South Africa

!Xaus Lodge

Alexis Buxton-Collins [STORY BY]

01 Floating in an endless sea of wave-like sandhills the colour of baked clay, close to where the borders of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana meet, !Xaus Lodge (xauslodge.co.za) is a long way from everywhere at Dune 91 off the Auob River Road in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

From the closest airport at Upington, it’s a three-hour drive to the park entry, followed by another 60 kilometres along a dry watercourse crowded with shaggy wildebeest, stately giraffes and half a dozen types of antelope seeking refuge from the parched landscape. Then a guide from the lodge takes the wheel for the last leg, an undulating 4WD track over 91 dunes – count them – that leads to 12 rammed-earth, thatched-roof chalets arranged democratically along a ridgeline so that each has a deck overlooking a vast salt pan and waterhole.

There’s no phone coverage or daily newspaper here, each night’s drama instead recorded in the maze of tracks scattered through the sand, where scorpions and lions prowl restlessly as their celestial counterparts track across a glittering night sky completely free of light pollution.

!Xaus (the exclamation mark represents one of four distinctive clicks in the Khoisan languages) is owned and majority staffed by the ‡Khomani San and Mier communities so there are plenty of chances to see the landscape through their eyes. Guides read the lines of dunes like a street map and give each animal a personality, from the sacred eland antelope to the “bush doctor” porcupine, while the on-site cultural village echoes with laughter as the resident family shares traditional stories, crafts and games.

Looking out at the endless ranks of dunes crowned with tufts of golden grass, guide Andre Valbooi smiles as he considers his relationship with land that doesn’t just support life but defines a rich culture. “It is like we’re married to the park,” he says. “And when you’re with us, you get to meet the bride.”