The drive south from the nearest Wolwedans property goes deeper into the NamibRand Private Reserve than any of the group’s other camps reach. Five tented suites appear against a granite outcrop, facing out across gravel plains toward distant mountains. There is no waterhole to watch, and no circuit of sightings to tick off. The appeal is elemental: rock, plain, sky, and very few other people.
Sundowners are taken from a rock plateau, not a dune crest.
Ten guests at most share this stretch of a 215,000-hectare reserve, and the sense of having the desert to yourself is close to literal. The desert comes in a different register here, granite instead of dune, boulders and rock shelves giving way to open gravel plains. Sundowners are taken from a rock plateau, not a dune crest. It is a world apart from the group’s dune-edge camps further north.
Albi Brückner began assembling the reserve in the mid-1980s, buying neighbouring livestock farms one by one and dropping the fences between them so wildlife could move freely again. His son Stephan founded Wolwedans in 1995 with four igloo tents, and runs the collection still. Tourism was built to fund conservation, and a night at Boulders pays for the reserve its guides show you.
Fat-tyre e-bikes take the plains at a different pace.
Walking is how the days are spent, two to three hours along old San hunting paths that cover more ground than the distance suggests, the guides reading tracks and insect burrows as they go, explaining the adaptations that let plants survive on almost no rainfall. Fat-tyre e-bikes take the plains at a different pace. Scenic drives reach further into the southern reaches of the reserve than walking ever could.
Five tented suites stand on raised wooden platforms, canvas stretched over timber frames and furnished plainly with four-poster beds under mosquito nets, a dressing table and a wooden storage chest. On three sides the canvas walls roll up, so the plains and the morning light come into the room instead of staying outside it. Each suite has its own bathroom and a private veranda, with access to a plunge pool, some private, some shared between neighbouring tents. The tents face east and catch the sunrise straight on, the first colour spreading across the gravel flats and up the granite behind camp.
Because NamibRand is a private reserve and not a national park, walking safaris and off-track e-biking belong here in ways they never could inside Namib-Naukluft next door. The wildlife is desert-adapted rather than dense. Oryx and springbok move across the plains, while Hartmann’s mountain zebra, kudu and giraffe range more widely. Klipspringer and baboon work the rocks around camp, with leopard seen among them now and then. More than 150 bird species have been recorded across the reserve. Sightings come slowly here, on foot, not from a vehicle chasing a radio call.
Klipspringer and baboon work the rocks around camp, with leopard seen among them now and then.
Solar panels run the camp, and a visit to the Wolwedans Village shows how that system works and where the reserve’s conservation funding goes. NamibRand carries Dark Sky Reserve status, and once the fire burns down the stars come out unusually dense, so stargazing without a telescope is built into the stay. Hot-air balloon flights and scenic flights over the Namib dunes and coastline can be arranged for a wider view. And for those who want the desert with nothing between them and it, a night sleeping out under open sky is there for the asking.
Meals are taken together at a lantern-lit table in the dining tent, or out on the deck when the weather allows, breakfast served in the morning sun and dinner paired with South African and Namibian wines, some of what reaches the table grown in Wolwedans’ own gardens. With ten guests at most and a small team looking after them, mealtimes move around the day’s walking and driving instead of the other way round. Evenings settle around the open fireplace, where the only competing sound is the wind over the plains and, some nights, a jackal calling out on the flats.
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accommodation
Five tented suites raised on wooden platforms, canvas stretched over timber frames. Each has a four-poster bed under a mosquito net, an en-suite bathroom and a private east-facing veranda, with access to a plunge pool, private or shared. Canvas walls roll up on three sides for open plains views. Maximum ten guests.
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activities
Guided scenic drives through the southern reaches of the NamibRand Private Reserve, two- to three-hour walking safaris along old San hunting paths, and fat-tyre e-biking across the plains. As a private reserve rather than a national park, walking and off-track cycling are both permitted here. Rock-plateau sundowners, stargazing, and, by arrangement, hot-air ballooning, scenic flights and a night sleeping out under open sky.
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conservation
Guest stays fund the 215,000-hectare NamibRand Private Reserve, rebuilt from former livestock farms after Albi Brückner removed the fencing between them in the 1980s. The Wolwedans Foundation, established in 2007, runs the Desert Academy, training young Namibians in hospitality and culinary skills. The camp runs on solar power, and a nightly conservation contribution supports the reserve directly.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
Most people fly in. You land at Windhoek's Hosea Kutako International, then take a light aircraft from Eros airport, about an hour to an hour and a half onto a reserve airstrip, followed by a short drive to camp. The alternative is a self-drive of around five hours from Windhoek, tar giving way to gravel for the last stretch.
We generally suggest flying, so the desert scenery arrives with you and you keep a full day for the reserve rather than the road. We can make that flight a private charter too, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, timed to your international arrival. We will confirm the airstrip and transfer timings when we put the trip together.
The Namib Desert around the reserve is considered a malaria-free part of Namibia. It is simply too dry for the mosquitoes that carry malaria, so this is about as low as the risk gets anywhere on the continent.
Health guidance can still shift from year to year, so we suggest a quick word with a travel clinic or your doctor before you travel, especially if your wider trip also takes in the wetter north, along with the usual sensible precautions against bites.
Pack for a big daily temperature swing. Desert days are warm to hot, often into the thirties, while the nights turn cold, and in winter, from June to August, the temperature can drop below freezing after dark.
Layers work best: light, breathable clothes and a hat for the day, then a warm fleece or jacket, gloves and a beanie for early drives, and warm things to sleep in. The clear, dry winter nights are also the finest for the reserve's famous stars, so a warm layer earns its place twice over.
Wolwedans Boulders Camp takes children from seven years old. It is a small, quiet camp of five tents for no more than ten guests, better suited to older children and teenagers than to very young ones.
If you are travelling with younger children, Wolwedans has a family-focused camp elsewhere on the reserve that welcomes all ages, and we can point you to it. Tell us the ages and we will advise.
The camp asks for a minimum of two nights, which we would echo. This is the most remote of the Wolwedans camps, deep in the south of the reserve with no more than ten guests, and it takes a night to slow down to its pace of rock, plain and sky.
There is no waterhole to watch or circuit of sightings to tick off here, so come for the space and the quiet rather than a checklist of animals. Two or three nights sits about right.
It is. The reserve is one of the darkest places in Africa, the continent's first International Dark Sky Reserve, and Boulders sits far from any other light. On a clear night the Milky Way reads as a solid band overhead, and stargazing needs nothing more than a rock plateau and a clear sky.
The dry winter months, roughly May to September, bring the clearest nights. A night sleeping out under the open sky can be arranged in advance if you would like the full effect.
rated five stars by our clients
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our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
