskop, a reminder of a time when diamonds could be picked by hand from the desert, and a remarkable photographic opportunity with few equals anywhere on earth.

Spanning an area of 172,200 hectares and encompassing four distinct ecosystems, the Namib Rand Reserve is among the largest privately owned game parks in Southern Africa. The park’s mix of dunes, mountains, rocky outcrops, sandy flats and gravel plains provides habitats for a diversity of mammals – including hyenas, jackals, foxes, antelopes and various wild cats. Here we'll stay at Wolwedans Dune Camp perched high up among the dunes. I love this place. It's so peaceful and the views are otherworldly. 

Our safari drives take us through the varied landscape full of fairy circles, mountains and dunes. We'll encounter countless oryx and springbok as well as kudu, Hartman's and Burchell's zebra, giraffe, klipspringer, steenbok, hartebeest and babbons. We'll also visit the eco village which produces much of the food for the lodges and staff in a sustainable fashion. The camp is truly inspiring and is ‘simply out of this world’! 

Located in the scenic Namib-Naukluft National Park, Sossusvlei is where you will find the iconic red sand dunes of the Namib. The clear blue skies contrast with the giant red dunes to make this one of the most scenic natural wonders of Africa. The 400 metre high red sand dunes are wonderful to photograph at dawn and at dusk. If we’re lucky, we may see an oryx climb up the side of a dune. Dead Vlei is an ancient clay pan and home to the iconic ‘dead’ trees. So dry were the climatic conditions that the trees never decomposed – instead they were entirely leached of moisture so that today, 900 years later, they remain as desiccated, blackened sentinels dotting the pan’s cracked surface.  We've made sure you'll be there at sunrise before the tourists arrive and at sunset when most people will have left the park.

Today we head to Walvis Bay where we'll stay at the gorgeous Oyster Box guesthouse, which overlooks a beautiful lagoon full of lesser and greater flamingo. Located a short distance is Dune 7, one of the largest sand dunes in the world. Our 4-wheel drive jeeps will take us to some wonderful vantage points to capture the dune and Atlantic Ocean below. 

Situated in Namibia’s spectacularly scenic Namib Desert, between Usakos and Swakopmund, the Spitzkoppe are a group of bald granite peaks forming one of Namibia’s most recognisable and dramatic landmarks. We’ll capture these enormous domes and the famous arch at sunrise and sunset and for those who are feeling energetic, at night.

 Our final destination is the Okonjima private game reserve where we'll stay at the Okonjima Plains Camp. The park was once a cattle farm was bought by Brahman breeders Val (VJ) and Rose Hanssen in 1970. By the time Namibia gained its independence in early 1990, they needed to address increasing livestock losses and growing interest in Namibia as a tourist destination. Three years later their herds of Brahman and Jersey cattle were sold and Okonjima’s attention turned to recovering the grass plains and transforming it into a nature reserve, with a primary focus on carnivore conservation through The AfriCat Foundation. Today it is a luxurious African safari destination in the heart of Namibia that is ideal for wildlife photography and famed for its cheetah, brown hyena and leopard sightings.

We will take 4 private game drives in tiered jeeps and go in search of leopard as well as giraffe, zebra, antelope. We'll also photograph lion and cheetah in an enclosed pen. This is a special place and the perfect way to end your Namibian adventure!

*Please take a look at my gallery from 2024 https://www.timmannakee.com/gallery/show/category/namibia