Namibia
Because It’s the Closest You’ll Get to Mars Without Leaving Earth
MICHAEL TUREK
There’s Namibia’s intense beauty: the red dune–framed salt pan of Sossusvlei; the stupendous rock formations of Damaraland; the mashup of desert and ocean along the Skeleton Coast, riddled with old shipwrecks. Just as moving is the desert-adapted wild-life (including lions and elephants). Because the country has a “free roaming” policy, you’re not likely to find clusters of animals as you do in the fenced parks of Kenya, Tanzania,or South Africa. They are out there in space—just as you are—and thus all the more thrilling to come upon.
And now there’s a crop of equally thrilling places to stay. Ten-cabin Shipwreck Lodge is the Skeleton Coast’s first beach camp. Coming this spring from Zannier Hotels (whose ethos is “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”) is Sonop, in the Namib desert, where you’ll wake up to the world’s tallest freestanding dunes. Many of the new lodges have partnered with conservation programs. Zannier’s Omaanda, near Windhoek, complements its game drives with visits to a hospital for abandoned rhinos and elephants, funded by the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.
TO BOOK: ElizabethGordon can give you a deeper look at Namibia’s conservation programs. ELIZABETH@EJAFRICA.COM.
(J.M.)
Shipwreck Lodge READ REVIEWS
Omaanda READ REVIEWS
