Originally Posted by
jason8612
Thanks for the recommendations.
Would it be better to do Waterberg Plateau for 2 nights and then head to WDH for a afternoon flight or do Damaraland for 1 night and then Okonjima for the 2nd night? We could do Waterberg Plateau on the 2nd night but from what I see, it is about a 3.5hr drive from Damaraland to Waterberg Plateau (and Okonjima seems to be somewhere in between Damaraland and Waterberg Plateau). With the family, I know there won't be much hiking and that's why I kinda excluded Sossusvlei from the start and I'm not sure of the other sites.
I guess it also depends on how many days we spend in Etosha. 10th is a lost day (flying in plus driving). 11,12, and 13th are full days for Etosha. 14th and 15th are the "free days". We could also do Okonjima on the 14th, heading then to Waterberg Plateau for the evening and then Waterberg Plateau all day on the 15th.
I guess the choices are:
1. 14th and 15th in Waterberg Plateau
2. 14th Okonjima and then drive to Waterberg Plateau in the evening. Overnight Waterberg Plateau 14th and 15th (site-seeing Waterberg Plateau on the 15th).
3. 14th Damaraland and 15th Okonjima
4. 14th Damaraland and 15th Waterberg Plateau
At the end of the day I think you need to decide what you want from the two days. If you were to do 1 day Damaraland and then 1 day Waterberg or Okonjima and then Windhoek you would be spending a lot of time driving. You say you are with family - not sure if it is kids? How are they with hours in a car?
With the time constraints, if it was me, I would either do 2 nights in Waterberg or if there really is something you want at Okonjima then 1 night Waterberg and 1 night Okonjima (in that order). Okonjima is closer to Windhoek so to go there first you would be heading away from Windhoek for the second night.
Sossusvlei, although spectacular really is not doable from Etosha.
However, if you wanted something different and you could do it all on tar roads would be to go to Swakopmund for 2 nights. Give yourself 6 hours from Etosha, but then have a full day in Swakopmund with a lot of things to do there. Drive time from Swakopmund to Windhoek airport is about 30 minutes more than from Waterberg Plateau and about an hour more than from Okonjima.
Lastly for something completely different, you could get the drive out of the way almost completely the day you leave Etosha and drive to N/a'an ku se lodge - where you could easily spend 2 nights, their activities are varied but especially the work they do showcasing the Bushman way of life is interesting -
https://www.naankuselodge.com/activities-for-you.html