An Intro to Namibia: from Dunes to the Ocean

Arrive in the Namibian capital this morning and find yourself surrounded by arid mountains. Receive a personal reception at the airport and collect your hire vehicle. Check-in early at your accommodation for the night, an elegant guesthouse with friendly staff, located in the Windhoek uplands. To recover from the flight there is an airy and well-kept indoor garden and a few pool-side deckchairs, where you can laze around to your heart's content in this secluded haven.

Drive to Otjiwarongo, midway between the capital and Etosha Park. Enjoy overnight accommodation in a charming lodge decorated with traditional crafts of the Ovambo people. We love the Lapa deck, a vast outdoor restaurant set in the savannah around a large fire, perfect for dining under the stars and watching the animals drink at the watering hole.

Take the road to the north, with picnic lunch en route, to Etosha National Park. It is one of the largest animal reserves in the world, with an area spanning 14,000 square miles. In the rainy season, the vast salt desert of Etosha Pan is transformed into a lagoon full of flamingos. Its arid plains are home to more than 100 species of mammals. In the dry season, animals gather around the watering holes; in the rainy season, you can even see baby zebras taking their first steps. Spend two nights in the heart of the bush, in the Ongume Private Game Reserve. The lodge is located on the edge of a watering hole. As the lounge and dining room have prime views overlooking the watering hole, it is common to spot the animals coming to drink as you sip a cocktail or enjoy a sumptuous meal. It's a sort of dine-in safari. The bungalows with their grey thatched roofs are quintessentially African. It is discreetly integrated into the surrounding natural environment. The rooms are impeccable, the pool is perfect for cooling off and the staff are attentive and efficient, all enhancing further the fantastic feel of the place.

Stay overnight in a camp that was the first to open in the western part of Etosha National Park, an area that has remained wonderfully wild and protected. The camp sits on a hill, surrounded by twisting trees and volcanic formations, and overlooks the Damaraland Plain and Etosha pan from a great height - an ideal vantage point for watching the cloud shadow roll across the vast plain, and for watching the animals with a dizzying sense of freedom. Activities include watching zebras (including the rare Hartmann's mountain zebra), giraffes, antelopes, white and black rhinos, which flock to drink at the many surrounding watering holes.

Leave behind the silvery flatlands of the Etosha Pan, for the hills of Damaraland, the stronghold of the black rhino and desert elephants. An austere and wild region of rugged landscapes, one of the last places on the continent where zebras, oryx, giraffes and black rhinoceros live outside the national parks. It's a total change of atmosphere and colour. Enjoy overnight accommodation in a charming lodge, a haven of peace and tranquillity in the heart of the Damaraland mountains, on a rocky outcrop. Enjoy a spectacular view of Vingerklip, a 100ft-high limestone finger emerging out of the Ugab Valley - a breathtakingly beautiful landscape. Other things to see and experience include the petrified forest of conifers fossilised in sandstone, 260 million years old; in their wake have grown stunning 'Welwitschias Mirabilis' plants, several hundred years old - the geological formations of the Ugab River valley and climbing the Vingerklip - a full day to track animals (rhinoceros, elephants, oryx, springbok or ostriches) - a walk to see one of the jewels of the mineral natural landscape - the Twyfelfontain rock engravings, the oldest in southern Africa.

Then take the road south-west through landscapes of plateaus and flat mountains sculpted by time, with an impromptu picnic along the way. Things to see on the road include Brandberg Mountain, the country's highest peak standing at 8,400ft, an ancient volcano that greatly influenced the landscape of the region, a detour to see the famous sea lion colony, and then back on the salt track to the small towns of Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. Spend two nights in a hotel in a Cubist architectural design, nestled on Walvis Bay lagoon. Wide bay windows afford ample views of the lagoon from a king-size bed, with front row seats for flamingo and pelican watching.

Located in the heart of a former German colony, Walvis Bay has only been part of Namibia since 1994, when the city's sovereignty was transferred from South Africa. The area is rich in marine wildlife, thanks to the Benguela Current which flows here and encourages plankton growth. Already included in the itinerary is a catamaran cruise to explore the lagoon's rich marine wildlife - dolphins, seals and turtles, pelicans, cormorants and flamingos. Then head to Sandwich Harbour, where the dunes of the Namib Desert meet the Atlantic Ocean. Things to see and do include exploring the neighbouring town of Swakopmund, distinctive for its early 20th century Baltic Coast Germanic architecture, its promenades ideal for an enjoyable stroll or the patisseries along Kaiser Wilhelm Strasse - a game of golf between sand and green - an excursion to see the age-old 'Welvitchias mirabilis' plant in the Moon Valley.

After the coast it's on to the desert. Head south for the dunes of the Namib Desert, one of the world's oldest deserts, a near-perfect landscape of clean lines, an extraordinary range of colours: the apricot, orange and red hues of the sands and the intense blue sky. Sublime and unspoiled. Admire the immense display of apricot-red sand dunes, which are among the highest in the world (some are over 1,100ft high) and surround an ancient dried salt lake, bordered by beautiful acacias. This is a chance for an encounter with desert animals such as oryx, springboks, ostriches, jackals and other birds. Enjoy a two-night stay in Sesriem, in a magnificent hillside lodge at the entrance to the national park, designed as a viewing point for the endless landscape. Every effort has been made to ensure that the Namib Desert and its petrified dunes remain so forever: the cottages are built on stilts and the beds are raised off the ground, the dark interiors contrast with the intense outdoor brightness. Here, life is lived at the desert's pace, contemplating the changes of light on the red dunes. Small private stone pools, large terraces – another concept of comfort, unostentatious luxury, natural and discreet. Activities include climbing the dunes to survey the apricot-coloured landscapes - spend the day walking the dune corridor between Sesriem and Sossusvlei - encounter desert animals, including oryx, springboks, ostriches, jackals and other birds.

Leave the Namib Desert and press on deeper inland towards the semi-arid Kalahari Desert in the east. Bordering Botswana, South Africa and Namibia, this land of the bushmen features vast expanses of red dunes and yellow savannah. There are high dunes, but the area is often shaped into an undulating endless sheet of sand by the wind. Overnight accommodation is on the fringes of the desert: the owner of the renowned guesthouse in the area has set up tents on wooden stilts on top of a red sand dune. Dine at the guesthouse before picking up the keys from reception and driving off in a 4x4 to park up in the middle of nowhere, at the bottom of the dune that is camp for the night. You'll have a wooden deck, terrace with a small table and low armchairs, and a functional safari tent that is simply but charmingly furnished. The location offers breath-taking vistas of the infinite expanse of the grassy plains of the Kalahari and the blue sky. A natural recharge.