About 60km from Sesriem - the entrance to Sossusvlei - Namib Dune Star Camp is an extension of the Namib Desert Lodge from where you check in and transfer to camp.

Rustic by any standards, the camp dispenses with ostentatious luxury but still ticks all the right boxes: excellent food, friendly staff, comfortable rooms and a stupendous setting on top of an ancient dune surveying the world’s oldest - and dare we say most beautiful - desert.

Accommodation is in simple tin-roofed wood cabins arranged along the dune crest with nary a picture nor adornment in sight. Except for that magnificent view framed by hanger-sized doors through which you’ll want to taxi your bed for the night.

The deck, perched above the dune like a diving board in Kolmanskop, fits your queen-size bed (on wheels; with brakes you’ll be happy to know) inviting you to spend a glorious night under the Namibian desert starscape. An en suite bathroom with solar-heated shower and flushing toilet completes the necessities but, in one of the country's most romantic rooms, that single bed is a bit of a puzzle.

The main living area - a larger version of your room - features a wrap-around deck with a 360-degree view of the desert and, as far as your binos will see, not a single sign of human existence but for the tinkling of ice in your G ’n T. The dining room has three sides devoted to the view (the kitchen had to go somewhere after all) and the food, using fresh ingredients supplied by the mother ship’s own garden, is a delightful cherry on top. Because let’s face it: in such a spectacular setting they could serve Basil Fawlty’s famous trough of baked beans and you’d still be impressed.

Continuing the whole eco-friendly, light footprint theme, activities at Namib Dune Star are few and simple: relax or talk a walk. But not just any walk. The desert, stark and desolate though it seems, is alive with extraordinary creatures - some big, some microscopic - that have developed complex and fascinating survival mechanisms over 20 or so million years of desert extremes.

An important note about Sossusvlei: the quality of light at Sossusvlei, reflected off a great sea of sand, deteriorates with the rising sun. To catch the deep blue sky and bright coloured dunes you need to be at the entrance gate before sunrise. From the gate you can expect an hour-long drive to Sossusvlei proper. For this reason we do not recommend a day trip to Sossusvlei from Namib Dune Star lodge. Rather enjoy the magnificence of the desert for a night and then continue on to a lodge closer to Sesriem, the entrance to Sossusvlei. Contact your Travel Expert to advise you on suitable accommodation options.