A Complete Namibian Safari

Overview

Your home before you venture off into the barren and beautiful Namibian Desert, this stylish boutique hotel is hidden away in the Eastern corner of Namibia’s capital and only proclaimed city, Windhoek.

The city itself is the seat of the country’s cultural and administrative powers but despite this, it remains one of the smallest capitals in the world with just 250,000 residents. The Olive reflects Windhoek’s small size, providing a cosy but luxurious bolt-hole with great access to the surrounding wilderness.

Reminders of the prevalent Namibian culture are spread throughout the hotel as the modern is combined with the traditional. Rough-hewn wooden benches sit on plush carpets around sculpted granite coffee tables, animal-skin rugs lay beneath large beds covered in crisp white cotton and wide glass doors lead out onto your personal terrace for a view across the small city.

Overview

Housed in a turreted castle built by Count Schwerin for his fiancee and with fabulous views over Windhoek, this Relais & Chateaux property is hands down the most luxurious place to stay in the capital city.

The sixteen rooms are contemporary and chic with a traditional twist, very well-equipped and highly comfortable. A quiet sanctuary in the midst of the city, the hotel’s gardens and pool are a joy to relax in and a nearby golf course means getting in a couple of holes before your flight home or a good way to begin your trip, is pleasingly straightforward.

A fantastic restaurant and with tables set up on the wonderful terrace outside, means very few guests choose to dine out.

Overview

Designed to capture the splendour and solitude of the desert, just ten stone and glass desert villas spread out along the curve of the escarpment allowing absolute privacy.

Each air-conditioned suite features a private veranda, split-level bedroom and living room with fireplace, en-suite glass-encased bathroom and outdoor shower. The villas are equipped with a stunning star-viewing skylight, discreet CD system, custom-stocked personal bar and compact spotting scope for magnificent star and game viewing. The guest area, where walls have become windows that fold away completely, boasts unimpeded desert vistas.

The split-level Lodge features a fire-lit bar, comfortable sitting room, swimming pool, wraparound verandas and a Safari Shop. A fine selection of wines from an impressive walk-in wine cellar complements delicious Pan African meals. Guests can escape the desert heat with a revitalizing midday dip in the pool fed by water from an underground spring. At sunset, animals are drawn to a nearby waterhole, enhancing desert sundowner drinks.

Overview

Located within the 37,000 hectare private Kulala Wilderness Reserve, this lodge enjoys convenient access via a private gate to the iconic red dunes of Sossusvlei.

Staying here is extremely comfortable, with 23 thatched and canvas “kulalas”, each on a raised platform to catch the cool desert breezes and with private rooftop decks should you want to spend the night under the spectacular star-filled skies. All are en suite, and solar powered heaters provide hot showers.

The main lodge is a clay construction with a North African inspired décor, and it’s here you enjoy the simple yet delicious meals in the spacious dining area followed by relaxing in the comfortable lounge. There is also an outdoor plunge pool and stargazing deck from which to enjoy the breathtaking scenery.

Overview

Offering more of a ‘boutique’ polish and size set in the 37,000- hectare private Kulala Wilderness Reserve, and a stone’s throw from the Sossusvlei dunes, this beautiful lodge is easily the most luxurious in the area.

Wilderness Little Kulala consists of 11 climate-controlled thatched suites, sympathetically designed so as to merge deceptively into the desert landscape. Each one is air conditioned with an en-suite bathroom, and has its own private outdoor pool and shower. The rooms are huge and with floor-to-ceiling windows designed to spoil you with the incredible views that flood in. Or take it a step further and star gaze in style on your own private rooftop.

The main lodge is built on three levels and provides an elegant entertainment area, with a spacious lounge, stylish dining area , well-stocked reference library and its own wine cellar to boot.

Overview

This is one of Namibia’s finest camps, blending magnificent views, comfort and exclusivity.

Cradled in the Huab River Valley, Wilderness Damaraland Camp is set among desert plains, ancient valleys and the amazing Brandberg Mountains. All ten adobe-designed thatched units are en-suites with shower facilities and built-in fans.

Other facilities include a large viewing deck boasting magnificent views, a restaurant and bar area, swimming pool and outside boma, while their list of exciting activities is also impressive. During the day go on guided nature walks to sundowner drives, to tracking the rare desert-adapted elephant. As evening comes, dine on meals by lantern light followed by the staggering stargazing that Namibia has to offer.

Overview

You’ll find Wilderness Desert Rhino Camp in a wide valley, nestled amid the undulating hills of the 450 000-hectare Palmwag Concession. This tranquil area is recognised for its minimalist beauty and the large range of desert-adapted wildlife that call the area their home, most noticeably for its free-roaming black rhino population, the largest in Africa.

Lodging at the camp is divided between eight raised Meru-style canvas tents with front verandas that take in expansive landscape of the dramatic Etendeka Mountains and the plains scattered with euphorbia and ancient welwitschia plants. The tented dining and lounge areas have also been elevated to provide panoramic views during meal times and moments of relaxation. There’s also an attractive pool to cool off in and a fire pit for enjoying nights spent stargazing and swapping tales.

During your stay, you can take part in daily rhino tracking activities on foot and by vehicle and learn about the Save the Rhino Trust with whom the lodge collaborates.

Overview

Grouped together like a typical African village in squeezed between huge rust-coloured boulders of the Twyfelfontein Conservancy, Mowani is an imaginative and sustainable eco-lodge with astonishing desert views.

Perfectly placed to explore the landscapes of southern Damaraland and the bushman rock art the area is famed for, not to mention the desert elephant and black rhino within the conservancy, Mowani conjures up a wild romance and ethnic tranquility in its setting and service. Four ‘View’ tents, eight standard ones, one luxury room and one suite (with private deck & private lounge area) give you a choice as to the type of traveller you are.

Overview

Huddled among – and even built around – huge orange boulders of a rocky outcrop in the dry grasslands of the Aba Huab Valley, Kipwe is a gem of an eco-friendly camp.

There are nine dome shaped rooms at Camp Kipwe and one sprawling, thatched roof suite. Natural touches such as rocks embedded in the floor and animals carved into the wood, mimicking the area’s famous engravings, add to the unique sense of place, as do incredible views out across Damaraland.

Follow paths through the rocks to the heart of the camp – the communal lounge area and dining area with its expansive deck area and cool swimming pool where birds flock.

Explore the area in search of long wandering desert adapted elephant herds, hike along the river bed and marvel at the ancient rock carvings at Twyfelfontein, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where the oldest engravings might be as old as 10,000 years. Sustainable eco-tourism and community upliftment is of the utmost importance and local villagers can also give you a unique insight into life and traditions here.

Overview

Boasting an incredible setting at the foothills of the immense Grootberg massif and amongst the ancient Etendeka lava flows of northern Damaraland, Etendeka Mountain Camp puts its emphasis on nature, and rightly so.

The eco-friendly camp uses solar power and features ten en-suite meru tents connected by pathways to the main dining tent. Modern amenities such as flush toilets, hot-and-cold running water, and a stunning open-air “bucket” shower will make your stay as luxurious as it’s possible to be while in the heart of the wilderness. You’ll enjoy simple but delicious meals, prepared on solar or on open fires and eaten under starry African skies.

You’ll spend your days here exploring the area by foot and in open game drive vehicles accompanied by exceptionally knowledgeable guides. Keep your eyes peeled for desert elephant and black rhino, cheetah, lion, zebra, and herds of oryx.

Overview

Blending in with the surrounding rugged terrain, the thatched stone Wilderness Doro Nawas Camp is set atop a rocky mount in the dry and dramatic Aba-Huab River Valley. Taking full advantage of those sweeping Damaraland vistas, the main portion of the camp provides indoor and alfresco dining, a pool plus a flat roof for perfect sundowning and stargazing.

Meanwhile each of the sixteen open-plan chalets also enjoy fantastic views with their large glass doors opening out onto a verandah. Take in the awesome plains and Etendeka mountains from here and on warm evenings wheel your bed out for a magical night under the stars.

Head out into the diverse land on exploratory hikes and 4×4 drives in search of desert-adapted elephant, springbok and – if you’re lucky – the black rhino. The ancient Twyfelfontein San Rock art engravings are also nearby, while cultural visits provide an insight into the work undertaken by Doro Nawas to create economic empowerment for the local community.

Overview

Ongava Lodge is situated on the slopes of a rocky outcrop within Ongava Reserve and its surrounding scenery is astoundingly attractive with large open plains blending into Mopane tree woodlands and granite ridges.

14 rock-and-thatch en-suite chalets, one of which is a family suite with two bedrooms. The main lounge, dining and pool area is situated on the foothills of the Ondundozonanandana Range, overlooking a floodlit waterhole and a vast beautiful plain. You’ll be accommodated in luxury air-conditioned thatched chalets with private veranda, all with en-suite bathrooms.

This lovely property offers you the full Etosha experience whilst providing superb accommodation and service, as well as night drives and nature walks on the reserve.

Overview

At the foot of one of Ongava Game Reserve’s dolomite hills, the Tented Camp sits immersed in mopane woodland that is rife with game and birdlife.

There are seven large, classic safari tents sat on decks with shaded verandas from which you can watch wandering antelope. Inside, you’ll find a large bed leading around to an en suite bathroom and an open-air shower. There is also a family suite consisting of two tents linked by a walkway that can sleep four people.

The main area, built of stone, canvas and thatch, fronts onto a busy waterhole where much of the reserves wildlife can be viewed while floating in the swimming pool.

Enjoy game drives and guided walks within the expansive reserve itself, a great place to spot both black and white rhino, or take excursions into the adjacent Etosha National Park to see it’s stunning salt pan.

Overview

Wonderfully atmospheric and well set out, Mushara’s Bush Camp consists of sixteen standalone custom-made, en suite tents with their own verandas for optimal privacy and comfort.

With a very stylish, thatched palapa-style lodge at the camp’s heart for dining, lounging and possibly recounting your safari tales with other guests, not to mention a very good kid’s program, this is fantastic place for families wishing to explore Etosha.

Overview

A modern, and certainly chic, option is Mushara’s Outpost property. Styled on an old farmhouse with a more minimalist take on the open plan safari lodge, the effect is elegantly up to date and sleek. Positioned along the ancient dry riverbed of the Omuramba, their sixteen standalone canvas and wood rooms are raised by stilts on individual wooden platforms for extra privacy and elevated views over the bush.

Spend friendly days and nights sitting around the campfire, talking with fellow guests over gourmet food, embarking on game drives to the park or simply soaking up the serenity of your surrounds.