Desert Luxury at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge, Namibia
A wise woman once said, “they hide the good stuff.” Nothing could be more true for the Sossusvlei Desert in Namibia. Especially if, like me, you’re coming from the the west coast of the United States. LAX to Dubai to Johannesburg to Windhoek to Sossusvlei and …. 48 hours later … we made it to our oasis in the desert, at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge. Worth it. Here’s how we spent our time there.
Pamper yourself on the property. We arrived by three-seater plane at the property’s private airstrip. The ten-minute drive to the lodge was delayed by a traffic jam … of zebras. At the lodge, we felt completely pampered, with our own guide and butler, but still isolated in the best way and completely connected with the desert. The pool, al fresco dining area, and ten suites all have perfect views of the surrounding mountains and grazing wildlife. My favorite part was the night sky. The property is part of a “dark sky reserve,” meaning light pollution is restricted. We could see three galaxies with the naked eye, and Saturn’s ring (with the help of the professional staff astronomer) through a telescope. I was literally brought to tears by the vastness of our universe.
Unwind (and cool down) in your suite. The African desert is hot. No joke. Between sunrise and sunset excursions, being outdoors is unpleasant, unless you packed a lot of sunscreen, and can spend the day neck deep in the pool. Thankfully the a.c. in our suite was on point. Each day we treated ourselves to the ultimate luxury. A nap. With the pre-dawn dawn adventures as our wake-up call and the purest night sky keeping us up late, a nap was always a good idea. We also enjoyed in-room massages and watching zebra, oryx, and ostriches graze outside our window. Come nightfall, we soaked in more stars, from our outdoor shower and above-bed skylight.
Dine al fresco, under the stars. These photos paint the picture better than I ever could with words, but I’ll try. Each night we had a table for two where we watched the sky turn from bright blue, to orange and red, to soft pink and purple, and finally the blackest black, lit up by millions of stars. Encircling us in the distance were red-sand mountains afire by the setting sun. From there, we sipped champagne while savoring our three course meal. The type of dinner that leaves you full, mind, body, and spirit.
Soar at sunrise, in a hot air balloon. Seeing the red sand dunes from the sky was incredible. We glided gracefully above their peaks, without a care in the world. For a while that is, until we were abruptly shaken by our semi-crash landing (the basked tipped sideways, and we had to scramble and crawl out onto the rocky sand). Not to worry, the brief jolt was righted with a champagne picnic breakfast.
Hike the biggest sand dunes in the world. We were so ambitious. From the bottom, we thought surely we could make it to the peak. But two hours later, shoes filled with pounds of red sand, it seemed the peak kept getting further away. We made it close(ish) anyway, sculpted our bums, took in magnificent views, and had a blast sliding and scooting our way back down.
Go all terrain. These ATV things are fun. And scary. Apparently I ride at a snail’s pace, so the getaway guy decided to race our guide instead. That’s okay, time for me to do some posing :)
Sip (more) champagne at sunset. One consistent, and best, part of Africa travel is the “sundowner.” Meaning your guide takes you to some stunning, remote location, and then your butler shows up with *surprise* champagne and h’ordeuvres. In Namibia, with the setting sun lighting up the surrounding red sand and mountains, we experienced a quite literal “golden” hour. Pure magic!
