Namibia

May to October is the short answer, and the dry season works because Namibia has almost no surface water. From June, game across Etosha is pushed onto a handful of pumped and natural waterholes, and by late August and September the concentrations at Okaukuejo and Nebrownii are the best in the country: a hundred elephants at a time, black rhino after dark, lion waiting on the tree line. Nights in June and July drop into single figures before dawn, and rooftop tents lose heat fast.

From late September the heat builds. October in Sossusvlei and along the Kunene regularly passes 38 °C, which changes the shape of the day: up at first light, under shade by eleven, out again at four. It is the hardest month physically and the best month for game.

The green season runs from roughly December to April, mostly as short afternoon storms rather than all-day rain. Etosha fills with springbok and zebra lambs, migrant birds arrive, and in a good year the Tsauchab River reaches Sossusvlei and there is water at the base of the dunes. The trade-offs: game disperses from the waterholes, grass grows tall, some D-roads and riverbed crossings close for a day or two after a storm, and the Zambezi Region can flood. Rates are lower and Deadvlei is quiet.

Two dates are worth planning around. The Fish River Canyon hiking trail is open only from roughly 1 May to 15 September and requires a medical certificate and a group of at least three. And the Skeleton Coast fog is thickest in winter, when visibility on the C34 salt road can drop to a couple of hundred metres before nine in the morning.

Namibian roads are lettered, and the letter tells you what to expect. B-roads are tar and often excellent: the B1 spine from the South African border through Windhoek to Tsumeb, the B2 to Swakopmund. C-roads are the main gravel network, graded, wide and usually good for 80 km/h. D-roads are minor gravel, and their condition ranges from fine to riverbed.

Gravel does not feel dangerous until it is. A wide, dry, empty C-road invites 100 km/h, and at that speed a high-clearance 4x4 carrying a rooftop tent and a full long-range tank does not forgive a sudden correction. Single-vehicle rollovers are the most common serious incident involving self-drive visitors here. Hold 80 km/h on gravel and drop to 60 km/h on anything unfamiliar. Let the tyres down to around 1.8 bar for gravel and re-inflate before you rejoin tar.

A few stretches matter more than general advice. The C43 north from Palmwag through Sesfontein towards Opuwo is the worst corrugation in the country. The D707 along the eastern edge of the Tiras Mountains has soft sand sections that catch people who have spent a week on hard gravel. Spreetshoogte Pass on the D1275 is the steepest in Namibia and should not be driven downhill with a trailer. Van Zyl's Pass in the far north-west is one-way westbound, low range only, and not to be attempted without a second vehicle. And the C34 salt road turns slippery in fog: treat it like wet tar and brake in a straight line.

Windhoek, Swakopmund, Otjiwarongo, Outjo, Tsumeb and Keetmanshoop are all straightforward for fuel. North and west of Kamanjab the network thins fast. Solitaire, Sesfontein, Palmwag, Opuwo and Purros have pumps, but a pump and stock on the day are different things in the Kaokoveld, and card machines fail when the network drops. Carry cash, fill whenever you pass a station north of Kamanjab, and carry 40 litres in jerry cans for any Kaokoveld routing. Elsewhere a full long-range tank covers the gaps.

Namibia's highlights sit 400 to 600 kilometres apart, so a night in the wrong place costs a whole day of driving. Our working rule: never fewer than two nights anywhere except a deliberate transit stop, and where a place is worth three nights, give it three.

• 2 nightsSossusvlei / Sesriem

  Two nights minimum, because you need one dawn inside the inner gate. It opens at sunrise for guests staying inside the park boundary and an hour later for everyone else, which is the difference between Deadvlei with long shadows and Deadvlei with two hundred people. A third night buys a balloon flight or the Naukluft.

• 2 nightsSwakopmund & the coast

  Where you do laundry, service the vehicle and take a proper shower. Use the full day for Sandwich Harbour or a Walvis Bay kayak with the seals, and drive up to Cape Cross if the seal colony appeals.

• 2–3 nightsDamaraland

  The region guests most often come back talking about. Two nights covers Twyfelfontein's rock engravings, the Organ Pipes and Burnt Mountain, and a desert-adapted elephant drive along the Aba-Huab or Huab riverbeds. Three nights allows a tracker-led search for desert black rhino out of Palmwag.

• 3–4 nightsEtosha

  Big enough that camp choice is route planning. Three nights minimum: Namutoni in the east, Halali in the middle for the Moringa waterhole, and Okaukuejo in the west for the floodlit waterhole. Four nights adds Dolomite or the quieter western sector via Galton Gate. You may not drive inside the park between sunset and sunrise, and gate times carry fines.

• 4+ nightsThe Kaokoveld & Kunene

  Purros, Marienfluss, Epupa, Van Zyl's Pass. The only part of Namibia we will not send a single vehicle into. Four nights is the practical minimum for the Marienfluss loop, with two vehicles, satellite communication and 40 litres of spare fuel.

• 3 nightsZambezi Region (Caprivi)

  Worth it if you are continuing to Botswana or Victoria Falls rather than for its own sake. Bwabwata's Kwando core area and Nkasa Rupara are excellent and almost empty, though Nkasa Rupara needs a 4x4 and floods between roughly February and May. Malaria prophylaxis is essential.

• 2 nightsFish River Canyon & the south

  Worth it if you are entering or leaving via South Africa, or hiking the trail. Pair it with Kolmanskop outside Lüderitz and the quiver tree forest at Keetmanshoop. As a standalone detour it is eight hours of driving each way.

Namibia asks little of you mechanically and more than people expect logistically. You do not need off-road experience for a standard loop: Sossusvlei, Swakopmund, Damaraland and Etosha are all within reach of a competent driver in a stock 4x4, and the only technical section is the last five kilometres of deep sand into Sossusvlei, which has a 2x4 car park and a shuttle.

What it does ask for is self-sufficiency. Carry five litres of drinking water per person per day. Keep a paper map or offline navigation, because coverage disappears across most of Damaraland and the Kaokoveld. Book campsites and park accommodation months out: Sesriem, Okaukuejo and Halali sell out for August and September up to a year ahead. Build in one buffer day. And arrive everywhere before dark, because the roads carry kudu, oryx, warthog and free-ranging cattle, none of them visible until they are in your headlights.