Reaching the Namib desert lodge

My first contact with the Namib desert was while traveling from Windhoek in order to reach the lodge in Hardap region near Solitaire, one of the base camps for activities in this region, which lies deep within one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

The road which leads you to the lodge is gravelly and visually very appealing, and I enjoyed every second of the 4 hours long ride. The driver was very knowledgeable and talkable and every passenger received thorough answers for every question they had.

Solitaire

Solitaire is the last stop at which groceries and whatnots can be bought. It is visually very appealing and a lot of random colorful stuff catches your attention. It was full of german tourists, on their way to Sesriem, Sossusvlei and other unique Namibia otherworldly visuals.

(Seeing these pics I realized how good I became at finding moments and angles to take photos without people. This place was packed but somehow I have my photos clean.)

The lodge

At the end of the ride lies a true gem. The lodge itself is quite luxurious, and even though I usually strictly aim at the spartan accommodations and the exact opposite of this lodge, I can only say that staying there was a good thing. It was extremely comfortable to be at and the staff was ultra polite and welcoming. I truly do not need anyone pampering me, by all means, I get even a bit uncomfortable when someone pays that amount of attention to me. For me it is enough to have a plain good room with a shower with peace and silence during the night, but in this area there are no simple places to sleep to begin with. The entire area is riddled with lodges of similar price range and luxurious appearance and they all have their customers. And this was kinda a low season period (summer slash end of the summer, march). I am scared to think about how it looks in the high season, when the northern hemisphere tourists during their summer vacation time arrive like a tsunami.

Beyond the noisy fence

As soon as I landed in my room, I threw my luggage off and went for a walk beyond the lodge’s premises. You don’t fly for over 11 000 km in order to sit in an air conditioned room, right?

Between the lodge and a proper true wilderness lies a very well maintained bright white fence, which did not whisper but screamed to be crossed.

After arriving from the norwegian wintertime climate, it was very much needed to be exposed to this particular local weather, as everyday hiking in the desert conditions was the goal for arriving here and my body demanded to be acclimatized to this environment.

The air was very warm and dry. It felt unusually and unexpectedly comfortable for my standards. Even though it was way warmer than I’d usually start complaining about – this is the hiking climate of my dreams – it felt very comfortable to explore the nearby sights.

I’ve spent hours admiring the iron rich sand and its incredible color, watching small insects crawling on the burning sand, touching all sorts of prickly plants covering the ground and which are fighting for every drop of water around them, and hoping I would see some of major dangers armed with hollow teeth connected to the venomous glands.

(Un)fortunately, there were no such encounters.

Sundowner tour

The lodge offers free sundowner tours, couple of hours long evening drives in open safari vehicles with intention to get better acquainted with local nature and its residents, behaviors and tidbits of all sorts. The guides are locals, extremely well versed in relevant knowledge, who literally demand to be tired by the questions.

The weather looked pessimistic and ready to show teeth. I loved the idea of being in a storm in a desert and looked fwd to whatever the Nature might bring & serve.

I adore all sorts of venturing out to all possible wilderness environments and this was no exception. What started as a nice drive across the sand and listening about animal habits and life in such an extreme environment turned into a full blown (pun intended) sandstorm. I was super happy to be in such a scenario in which the winds kept swinging the hair in all directions and enjoyed the tiny sand particles slamming my face, but the rest of the passengers did not share my enthusiasm at all.

The ride had to be stopped as the sandstorm became fortified by gusts of rain, even though I kinda hoped we’d continue. You don’t get to be in such conditions every day, right? We drove back to the lodge, and the party/dinner was supposed to replace the dunes. I was not very happy, but a glance on a rainbow over the Namib desert did its magic.

Instead of joining others, I waited until the rain stopped to shower and started to explore how I could go on a night hike in the area nearby, even though there is a strict rule of not going out when the Sun goes down. I thought that I could at least take a look and assess, if not go the entire way out. The darkness beyond the lodge is a full pitch black one, there is no light beyond the fences, and wild animals are in the vicinity; what stopped me was not spotting a small scorpion and/or a jackal prowling the area. I was stopped by a dysfunctional mobile internet with a local SIM card + inability to call for help in case something goes wrong.

I decided to call it a night, went to the room and started transferring the pics and vids from the cameras and drone. I was very happy by seeing what I saw.

All had to be ready for tomorrow and its magic, as visiting Sossussvlei was about to happen.