Travel with meaning - unfiltered & moving
Experience the real Africa!
On your journey through Namibia you will experience fascinating cultures, backgrounds and you will experience the friendliness, openness and cheerfulness of the people. TUTUTENGO reveals a different perspective on Namibia - and on yourself.
You want an authentic African experience? Exchange with people from different cultural backgrounds in Namibia and learn from each other? Situations that challenge and encourage you? Grow beyond yourself and discover new perspectives during your journey into the soul of Namibia.
Adventures that stay in your head
We offer you unique expedition fun, impressive nature experiences, exciting locations and an extraordinary (self-) experience. A reliable contact person is at your side at all times during your trip - for a safe, comfortable and unforgettable stay.
We travel with well equipped 4x4 expedition vehicles or desert capable off-road motorcycles. Overnight stays range from tent to lodge, depending on your wishes and situation. But even under the starry sky of Namibia our camps always have the comfort of a high quality bush kitchen as well as sanitary facilities.
Our mission is to provide meaningful experiences so that each traveler achieves value — for themselves and for the country.
TUTUTENGO is not a conventional tour operator. Our clear focus is - besides an intensive and authentic travel time for our guests - to give something back to our hosts in Namibia.
With targeted donations and direct on-site involvement, we implement projects that support people in need, develop infrastructures in townships, put young people to work and provide long-term help for self-help. On all our tours we also integrate our “SinnStiftung” aid projects and show you the approaches for more social sustainability of the host country through our trips.
»TUTUTENGO is not about just travel consumption, but about everyone's participation and involvement. It's about real experiences, social sustainability and personal growth.«
THILO von TUTUTENGO
Tour-Example 1
»Desert adventure with depth«
— 10-days self drive-fourwheel-Adventure Lüderitz-Walvisbay-Desert Tour —
— also bookable as co-driver in the TUTUTENGO Land Cruiser fleet —
— Focus: desert, self experience, "extreme-offroad« —
— Accommodation: Camping & Lodges —
Cruising into Namibia
After your arrival at Hosea Kutako Airport Windhoek, the TUTUTENGO transfer will take you directly to pick up your vehicles. We use Toyota Land Cruiser 4x4, which can handle pretty much anything. And that is really important on this tour! After the vehicle briefing we will drive together to the Arebbusch Travel Lodge for the first night, where you can relax and enjoy the Namibian sun at the pool. Because from now on it's "just no stress!". In the evening we will meet with the whole travel group and all TUTUTENGO team members to get to know each other. To get in the mood we will go to Joe's Beer-House, the most curious steakhouse in Africa.
The next morning we load our vehicles with luggage and food and drive over the Spreetshoogte Pass - one of the steepest passes in Namibia - towards Solitaire. Here we promise you the first impressive views and a good opportunity to "cruise(r)in" with your Land Cruisers. Via Maltahöhe we will drive to Helmringhausen, where we will spend the night in a very comfortable desert lodge and end the evening with typical Namibian food and a yummy sundowner.
Namibian history
We head towards Lüderitz and visit the ghost town of Kolmanskuppe on our way. This owes its origin to railroad workers who discovered the first diamonds by chance at the neighboring station Grasplatz in 1908. The resulting boom ensured the rapid growth of this settlement, initially intended only as a diamond prospecting camp, on the northern border of the diamond restricted area. The diamond-based wealth of the inhabitants created a mining town with many luxuries in an environment that could hardly be more desolate and hostile. After the diamond deposits were exhausted, the desert reclaimed the land piece by piece and now offers us an absolutely mystical scenery.
Arriving in Lüderitz, a port town on the eastern South Atlantic, we meet a real local personality with great knowledge of Namibian history. Our good friend and true Namibian Manfred will give you insights into the time of the German colony, answer all your questions and give you tips on how to discover the most extraordinary German colonial town in Namibia.
Into the dunes
We drive into the restricted area of the Namib Desert through the highest shifting sand dunes on earth, thought to be impassable. But under the guidance of the TUTUTENGO team and our local professional guide, who has a special concession for this area, the almost impossible becomes feasible. The beginning of a unique adventure, in which all your driving skills and courage will experience a gain every day... and your accelerated heartbeat will become a beloved normality.
In the evening, we will always choose a beautiful spot in the dunes for our tent camp to enjoy the nights under the stars. Don't worry: In all our desert camps we will provide you with the luxury of a warm shower and sanitary facilities - different from what you are used to, but extraordinary. At the campfire we will exchange our experiences of the day with remaining adrenaline while enjoying cool drinks and excellent delicacies from Thilo's desert kitchen. And who still has enough energy, can also use the dunes for sandboarding on our provided boards and completely exhaust themselves there.
No pause for your adrenaline
The deeper we drive into the Namib in the next few days, the bigger the dunes become and your driving skills will be further trained in a mountain-chain mixture of dunes and granite. After a few stretches of dunes, we head back down to the sea and drive over longer distances between the edge of the dunes and the Atlantic Ocean.
We can now set up our evening desert camp directly on the beach. Our dinner we fish together from the ocean and in our desert kitchen you can look over Thilo's shoulder during the delicious preparation of the fish and of course - with an adequate drink in your hand - help. A short fish lesson on cutting and processing is included. Otherwise you have enough time to relax, go for a walk or a swim.
The further course offers some historical places, because here in the 19th century diamonds were actively mined. So we pass some abandoned diamond mining settlements on our way. After passing the "Kleine Langewand" directly between the dune edge and the ocean, an even larger dune landscape awaits us, surrounding the salt pans "Sandwich Harbour". The so-called "roller coaster" sand dunes keep their promise: a steep path (with no discernible track) up the sand dune before we plummet steeply down the other side with our Cruisers. Nothing for weak nerves! This is followed by a series of rough sliding surfaces directly on the Atlantic Ocean, over which we quickly leave the last section of the route towards Swakopmund behind us.
TUTUTENGO (with) meaning
After this exciting desert experience we treat ourselves to thoroughly relaxing days in Swakopmund. At Hotel A LA MER we enjoy the luxury of a real bed. The "southernmost North Sea resort", as the Namibians call it, is beautifully situated between the Namib Desert and the South Atlantic coast and is a desirable, but also dreamy vacation spot, with many very good cafés and restaurants.
Here is also our TUTUTENGO headquarters, the "TENGO ONE", where we invite you in the evening after this wild desert experience to a terrace party with Braii and delicious cocktails. We will inform you about the many opportunities that Swakopmund has to offer.
For example, visiting our TUTUTENGO SenseFoundation projects together and see firsthand how we give something back to our host country, among other things, with the five percent of the value of your trip that automatically goes to it. From visiting our workshop for building township prefabricated houses to "Baby in the Box" and say hello to Anna from the Soup Kitchen in the township of Swakopmund, everything is possible. Our great local cooperation partners and the many children in the township are very happy when we spend some time with them. Of course you can also hang out on the beautiful beach, stroll through the township, go quad biking, helicopter flying, parachute jumping or rent the TUTUTENGO Yamaha 700 Ténéré machines and explore the area with these motorcycles.
Say goodbye
Via the Namib Naukluft Park we return to Windhoek. The park has been part of the Namib Skeleton Coast National Park since 2010, which is the largest protected area in Namibia and the eighth largest protected area on earth. The almost 2,000 meter high Naukluft Mountains form the easternmost extension of the park.
We enjoy the last kilometers with our now so familiar Land Cruisers and check into a nice lodge again in Windhoek after returning the vehicles. Here we soak up the last rays of Nambia's sun before the departure and let our souls dangle once more.
If you like, you can visit the Craft Market and the city center to store for souvenirs. During a last enjoyable evening and a small farewell party we will review our time... and at best already plan our next tour together. Of course we will bring you to your return flight on time the next day.
This tour is especially recommended for groups of friends, family, work teams, sports or hobby groups.
In the case of a configuration of a travel group by us, we pay attention to good fit of our travel participants, since particularly with the desert route extreme experiences can occur.
The maximum number of participants for this route is usually 12 people in addition to the TUTUTENGO Team.
Tour example 2
»In the country of Himba and Herero«
— 14-days self drive-fourwheel-Tour thrue the unspoilt northwest of Namibia —
— can also be booked with a motorbike or as a passenger in the TUTUTENGO fleet —
—Focus: nature / animals, cultural encounters, »easy-offroad« —
— accommodation: Camping & Lodges —
Diving into Nambia
After arriving at the Hosea Kutako Airport near Windhoek, we will of course pick you up. After meeting the TUTUTENGO team, we will drive with you to Windhoek to take over the vehicles incl. roof tents and briefing of the self-drivers on the 4x4 cars or motorbikes. The TUTUTENGO support cars with food, technical support and satellite phone will of course be at your side during the entire tour. By the way, there is also the possibility for non-drivers to book a seat in the TUTUTENGO Land Cruiser fleet.
After handing over and loading the 4x4 vehicles, we set off together in a north-westerly direction and after about 85 km we arrive at a magnificent lodge situated at the source of the Swakop River. Here, the immersion in Namibia succeeds in the very best way: Enjoy the pool and in the late afternoon your first short game drive. Afterwards, we will have a sundowner together, for example a delicious Namibian gin and tonic, while enjoying our dinner on the restaurant terrace with a view of the wilderness and getting in the mood for our time together in the wonderful country of Namibia.
Experience ethnic cultures
Our first leg takes us to our friends in the land of the Hereros near the Brandberg.
We travel north through the beautiful savannah landscape and the endless expanses of central Namibia. In the afternoon we reach our destination for the day: a small village of the Hereo, a former pastoralist people who, as a relic of a dark time, still wear the fashion of the "colony of German South-West Africa". Perhaps the Herero women still show us their most beautiful Victorian dresses, which their former oppressors had forced upon them, but which they now wear with pride on special occasions. We meet our hosts, neighbours and farm workers for a Namibian barbeque ("Braii"). Besides traditional Namibian dishes, there are also specialities from the Herero kitchen: kapana, pap and, depending on the season, extremely tasty mushrooms called Omajova.
An inspiring time with cultural exchange can begin. With the first night in the roof tent of our vehicles or directly outdoors under millions of stars, you will surely already feel - with the last tunes of Namibian campfire music - the special spirit of Namibia and the slowdown inside yourself.
Wild 0ffroad feeling
The next few days we go stalking for animals and enjoy the breathtaking nature.Elephant sightings paired with absolute off-road driving fun in various dry rivers, including the Ugab and Hoarusib, are a real adventure for travellers of all ages.
Past the impressive mountain landscapes of Damaraland - with visits to ancient rock paintings if desired - our route takes us to Sesfontein, an old German fort, where you will find yourself in the middle of another important period of Namibia's history... for children travelling along, this will be excitingly staged. We continue through one of Namibia's most unknown and beautiful off-road tracks along the Etendeka Mountains until we reach our next camp in the wilderness. If you feel like stretching your legs before dinner, you are cordially invited to a short hike (walk). Or you can let Werner teach you a little more about the art of "deep sand riding" on a motorbike.
For those who find this too exciting, Thilo offers a small meat lesson in the bush kitchen and is happy to let you look over his shoulder as he cooks and roasts. It's worth it!
In between tradition and progress
Our next stop is a Himba village near Orupembe. It is very important to the TUTUTENGO team that the meeting with the local people of one of the last nomadic groups in Africa is completely authentic. For this reason, we do not visit the so-called "Living Museum" here, but use our personal contacts among the local population.
Namibia offers a great cultural diversity of its native population. They are often people who live their cultural convictions in the tension between tradition and modernity. Discover for yourself and get to know their challenges, but also their non-material culture, their values and norms through personal exchange.
This culture is so unique in today's materialistic times and, we think, well worth imitating for ourselves and our own children! At the very least, it encourages us to look at things from a new perspective.
Fascination wildlife
The next two days will be spent exploring the Etosha National Park and you will have time for individual game drives. With a size of 22,000 square kilometres, it is Namibia's most important protected area. Here you can discover almost all animal species of Southern Africa.
It is also unique because of the huge salt pan, which makes up a quarter of the park area and is visible even from space. Despite this, there is an abundant wildlife population, colourfully congregating at the waterholes.
In the evening we meet at the camp to exchange our experiences and to enjoy the end of the day, where the TUTUTENGO sun-downer and another culinary highlight from Thilo's bush kitchen are waiting for you. After two days in the park, we unfortunately have to start thinking about the way back to Windhoek. But there are still more TUTUTENGO highlights to come for you when we arrive Windhoek.
With a fulfilled heart
In Windhoek, we will check in again at a lodge and enjoy the warming Namibian sun at the pool or on the terrace of the restaurant. We definitely recommend a visit to Ruusa at the Craft Centre. Ruusa is one of our cooperation partners. At the Craft Centre you can browse for handmade souvenirs made exclusively in Namibia.
We would also like to offer you a guided tour through Katutura, the township of Windhoek. A last intensive look "behind the scenes". There, we will describe the challenges of the people in the townships and show you our approaches of the TUTUTENGO-SinnStiftung, which you support by booking with TUTUTENGO. Thank you!
This tour is especially recommended for families with children or travellers interested in culture and nature. The maximum number of participants is usually 20, with up to 10 motorcyclists. Of course, this can also be booked as an exclusive tour.