After three hours of featureless gravel road, the Tsumkwe Country Lodge may seem like an oasis. And indeed it is: the lodge has nine rooms - five are teak bungalows the other brick and mortar attachments to the main lodge - with en suite bathrooms and an impeccable level of cleanliness. The main lodge is an open-plan timber, rock and thatch construction that houses the bar and restaurant and incorporates that essential item in this parched land - a pool.

You may want to go there to satisfy a burning desire to visit one of the most remote regions of Namibia. But you will need some careful planning and the expert supervision of Arno Oosthuysen who has single-handedly opened a crack in the door that is leaking light into an area of outstanding beauty, untouched wilderness and immense cultural wealth.

Still known as Bushmanland, though not officially, the area in north-eastern Namibia is home to the Ju/'hoansi, the largest and most traditional group of the remaining Bushman or San people in the Kalahari. Tsumkwe Country Lodge offers a fully inclusive safari that goes to Nhoma Camp, owned and run by the San, where you will spend your days experiencing the fascinating hunting and gathering ways of this ancient people.