Wilderness Safaris has partnered with White Desert to create two joint itineraries highlighting the best of Africa and Antarctica.

Both tour operators offer luxury, sustainable holidays in their respective destinations. 

The first itinerary, Legendary Landscapes: Antarctica and Botswana, explores Cape Town, Antarctica and Botswana across 15 days from November 22 to December 6, 2021. 

A maximum of 12 guests will spend two nights at Cape Grace Hotel before departing on a private jet to White Desert’s new Wolf’s Fang Camp in Antarctica, where they will witness the birth of emperor penguin chicks, trek through ice waves and explore crystal caves and ice tunnels alongside White Desert guides.

Guests will then return to Cape Town for a further two nights before flying to the Okavango Delta for three nights at Wilderness Safaris’ Vumbura Plains Camp and three nights at the newly built DumaTau in the Linyanti Wildlife Reserve.

The itinerary will feature guided game drives and mokoro (dug-out canoe) trips in the Delta and nature walks and drives in the Linyanti hosted by a Wilderness Safaris private photographic guide.

A second journey, the 19-day Wild Desert Adventure: Antarctica and Namibia, takes travellers to the southernmost point of the Earth and the remote deserts of Namibia between December 27, 2021 and January 14, 2022.

The itinerary follows a similar format to the first, albeit with a longer, six-night stay at Wolf’s Fang Camp to allow for an overnight excursion by plane to the South Pole, which is visited by fewer than 800 people each year.

In Namibia, guests will experience the highlights of the Namib Desert and the Sossusvlei Dunes while staying at Wilderness Safaris’ newly rebuilt Little Kulala.

They will then fly to Namibia’s remote north-west to experience Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp, photographing  the desert-adapted wildlife of the Hoanib Valley, before ending at Serra Cafema camp to visit the culturally-rich Himba people. 

Amanda Wilson, Wilderness Safaris vice president of partnerships, said: “We are proud to partner with a like-minded conservation tourism company with whom we share enormous passion for luxury hospitality in remote destinations, and the protection of the landscapes and wildlife in which we operate.

“Through this first-of-its-kind partnership, we are looking forward to bringing guests from across the world to some of the Earth’s most beautiful and remote, well-preserved reaches to offer them arguably the most unique and intimate nature and wildlife experiences luxury tourism has to offer. In turn, we hope our guests become stewards of conservation tourism in Africa and Antarctica”

Mindy Roberts, White Desert chief marketing officer, added: “We believe that the best way to inspire people to care about these incredible wild spaces is through personal experience.

“To partner with a like-minded pioneering operator and create itineraries full of beautiful contrasts will hopefully motivate guests to support protecting these places for future generations.”