You can drive to the mind blowing Namidrand Nature Reserve from Windhoek and within 5 hours you will arrive at one of the most astonishing Namibian safari destinations you have ever seen and its name is Kwessi Dunes Lodge. If you want remote Namib luxury, you get it there, an enormous rolling desert plain with broken only with extraordinary, rugged mountains and the renowned red dunes of this region in a timeless, silent and soulful landscape that definitely needs preservation.
As a guest of Kwessi Dunes Lodge, you get to explore the 200 000 ha of untouched arid beauty, the lodge built into this expertly retaining a natural sense of merging in with little impact on the surrounding environment. This one of a kind safari lodge is thatched and wooden, a small patch of trees and towering red dunes behind it, the rest, just flat open desert. Amazing! The swimming pool is a blue oasis here in the browns and reds and golds – the answer to the heat that intensifies in the midday. Your Kwessi Dunes safari holiday is more about this jaw dropping vista than seeking out wildlife in numbers.
This unusual safari lodge is new, only constructed in 2020, so really modern in a traditional sort of design with all the neat, thatched roofs, slick swimming pool area and astounding chalets. There are 10 airconditioned thatched chalets, floating in this red desert ocean with spectacular Victorian four poster beds and canvas walls.
The best part about your desert suite is the extra room beside the bedroom set aside just for stargazing. Sit quietly in your silent open air gallery, your own star cinema, and stare at the night sky and learn all about the heavens above you.
The swimming pool arena and the main deck with its comfy lounge and ornate décor, the dining area flowing from inside to outside, on colourful carpets and soft cushions on the sofas all adding character to the simple lavishness of a new and modern safari venue. Sit awhile with fellow desert loving guests at the bar the intimate library area and the sociable seating and swimming areas.
The activities at Kwessi Dunes involve exciting quad biking through the dunes, scenic drives and nature walks, hot air ballooning and helicopter flights, horse riding and excursions to the mesmerising white salt pan of Sossusvlei.
Did you know that the NamibRand Nature Reserve is in southern Namibia and is a private conservation area set aside to protect the unique fauna and flora of the Namib Desert. This means that the migrating routes of wild animals are preserved and biodiversity is conserved. It is known as the largest private nature reserve in all of southern Africa and it shares a long 100 km border with te incredible Namib-Naukluft National Park in the west. The landscape is an eclectic blend of desert open plains, weird rocky outcrops and mountains, inselbergs, open gassy patches, dunes covered in vegetation, bare dunes and lots of sky.
Naturally it therefore follows that Kwessi Dunes is part of this conservation ethos and they commit 1.5% of their turnover to wilderness conservation projects in this region. And it also follows that all guests to this superb accommodation in Namibia also contribute simply by choosing this region, this lodge and these activities – funding important education and environmental education and research projects.
The impressive NamibRand Nature Reserve expands out over a remarkable 200 000 ha of diverse Namibian landscape that changes from grasslands and red dunes to grassy dunes and desert open areas then back to mountains and inselbergs. Here, in its midst, find the latest lodge to be built in 2020, the Kwessi Dune Lodge with its freshly thatched roofs, modern blue swimming pool and awe-inspiring vistas.
There are 10 large air conditioned safari chalets with canvas walls and thatched roofs, rustic furnishings and modern facilities and the best part is their additional room for sky gazing. The stars in this nature reserve are extra bright thanks too the lack of pollution in the region which has won global status for this as the first ever Dark Sky Reserve!
Enjoy inside and outside showers, and Victorian baths add value to your stay in the desert while the covered deck is the place to be early in the sunrise morning. the loge has a lovely library, dining area that flows inside and out to the deck area with its mesmerising views across the Namib landscape. Feel humbled by all this space and sky! Everything about Kwessi Lodge is the landscape, the skies and the space – explorations are on quad bikes, on foot and in vehicles to just look and see, maybe seeing some wildlife, maybe not, but always seeing something fascinating anyway. Day trips can be arranged to the Sossusvlei dunes at an extra cost.
PER PERSON SHARING PER NIGHT