Namib Desert Lodge

We recently spent three nights at the Gondwana Collection's Namib Desert Lodge. This is a larger resort, with 65 rooms. It's within a day trip of the popular desert dunes at Sossusvlei, and that's the main attraction for most people.

But, it's also a very scenic destination itself, and we enjoyed the three days we spent just exploring the area around the lodge.

From one desert to the next.

Yesterday we drove from the Namib Desert to the western edge of the Kalahari Desert. And we had to drive through the Naukluft Mountains to do it. A really pretty area, and we totally enjoyed that part of the drive.

And, we picked up another hitchhiker along the way!

Thunderstorm in the desert!

Here in the Namib Desert, it gets pretty hot at this time of year. And it's supposed to be the rainy season now, but after all, this is the desert. So we weren't counting on seeing too much of that! Either way, we wanted to do some hiking and they've got two trails here at the Namib Desert Lodge. And because it gets so hot, we hit the trail at 7:30am yesterday morning.

Before breakfast!

The Dune Star

We're currently staying at The Namib Desert Lodge. The lodge is located on the edge of a series of petrified sand dunes. Yes, sand that has sat and compressed for so long that it has turned to rock. The scenery here is so spectacular that Gondwana Collection has built a camp on top of one of these petrified dunes!

Yesterday, we went on a little sundowner safari to have a look at this new camp. The Dune Star Camp.

Yee-haw, what a drive!

We've done a lot of road trips. And so we've been on a lot of roads, and some of them have been a little hairy!

Well, we finally got ourselves onto a road in Namibia that was pretty interesting. As in very steep!

Damara Mopane Lodge

We stayed the  nights of December 15th and 16th at Gondwana Collection's Damara Mopane Lodge. This lodge is located about 425 kms (264 miles) north of the capital city of Windhoek so many people make it their first stop if they're heading towards either Etosha National Park or the Opuwo region.

Back in Windhoek

But only for one night.

We did the 425 km (264 mile) drive back to Windhoek from the Damara Mopane Lodge. We've now done most of this route before, so didn't bother with any new pictures.

Problem was, we weren't sure where we were staying for the night!

Watch out for vipers and puff adders!

We tried to get an early start yesterday morning because we wanted to hike the hill behind the Damara Mopane Lodge. They have a marked trail, and the sign in the reception area said it was 4 kms and would take 2-3 hours.

The sign also said to watch out for vipers and puff adders on the trail!

More on our visit with the Himba

Yesterday, we drove 350 kms from Opuwo to the Damara Mopane Lodge. But before we get to how the day went, I wanted to mention a few more things about the town of Opuwo and our visit with the Himba.

A few of you asked about the food and I had forgotten to include that end of the story!

Hakusembe River Lodge

We recently spent four nights at Gondwana Collection's Hakusembe River Lodge. We had been there for two nights and then left for three, and then returned for two more.

When it came time to leave, we didn't want to!

A cultural experience to remember!

A few months ago when we were researching this trip to Namibia, we came across a lot of references to "the Himba"...a nomadic group of people who settle and roam the hills northwest of Opuwo, Namibia. These people have tried to keep living a traditional life without accepting outside influence.

At the time, we posed a question via a blog post...should we visit the Himba?

Not a great end to a long day.

We had a long day yesterday. We planned on doing a long drive from Rundu to Okahao, but we didn't know what accommodation we would find in Okahao. I had done some research and found that there were supposedly three options there but it's not a touristy place and there wasn't a lot of info available online.

We made it no problem, but our accommodation wasn't looking great!

We took a day off.

We actually took a day to do nothing yesterday.

The original plan had us driving again yesterday, but in all honesty we simply didn't feel like it! So we used up our "spare". Besides, it is so relaxing at Hakusembe River Lodge that it didn't take much convincing for either one of us!

The day did not start off good.

But it was due to my own stupidity.

So we're in a remote area of Africa and we have no fuel and no cash. And we have to do a 450 km (279 mile) drive. And gas stations only accept cash in Namibia!

Namushasha River Lodge

We spent three nights at Gondwana Collection's Namushasha River Lodge in the eastern section of Namibia's Caprivi Region.

It's located 4 kms (2.5 miles) off the main road, but you'll find that the dirt track that leads to the lodge is well worth the effort. This lodge is a little more rustic than some of the other Gondwana properties, but definitely in an attractive way.

In fact, we found that this lodge gave us our most "African" experience to date!