SPECIAL OFFER PRICES FROM JUST £3995 PER PERSON NAMIBIA BY PRIVate TRAIN An escorted tour from Walvis Bay to Pretoria including nine nights aboard the Shongololo Express 23rd May to 6th June 2017 Pelican Point, Walvis Bay Elephant Sossusvlei The ‘Big Hole’, Kimberley oin us for a spectacular journey aboard the Etosha National Park J Shongololo Express Private Train as we explore Otjiwarongo the amazing landscapes and rugged grandeur of Namibia, a country of compelling beauty, abundant Swakopmund Windhoek sunshine and seemingly endless space. Travelling from Walvis Bay Walvis Bay, our train continues through the desert BOTSWANA NAMIBIA and mountainous landscapes of Namibia stopping Sossusvlei along the way to appreciate the remarkable scenery Pretoria Johannesburg and view some stunning and diverse wildlife before Luderitz Keetmanshoop it winds its way to Pretoria in South Africa. The Kolmanskop SOUTH AFRICA Fish River Upington beauty and the colours of Africa truly need to be Canyon seen to be believed and are brought right to the Kimberley compartment doors of our comfortable rolling hotel, while enjoying the excellent service for which Rovos THE ITINERARY Rail is renowned. Spend nights in the Namib Desert Day 1 London to Walvis Bay, Namibia. Day 4 Etosha National Park. This and at Etosha National Park in stylish lodges as well Fly by scheduled indirect flight. morning we transfer to Gondwana as enjoying adventurous game drives. Etosha Safari Lodge in Etosha Day 2 Walvis Bay to Swakopmund. National Park. The park offers Arrive in Walvis Bay in the early excellent game viewing in one of Highlights of our journey are numerous and include Fish afternoon and transfer to our hotel, Africa’s most accessible venues. River Canyon, Africa’s largest canyon, the rugged Atlantic the Strand Hotel Swakopmund. Zebra and springbok are scattered coast, Swakopmund which is located on the Skeleton Swakopmund, Namibia’s seaside across the endless horizon while the resort on the west coast, is a place many waterholes attract endangered Coast and an excellent example of German colonial of singular charm. It resembles black rhino, lion, elephant and large architecture, and the wildlife rich Etosha National Park, a small Bavarian village nestling numbers of antelope. Enjoy game- one of Southern Africa’s finest and most important between the desert and the viewing activities and overnight sea and enjoys a restful and at the lodge. Accommodation & game reserves. However, for many the ultimate highlight relaxing atmosphere. The source Dining: Gondwana Etosha Safari will be the sand dunes at Sossusvlei for which Namibia of Swakopmund’s continental Lodge is set in Okaukuejo, close vibe is the graceful Art Nouveau to the Anderson Gate into Etosha is so renowned. Sossusvlei lies in the heart of the buildings dating back to the turn National Park. Offering views of the Namib Desert and is home to the world’s tallest sand of the previous century. Enjoy an African bush savannah, the rooms dunes, some of which tower over 300 metres high. afternoon and evening at leisure. at the lodge are air-conditioned and Accommodation: Nestled on the feature a veranda. Gondwana Etosha Watching the changing mood and colours at sunrise is a beach, Strand Hotel Swakopmund Safari Lodge has three outdoor once in a lifetime experience. features a spa, rooftop garden, pools, an on-site bar and restaurant restaurants and bars. All 125 rooms and an outdoor veranda. (B, L, D) offer free Wi-Fi, minibar, electronic Kolmanskop safe and plasma television. Day 5 Etosha National Park to Kranzberg. An early morning game Day 3 Walvis Bay to Otjiwarongo. drive gives us another chance to After breakfast we transfer to observe wild animals close up. We Walvis Bay Station to embark return to our train which departs the Shongololo Express for for Kranzberg. Accommodation & a mid-morning departure for Dining: Shongololo Express. (B, D) Otjiwarongo, our overnight stop. Settle into your cabin and enjoy Day 6 Windhoek. Today we arrive lunch and dinner on board. in Windhoek situated in Namibia’s Accommodation & Dining: central highlands, an attractive Shongololo Express. (B, L, D) city surrounded by clusters of hills www.noble-caledonia.co.uk Etosha National Park Fish River Canyon and the impressive Auas and Eros your senses. The 24 uniquely Dining: Shongololo Express. Accommodation & Dining: Mountains. Our city tour starts with designed accommodation units (B, L, D) Shongololo Express. (B, L, D) a visit to the TransNamib Transport have spacious bedrooms, en-suite Museum. The museum is situated bathrooms and shaded patio areas. Day 10 Kolmanskop and Luderitz. Day 13 Kimberley. Our tour today in the Windhoek Railway Station Facilities at the main building Our full day tour begins with a stop takes us to Kimberley, Capital and was built from 1912 to 1913. In include a big screen television and a at the ghost town of Kolmanskop of the Northern Cape, which front of the building is the narrow- sparkling swimming pool. (B, L, D) where the first diamonds were is well known for the discovery gauge locomotive (vintage 1900), found in Namibia in 1908. From of diamonds which led to its which used to operate between Day 8 Sossusvlei to here we visit the harbour town of establishment in 1893. Highlights Swakopmund and Windhoek. Keetmanshoop. Enjoy sunrise Luderitz which lies at the end of of the day include a visit to the The museum at the Alte Feste from Dune 45. The dunes of the the currently decommissioned Big Hole Diamond Mine Museum, Castle offers a range of displays, Namib Desert were created by railway line to Keetmanshoop. followed by lunch at one of the including the Social History sand carried by the wind from the Luderitz is known for its museum, restaurants in the city. After lunch Gallery and the Independence coast of Namibia. The sand here colonial architecture and for we visit the William Humphreys Display. Both give an insight into is five million years old and is red wildlife including seals, penguins, Art Gallery and the McGregor Namibia’s complex history. At the in colour due to its iron-oxide flamingos and ostriches. We depart House Museum. We depart in the top of Robert Mugabe Avenue is content. As the lighting changes in the evening for Holoog. afternoon for Potchefstroom. the Christuskirche or Evangelical with the time of day, so does Accommodation & Dining: Accommodation & Dining: Lutheran Church. This is one of the the appearance of the dunes’ Shongololo Express. (B, D) Shongololo Express. (B, D) city’s most striking landmarks and characteristic colour, allowing for was built from local sandstone and interesting photographs at any Day 11 Fish River Canyon. This Day 14 Pretoria to London. After completed in 1910. Romanesque, time. The wind in the Sossusvlei morning we visit the Fish River breakfast we arrive at Rovos Rail neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau area blows from all directions, Canyon. The Fish River rises in Station in Pretoria where we styles influenced its design and which means that the type of the the centre of the country, before disembark. We take a city tour Kaiser Wilhelm II donated its dunes here are known as “star flowing south into the Orange of Pretoria before we transfer to stained- glass windows. Our last dunes”. This is because the winds River, on Namibia’s border with Johannesburg Airport for our return visit is the Namibia Craft Centre cause the sand to form a star South Africa. In between, it has flight to London.Dining: (B, L) in the old Breweries Building. The shape with multiple arms. We have formed the great Fish River train departs for Mariental in the brunch at the lodge followed by a Canyon – the largest canyon in Day 15 London. Arrive this morning. afternoon. Accommodation & scenic drive through the Namib- the southern hemisphere, and Dining: Shongololo Express. (B, D) Naukluft Park. The train departs only second to Arizona’s Grand for Keetmanshoop in the late Canyon in terms of size. The Day 7 Sossusvlei. This morning we afternoon. Accommodation & vast rocky landscape breaks up PRICES PER PERSON Based on double occupancy transfer to the Desert Quiver Camp Dining: Shongololo Express. (B, D) into a series of spectacular cliffs, in the Namib-Naukluft Park. Visit formed by the Fish River as it Category Price the Sesriem Canyon, shaped over Day 9 Keetmanshoop. Morning meanders between boulders over millions of years by the Tsauchab tour of Keetmanshoop. Visit Giant’s half a kilometre below. Its size is Gold Cabin £3995 River, it is one of the few places Playground where dolerite dykes impressive: 161 kilometres long, up Emerald Suite £4995 Gold Cabin for sole use £5795 in that area that holds water all of between three to five metres in to 27 kilometres wide and almost Emerald Suite for sole use £7195 year round. The early Afrikaans width and 20 kilometres in length 550 metres at its deepest. Our train explorers named the canyon after can be explored. It is called the departs at midday for Ariamsvlei Price Includes: Economy class Giant’s Playground because of the the fact that they had to use six (ses) and Nakop for border formalities. scheduled air travel, overnight leather straps (riem) tied together way in which the massive dolerite Accommodation & Dining: accommodation in Swakopmund, to create a rope long enough to boulders have apparently been Shongololo Express. (B, L, D) nine nights aboard the Shongololo lower water buckets into the canyon placed one on top of another Express, overnight accommodation below. Enjoy an afternoon game by some gigantic force, creating Day 12 Upington, South Africa. in Etosha National Park, overnight drive and overnight at our lodge strange rock formations and a This morning we take a tour accommodation in Sossusvlei, Accommodation & Dining: Desert series of mazes.