Right royal honeymoon
Namibia is an ideal choice for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, writes Lorna Thornber.
It seems fitting that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have reportedly chosen Namibia for their honeymoon. Like the couple themselves, it’s adventurous but safe and, as one of the least densely populated countries on the planet, likely to give them the privacy they’re no doubt praying for for their first days of wedded bliss.
The couple spent their first holiday together camping under the stars in Botswana, so rumour has been rife for a while now that they might choose tourist-friendly Namibia or another African country for their honeymoon.
Travel + Leisure cited a source saying that they have settled on Namibia, while Hoanib Valley has been tipped as the spot where they’re literally likely to set up camp (well, not actually erect a tent but sleep under canvas) after their May 19 wedding.
While the couple haven’t exactly slummed it on holiday in the past, they’ve made some royally unconventional choices, staying in an Airbnb lodge near the tiny Norwegian town of Tromvik – which doesn’t have a single cafe, restaurant or shop – in January last year, and at a tented bush camp during their time in Botswana.
Starting from N$8000 (NZ$900) per person per night, Hoanib Valley Camp in Kaokoland seems to fit their low-key luxe aesthetic perfectly. Make no mistake, this is glamping at its finest, but in a ruggedly good looking, ecofriendly kind of way.
Set in the northwestern corner of the country – a land of ochrecoloured dunes, rocky mountains and dusty plains – Hoanib is still under construction. It’s (coincidentally?) set to open in May but its website shows it to be a six-tented abode designed to reflect the colours and textures of the environment and geometric designs of the nomadic Himba people who have settlements in the area. Guests are encouraged to spend their days on game drives that will take them along a network of sandy riverbeds in search of desert-adapted elephants, giraffes, lions and black rhino before retiring to the camp for a G&T on the veranda.
Harry is a patron of Rhino Conservation Botswana and Meghan is an animal rights advocate, so the couple will no doubt appreciate the fact the camp is a joint venture between local communities and the Africa-wide Giraffe Conservation Foundation.
Hoanib also has a camp along the Skeleton Coast, where burnt orange dunes meet the South Atlantic Ocean on mistenshrouded beaches dotted with whalebones and shipwrecks, so they can be sure of a luxury roof over their heads there. too.
While Namibia is sometimes touted as ‘‘Africa for beginners’’, there are plenty of options for adventurous travellers and you don’t have to be fifth (soon to be sixth) in line to the throne or an exactress to afford many of them. The landscape is diverse, ranging from the dunescapes of the Namib, the world’s oldest desert, in the west to the mountainous wilderness in the north, the goldgrass plains of the Kalahari in the east and the 160-kilometre long Fish River Canyon in the deep south, considered one of the continent’s greatest natural wonders.
The 50km hiking trail through the canyon is considered one of its best treks, although five days of sweating it out in deep ravines with no escape route (hikers have to be airlifted out in the case of emergency) might be too much like real roughing it for the royal couple’s liking.
Sossusvlei, in the NamibNakluft National Park, is much nicer than its translated name ‘‘dead-end marsh’’ suggests, with petrified, billion-year-old dunes that have solidified into rock and highlights such as Sesriem Canyon and Big Daddy.
Windhoek, the capital, and Swakopmund, a Germanic coastal resort, are good places to base yourself if your budget doesn’t stretch to a luxury safari lodge. Both have decent guesthouses, hotels and restaurants, while Swakopmund is a mecca for extreme sports such as skydiving and sandboarding.
Etosha National Park is the country’s pre-eminent wildlife watching spot with sizeable populations of big cats, elephants, black rhinos and game, while Damaraland – home to the world’s last herds of free-range black rhinos – and the Caprivi Strip are also popular. There are also private reserves and camps for those with a passion for conservation or community welfare, such as Desert Rhino Camp in Damaraland.
While it’s possible to drive to many destinations, Harry and Meghan are likely to travel by air to cover the large distances. Among the most alluring-sounding trips by air are the Skeleton Coast Fly-in Safaris, which transport guests via small planes and Land Rovers across the seaside dunes and hinterland. Camping is luxury style by a river in Damaraland, under camel thorn trees and Makalani palms in Kaokoland and overlooking the Kunene River on the northwestern border with Angola.
Plan a trip in May and you may just find yourself rocking up to a waterhole alongside Harry and Meghan, but it’s an excellent destination at any time.