Little Kulala Camp is located in the Kulala Wilderness Reserve, the gateway to southern Africa’s Namib Desert. It is considered one of the flagship camps in the world-renowned Wilderness Safari collection.
From the beginning when booking our Namibia adventure, our minds were made up: We were heading for Sossusvlei, a valley of spectacular sand dunes bordering the nearby “Valley of Death” with its world famous ghost trees. (Here you will find our travel tips and photos for Sossusvlei).
We had a choice of several places to bed down in Sossusvlei, but after already having been captivated during our Botswana adventure by Wilderness Safari’s Little Mombo Camp (click the link to access our travelogue), it was a cinch for us to select another Wilderness destination: Little Kulala Camp.
Arriving in the camp, we get a warm welcome from Selma, the manager, as if she had been waiting all morning for us. Add to this the hospitable reception by host Jonathan and Alwina the waitress, and we feel at home from the get-go.
As we enter the generously sized main area in the rotunda, we find a cozy lounge, a bar, the restaurant along with a library and wine cellar. All is stylishly appointed in a pastel color scheme.
We are treated to our welcome libation on the veranda with its sweeping vista of the Sossusvlei dunescape. “It’s a dream!” flits over my lips.
I couldn’t wait to lay eyes on which of the camp’s eleven stylishly appointed luxury chalets or “kulalas” comprising the lodge was ours. Each comes with its own lounge area with a small pool, with the extra of a roof terrace for stargazing topping it off.
Had I been a little more daring, we could even have chosen to sleep under the open sky!
But those “cute” geckos that we see scurrying all over the place keep me from doing it. All the more so since geckos feed on…yes, spiders…
Walter would have liked to give it a try, but after the temperature quickly descends below 10 degrees (centigrade) during the night, he too finds the chalet more inviting.
And I believe the spider argument also gave him some second thoughts! ;-)
Incidentally, “Kulala” means “to sleep” in Namibian. But anyone who does so to excess here will miss miss out!
That’s because our lodgings are located within the Namib Desert, just outside the Namib-Naukluft Park with its towering red sand dunes and Sesriem Canyon. Little Kulala has its own access to this national park, so that there is no need to drive to the main gate.
The advantage for guests of the Little Kulala Camp is that early in the morning they are among the first – or in the evenings, among the last – to enjoy the mood at sunrise or sunset.
During our stay, we embarked on several excursions with our guide Gabriel.
Excursions to Sossusvlei, Deadvlei and Sesriem Canyon
Little Kulala Camp has much to offer by way of day trips. Highly popular with visitors of course is trekking to Sossusvlei and the dead trees in the Deadvlei (click here for our article with many more pictures).
Close to the camp by the airstrip, the hot air balloons of Namib Sky Balloon Safaris take off to drift over the famous Sossusvlei dunes.
But a short excursion to the Sesriem Canyon is also worth it. (For more, see our Sesriem review).
Naukluft Mountain Zebra Park
For a sundowner, our guide Gabriel proposes an outing into Naukluft Mountain Zebra Park. The park is home to mountain zebras (also called Hartmann’s mountain zebra) which thrive at higher elevations.
As it happens, we don’t spot any zebras this day – but for all that we swoon over the spectacular landscape with the impressively beautiful Naukluft Mountains – the perfect backdrop for our sundowner!
Getting to Little Kulala Camp
The Kulala Wilderness Reserve is located in southwestern Namibia, in the Namib-Naukluft National Park.
The access gate is located on the D826 road about 17 km from Sesriem. That is about 350 km from Windhoek – but mainly on gravel roads. That means it takes about 5 hours by car. You’ll find more of Walter’s tips on driving on Namibia’s roads listed here.
To save time, you can fly here instead on a single-engine Cessna operated by Scenic Air from the national airport Eros in Windhoek or the Swakopmund airstrip, whatever works best for a clockwise round trip.
The flight time from either destination is about an hour, with fine aerial views of the desert savanna and sand dunes of the Namib. We highly recommend it!
More pictures from Little Kulala Camp
