Wolwedans

After we had seen the famous dunes at Sossusvlei, we headed off to celebrate the end of our three week safari at Wolwedans, an early pioneer of sustainable luxury set in the private and spectacularly beautiful NamibRand reserve. 

Something about the landscape here set it apart from other places we'd been - the mountains were layer upon layer of pastel rock, surrounded by golden savanna very occasionally punctuated by a flat-topped acacia. Every so often, we'd come upon handsome oryx, browsing zebra and once, a flock of ostrich. 

We'd booked the Private Camp for the four of us - a splendid three-bedroom building overlooking a mountain and a waterhole that was frequented by antelope and Namaqua doves throughout the day. As competition for water was fierce, the smaller oryx often came to drink from our plunge pool.

There are a wealth of activities to enjoy at Wolwedans - we chose horseback riding and the Bushman's walk. As we had only ridden horses once before, two gentle mares were chosen for us and off we trotted into the sunset.

There next day, our Bushman guide Buti, would lead us out over the dunes on foot to uncover the many secrets of this seemingly harsh, inhospitable landscape. Tracks revealed everything from mole to gerbil and lizard. He also magically uncovered the den of a trapdoor spider.

We awoke to this view from our bed in the morning so you can imagine just how hard it was to bid Wolwedans goodbye!