Before we left the Spreetshoogte Pass on March 1, 2025, a last look into the valley. When can you see the Namib Desert and sand dunes from your breakfast table? The morning idyll was only disturbed by a tourist who thought he could fly his drone here. However, it didn’t take long for him to pack it up again!

We drove the steep curves into the valley and shortly afterwards came to the Brakhan Dune Farm. Here we stopped for a cappuccino. On the farmer’s shoulder sat a young finch that had fallen out of the nest; two more were in a small shoebox, begging for food. This reminded us strongly of Piep and Matz, who we had raised in Swakopmund.

Sixty kilometres later we reached our destination – the Desert Grace Lodge, which also belongs to the Gondwana group. We parked the car in the shade of the solar panels that formed the roof of the car shelter and reported to reception where we received the key to the bungalow. Wow! The view through the large window pane swept across the dunes of the Namib! The two rooms were so big that we almost got lost. And on the terrace, there was a small pool with refreshingly cool water in which we splashed later. Something else to sleep on: The king-size bed is 2.40 meters wide and 2.20 meters long. Our sleeping bags in the roof tent take up half the space!

PS: If you want to know more about the Desert Grace Lodge, read here.