NamibRand Nature Reserve

NamibRand covers around two thousand square kilometres of former sheep farms bought and rehabilitated as a single private reserve on the eastern edge of the Namib, with red dunes, gravel plains and inselbergs. It was certified as an International Dark Sky Reserve in 2012, the first in Africa, and the night skies are the main reason many people come. Fairy circles, the bare discs in the grassland whose cause is still argued over, occur here in numbers.

What you actually see

• The dark sky - a certified dark sky reserve with almost no light pollution.
• The fairy circles - bare discs in the grassland, their cause still disputed.
• The red dunes - dune country meeting gravel plain along the reserve.
• The inselbergs - isolated mountains rising through the sand and grass.

When to go

March to October is the cooler window and the best for comfort. Moonless nights are what to plan around for the sky. Summer heat from November to February is severe.

Honest expectations

Access is only through the member lodges and there is no self-drive entry or camping outside them. Rates are high. Wildlife is desert-adapted and sparse compared with the northern parks.

Nearby

Sesriem is north, and the D707 runs south along the reserve edge.