We are almost done with planning our next great adventure. This is one trip that we are really excited about. We have heard so many great things about these three countries that we plan to visit and we will probably not have time to see more than a small portion of what we would like to. Now, we need your tips.
The itinerary includes visits to three different countries, all of which are new to us. Qatar will be our first country in the Middle East. Namibia and South Africa will be our countries #3 and #4 on the African continent. It will be our second visit to Africa, the first being earlier this year when we went to The Gambia and Senegal.
It will be a trip where we leave the soon-to-be winter in Northern Europe and arrive to the soon-to-be summer in Southern Africa. Same time zone, different season.
Our Next Great Adventure – The Plan
Here is the current plan – day to day for our next great adventure. If you have any piece of advice on sights, places, food, activities, etc that we just shouldn’t miss, please let us know. All tips and recommendations are very welcome!
Day 1 – It all starts in Stockholm, Sweden
The adventure starts with an evening flight from Stockholm to Doha in Qatar.
Day 2 – Doha, Qatar
Early morning arrival in Doha, Qatar. We will have around 20 hours of transit time in Doha and we are looking forward to spending the time in the city. Seeing at least one souq is on our agenda, as well as trying some local food. The rest of the day will probably be spent looking around and trying to survive the change in temperature compared to Sweden. Is there anything we should absolutely do in Qatar?
Day 3 – Johannesburg, South Africa
Arrival in Johannesburg, South Africa. We will spend one day here before continuing our trip. There is no specific plan yet regarding what places to visit. However, spending some time at the pool at the hotel is probably a must. We are staying quite close to the airport to make sure that we are able to easily get there in the morning.
Day 4 – Windhoek, Namibia
Flight to Windhoek, Namibia. The arrival is in the afternoon and we hope that there will be enough time to pick up our rental car and drive to our hotel in Windhoek before nightfall.
Day 5-8 – Otjiwarongo, Namibia
Drive to Otjiwarongo, a few hours north of Windhoek. Here we will stay 3 nights and do some day trips in the area. Etosha National Park is on our agenda, but there seems to be a lot more to do during these days. Ending day 8 with driving back to Windhoek for one more night in the capital. Have you been in the are? What did you do? Where did you go and what did you see?
Day 9 – Windhoek, Namibia
The plan is to see the capital Windhoek before driving to the airport to drop off the car. We will spend the last night in Namibia at a guest farm just a few kilometers from the airport.
Day 10-12 – Cape Town, South Africa
The great adventure continues with South Africa and an early flight to catch. From Windhoek, we fly onward to Cape Town in South Africa. Here we will spend three nights to have time to see the city as well as its surroundings.
Day 13 – Swellendam, South Africa
It is once more time to pick up a rental car, this time to drive towards the east. Stops along the way are not yet decided for this day, but we will spend the night in Swellendam.
Day 14 – Plettenberg Bay, South Africa
Continuing towards the east. Once more the exact stops along the road are not yet certain, but we are thinking about Mossel Bay and Knysna. We have to reach Plettenberg Bay before nightfall in order to spend the night there.
Day 15 – Port Elizabeth, South Africa
The last day of driving. Heading along the Garden Route towards Port Elizabeth where we will spend the night. Our thoughts about stops are concentrated to St Francis Bay and Jeffreys Bay.
Day 16 – Johannesburg, South Africa
It’s now time to drop off the car at the airport in Port Elizabeth and fly back to Johannesburg. We will spend one more night in South Africa and there will probably be some time spent at the pool again. As it is the last day we probably want to find some time to relax a bit before heading back north.
Day 17 – Departure and heading back home
Afternoon flight back to Doha. Arrival in Doha was a few minutes before midnight. A much shorter transit this time, which is positive.
Day 18 – Arrival back home in Stockholm, Sweden
After a short stop in Doha, we will board the night flight back to Stockholm, Sweden. As we land in the early morning, we will be back home soon thereafter.
Our Next Great Adventure – Expectations
Our expectations are probably way too high for this trip. Or maybe that’s a Nordic way to look at things (never expect too much!). But at the same time that is a part of the excitement and the experience. We know that parts of the trip will live up to our expectations while others will disappoint us. But we are usually quite realistic once we arrive somewhere, so any disappointment shouldn’t last for too long.
And what are our actual expectations as far as this great adventure is concerned, we mainly look forward to a good holiday. We hope to see interesting places that are nothing like hope. Maybe we will enjoy some delicious food too?
To sum it up, we are looking forward to going somewhere far away again and if you do have any recommendations, please let us know. Have you ever been to Qatar, Namibia, or South Africa? How did you like it?
For now and for some time ahead, we will be waiting for take-off.
Join Us in Exploring Southern Africa
Here are all the posts belonging to the series about our trip to South Africa and Namibia. Read the parts by clicking on the links below:
- Part I: Doha, Qatar
- Part II: Johannesburg, South Africa
- Part III: Traveling To Namibia
- Part IV: Otjiwarongo, Namibia
- Part V: Cheetah Conservation Fund, Namibia
- Part VI: Etosha National Park, Namibia
- Part VII: Omaruru, Namibia
- Part VIII: Okahandja, Namibia
- Part IX: Windhoek, Namibia
- Part X: Cape Town, South Africa
- Part XI: Castle of Good Hope, South Africa
- Part XII: Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, South Africa
- Part XIII: Two Oceans Aquarium, South Africa
- Part XIV: Mariner’s Wharf, South Africa
- Part XV: Groot Constantia, South Africa
- Part XVI: Boulders Beach, South Africa
- Part XVII: Cape Point, South Africa
- Part XVIII: Chapman’s Peak Drive, South Africa
- Part XIX: Table Mountain, South Africa
- Part XX: Swellendam, South Africa
- Part XXI: Plettenberg Bay, South Africa
- Part XXII: Birds of Eden, South Africa
- Part XXIII: Port Elizabeth, South Africa
- Part XXIV: Good Bye Africa!
- Part XXV: Trip Summary
Join us as we explore Southern Africa
Try the kebabs at the souk. It’s soooo good.
That sounds promising, thank you 🙂
all the best for your journey….. keep posting you experiences…..
Thank you, I’m sure that there will be several posts about our trip later on 🙂
Cape Town is like the cherry on the cake that is South Africa. It doesnt give you a flavour of South Africa. My husband kept asking where was Africa when we went. Depending on what you want to experience, I loved Groot and Klein Constantia in Cape Town (the architecture, history, wine, food, experience) and the Franschoek wine route really stands out in my mind – stayed in period B&B there and ate at a restaurant that was partly inside a mountain. Very picturesque region and some fabulous wines to taste at the vineyards. Stellenbosch has gorgeous Cape Dutch architecture and vineyards where you can stop for lunch. Try the Cape Coloured (Malay) cuisine and find the funky music bars. See if you can catch some local music. Always fun. There’s also that incredible beach near Cape Town they use in so many films because its wide, wide, pale sand and scenery are incredible. As you’re driving in the direction of Knysna you’ll be travelling The Garden Route. Very scenic. Visit the only elephants of their kind at Addo Elephant Reserve – there were only 9 left when we were there years ago so find out latest. Tsitsikama Forest is gorgeous too. George is lovely. Knysna is more of a must than Plet. PE is okay. Windy. In Jo’burg go where hotel recommends as they’ll know where is safe for tourists – I used to love the bohemian feel of Melville. Quite funky. All my info is a bit out of date so do your research but hopefully you now have some possible options. (The sea around Caoe Town is cold but it has gorgeous beaches like at Camps Bay, which is very ‘camp’ 🙂 – oh and don’t miss the penguins. Can’t remember the beach tney hang out on but its near Fishhoek. They are famous and funny.)
Wow, Thank you Helen 🙂
We will really need to research some of this before we go. I guess that it is the penguins at Boulders Beach? we are currently trying to find out what is the easiest way to get there. There really are a lot of things we want to see, so thank you for helping us with your recommendations 🙂
I bet you’ll have a wonderful time!
Namibia is right on the top of my bucket list!
Enjoy!
Namibia really was amazing, would love to go back there 🙂
Wow, sounds a great trip! I met up with friends yesterday and found out they’ve been to Namibia and loved it. They do advise bringing a sturdy magazine along – as this was used on more than one occasion to get rid of the scorpion from their bed!
We were lucky and did not find any scorpions on our beds, luckily. 🙂
One thing is for sure, Namibia really was amazing and we hope to return one day. 🙂
Since you are on a stop over at Doha,visiting the city is OK. It is a most modern city with opulent malls and beautifully done up corniche. But for a real Arabian experience, you should visit Oman the hidden gem of Arabia.
Oman would be nice to visit one day. Luckily Doha was a quite interesting city, so it might have been a good introduction to future visits of the region 🙂