Wild Shots Outreach
An immersive experience that gets young adults from underprivileged areas learning to appreciate wildlife and wild environments from the perspective of a camera.
Check availability online. Should you need more rooms than are showing available, contact your Africa Safari travel specialist or reservations@naturalselection.travel, so that we can look at provisional bookings (marked as PROV) and see if we can juggle things around.
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Kwessi Dunes is a Sossusvlei safari camp located deep in Namibia’s striking NamibRand Nature Reserve, a vast desert wilderness of over 200,000 hectares. With its rolling desert plains and backdrop of craggy mountains and iconic red dunes, this is a place where time seems to stand still and the space is never-ending. Here, it’s not about chasing big game but rather soaking up the beauty of the colourful landscape, admiring the antelope that scatter the sand, and gazing at the stars that light up the night sky.
Simply by visiting an area like the NamibRand Nature Reserve our guests are encouraging its continued protection through tourism revenue. In addition your stay supports local schools and an award winning conservation education programme.
The NamibRand Nature Reserve, located in Namib Desert near the iconic Sossusvlei sand dunes, spans over 200,000 hectares of pristine desert wilderness. Photographs may show the craggy, mauve mountains, the famous red dunes and the enormous swathes of desert, but nothing prepares for you the moment you see it for yourself. The space is humbling and the sense of peace is almost spiritual, it’s one of the most striking, stirring places out there.
To get to this special place from Windhoek you can either take a 4 to 5 hour drive or a 1 hour flight in a light aircraft.
Kwessi Dunes is open all year round. The hyper-arid desert terrain is amazing in all seasons (and the air-conditioned rooms will always keep you cool), but the winter and summer months offer different experiences in terms of activities and weather. April to October is Namibia’s dry, winter season.
Temperatures are pleasant during the day but it can get cold in the early mornings and evenings. This is the time of year to witness the desert in its iconic, dry state and capture those iconic photo opportunities. In summer (November to March), temperatures rise and thunderstorms add drama to the landscape. It’s also an excellent time to spot some of the migratory birds that arrive in the desert.
At Kwessi Dunes, you’ll find 12 cool and comfortable (and air-conditioned) chalets all with striped canvas walls, high thatched roofs and ensuite bathroom with both indoor and outdoor showers and a shaded, outdoor veranda. Each bedroom has a separate ‘star gazer’ room, completely open to the sky, and the perfect spot from which to watch the celestial theatre show above. Views from the rooms, the main area and the swimming pool are of the vast, desert vistas and when you can bear to tear your eyes away, enjoy quad biking, scenic drives and walks, hot air ballooning, helicopter flights, horse riding and day trips to Sossusvlei.
The view from the lodge is spectacular and the glass windows and doors at the main area look out onto the undulating sand that only ends when it meets the mountains, far in the distance. Inside, there’s a well-stocked bar, library area and several seating and dining areas. When the sun rises in the morning, head to the camp fire for a morning cuppa, whilst in the heat of the day, the swimming pool is the only place to be.
You might not find the Big Five wandering around the harsh desert of the NamibRand, but the dunes are home to a variety of wildlife that has adapted in many fascinating ways in order to survive. Take, for example, the gemsbok with their white bellies that reflect the heat of the sand and their sophisticated vascular system that cools the blood around the brain. Or the bat-eared fox – those giant ears aren’t just for comic value but help to amplify the sound of their predators approaching.
What you’ll undoubtedly see most of are antelope. From gemsbok to springbok, kudu to steenbok, they can be found in most corners of the reserve, silhouetted against the red sand. You may also spot Burchell’s zebra amid the dunes as well as the more unusual black-backed jackals, aardwolves and African wild cats, which can be surprisingly easy to find compared to other reserves on the continent. Leopard and cheetah are rare but there are small numbers of both.
Get access to a range of experiences that can be enjoyed during your stay
When you visit, you will be directly supporting the following Natural Selection conservation initatives:
The NamibRand Nature Reserve was established in the 1980s when Albi Bruckner integrated several livestock farms into a protected wilderness area and today it’s a model of conservation success. There are strict rules about the number of lodges built in the area (and even stricter rules about the number of rooms each one may have), making it a totally private and entirely exclusive adventure.
Through our unique and mutually beneficial partnership with the NamibRand Nature Reserve we aim to promote sustainable tourism and conservation efforts in the Namib Desert region of Namibia. Together we are working tirelessly to minimize the environmental impact of the lodge, support local communities, and promote the protection of the unique desert ecosystem and its wildlife.
Guests staying at Kwessi Dunes have the opportunity to not only experience the pristine beauty of the area but also help protect it. We ensure that 1.5% of every booking at the lodge goes directly to the wildlife conservation and projects we support here.