Photos of my Namibia tour...

[Mike Pearson]

Dominique,

Thanks for the inevitable locomotive 

Mike

[RintelnGirl]

Dominque,

Just caught up with the new photos you have posted here. They are fantastic, you seem to have had a really amazing holiday. Love the photos Thanks for sharing 

[RintelnGirl]

Dominque,

The photography tour company I use are holding a 17 day tour to Namiba in Oct 2010. This is the itinery, would be interested to know if you think its worth considering. I don't know the price yet though!

Namibia: Wilderness & Wildlife
A 17 day exploration of the Namib Desert, Skeleton Coast and the desert wildlife of Damaraland, Etosha National Park and the Africat Foundation
8 to 24 October 2010
 
Day
1
Depart UK for flight to Windhoek, Namibia.
Days
2 to 4
Windhoek - Sossusvlei and Sesriem. Arrive Windhoek International Airport, Namibia. Drive south to the central escarpment into the Namib Desert. Overnight camping at the Sesriem Campsite for 3 nights. The next three days the group will spend in the Sossusvlei and Sesriem areas. Overnight camping (B,L,D)
Days
5 & 6
Swakopmund. Drive north via the Kuiseb Canyon, Lichen fields, Moon landscape and the Welwitschia plains to Swakopmund. The group will spend two nights in Swakopmund, overnight in a guest house. On the second day in Swakopmund the group will do a 4x4 excursion into the Sandwich area. Overnight guest house (B)
Days
7 to 11
Skeleton Coast and beyond. Drive north along the Skeleton Coast, via the Cape Cross Seal colony, to the Ugab River. The
group will camp on the northern slopes of the Brandberg, the highest mountain in Namibia. Further north into Damaraland
searching for desert-adapted wildlife, including desert Elephant, visit the Twyfelfontein Rock engravings, camping in the Huab River. Further north into the Palmwag concession area, this is home to the largest free roaming population black rhino in the world. Continue to Kaokoland, via the Hoanib River, to Purros in search of the desert Elephant. Overnight camping (B,L,D)
Day
12
Sesfontein. Travel east, via Sesfontein, to the Khowarib Lodge for the evening. Overnight lodge (B,L,D)
Days
13 & 14
Khowarib Gorge and Etosha National Park. Drive west through the breathtaking Khowarib Gorge, via Kamanjab and Outjo, to the Etosha National Park for the next two nights. Overnight chalets (B,L,D)
Day
15
Africat Foundation, Okonjima. Drive south to Okonjima which is home to the Africat Foundation which has a mission for the
long-term conservation of large carnivores in Namibia through education and research. It also provides treatment and care for
orphaned and injured animals. Overnight lodge (B,L,D)
Day
16
Okonjima - Windhoek. Morning on Okonjima then back to Windhoek, afternoon transfer to airport for the return flight to the UK
Day
17
Arrive UK

[tcom]

RintelnGirl: the tour sounds interesting.

The first part up to Swakopmund is about the same what I did, except that the tour spends one night more near the Sossusvlei.

The second part is to Sesfontein is more or less the same as well. The tour seems to go deaper into the skeleton coast.

Then the tour is different from mine. I went upto the Epupa Falls before going to the Etosha and this tour will go directly to the Etosha. This means that there will be only little chances to see a Himba village. There are chances to see a few waiting for tourists, but it is not the same as visiting a real village.

The trip from Khowarib to Etosha over Kamanjab and Outjo is quite long, so expect to arrive in late afternoon exhausted in the Etosha. With just 2 nights in the Etosha, this means the time spend in the National Park will just be one full day, which is quite short. Make sure these two nights are really inside the National Park (most probably Okaukuejo Camp, or maybe Halali).

The tour looks interesting, except that the time spend in the Etosha is a bit too short in my opinion, and you will not have the chance to see the Himbas on that trip.

[wtlwdwgn]

I would also like to add my thanks for this thread Dominique and for all of us armchair travelers. As always your images are terrific. I especially like the images of the locals as they are a very beautiful people.

[tcom]

For those interested, I used Exposure_plot on the bunch of process photos to see what focal lengths have been used most during this tour.

[blackcloudbrew]

Interesting, while I can see that your 200 and 300mm lengths are most likely your DA*200 & 300, how do these statistics group with the specific lens use? I think that's the more interesting question because it would show what lenses were used most often. That's really the question for my photo travel - bring everything or ?

As Dave and Jim found in Utah only certain lens were needed for most of the landscape shooting. Your graph tracks lengths I'd expect to use to shoot animals.

Regardless, this is quite interesting. Thanks.

Tim

[tcom]

That's true Tim.

• Landscapes. Mostly DA*16-50.
• People. Mostly DA*50-135 and DA*200.
• Wildlife. Mostly DA*200 and DA*300 and a few times DA*300 combined to the 1.7x TC

From the first graph, I would have said that if I do have to travel lighter, I could leave the DA*50-135 at home. But when looking at the use of each individual lens, I do see that I used it quite a bit when visiting the villages to make photos of the people around. So for me the question remains, would it be a good idea to leave it at home?

[Mallee Boy]

Hi Dominique,
Congratulations on a great travelogue. Excellent captures and the information given is top notch and very helpful. My son recently completed the Namibia desert race and spoke of (other than pain) a very testing terrain.

I think your lens set up is as good as it gets and that shows...I'm envious. I can only boast the DA* 200 in my collection thus far, but after looking through your outstanding collection I can see I am going to have to have a long chat with Santa.

Thank you for sharing.