hanl

Good idea!

The hot air balloon trip wasn't just us - there were three other couples, which made nine of us including the pilot. Each couple had their own "compartment" in the basket though.

napamatt

Thanks for the report and photos, it looks like a great time was had by all, including the Honeybadgers.

DJE

Wonderful trip reporting especially your time in Etosha. We have our next trip planned for "06 and also plan to do a driving trip throughout Namibia along with some fly in camps. Our first trip a few years ago involved just the Sossusvlei area ( Sossusvlei Mtn. Camp ) in Namibia with the rest spent in Botswana and Cape Town.

Our itinerary for this next trip is as follows:
Self drive portion
Day 1 - Windhoek - Heinitzburg Hotel
Day 2,3 - Mushara Lodge - Etosha
Day 4,5,6 - Ongava Lodge - Etosha
Day 7,8,9 - Damaraland - Mowani Mtn. Lodge
Day 10 - Cape Cross - Cape Cross Lodge
Day 11,12 - Swapokmund - Hansa Hotel
Day 13.14,15 - Sossusvlei - Sossusvlei Mtn. Lodge
Day 16 - return to WIndhoek - overnight

Fly in Portion
Day 17,18,19 - fly to Skeleton Coast - Skeleton Coast Camp
Day 20.21.22 - Fly to the far north - Serra Cafema Camp
Day 23 - fly back to Windhoek for overnight
Day 24 - head for home

On the last trip to Sossusvlei my husband went on the hot air balloon ride but I was hesitant as I thought it might be a bit of a rough ride. After viewing his video I realized I missed out on a wonderful experience and it was very smooth traveling. Next year I hope to do this outing.

Thank you again for your great report.

hanl

Wow, your itinerary looks great DJE! Quite a few people told us that the Serra Cafema camp is one of the most amazing in the country so it sounds like you're in for a treat. And you *must* do the hot air balloon ride - it's as smooth as anything when you're up there as you travel at the speed of the wind so you hardly even feel a breeze on your face.

Kavey

Oh DJE I'm so jealous!
We wanted to include fly-ins to skeleton coast too, especially Serra Cafema, but we just couldn't afford to add it to the already outrageous price for the 9 weeks we had already planned...
We left it for another time but now I'm longing for that time to be NOW NOW NOW!

DJE

Yes I'm really looking forward to the remote fly in camps and the opportunity to have interaction with the local Himba people as well as the nature and geographical aspects of these locations.

hanl, I will definitely look into the hot air balloon ride.

Kavey, I completely understand about the expense of a trip like your 9 week adventure and it must have been fantastic. There are just so many wonderful places to visit and only so much time and $$ for each trip.

Kavey

DJE It's so hard planning the perfect trip - even though I rationally accept the need to limit my budget to a certain amount emotionally it's another thing - I just loooong to go to every place I dream about!

But the 9 week trip was really magical (even though I never did finish the trip report here) and we do feel we chose well...