Kloof is Afrikaans for ravine, and huis means house. The lodge was built from the ground it stands on: dark dolerite and red sandstone, quarried on the reserve and laid by masons from Keetmanshoop. Twenty-eight chalets sit among boulders on a low ridge, their flat roofs planted with succulents so that from the road they almost disappear. Quiver trees grow between them, the bark peeling like old paper and the branches busy with sociable weavers and pale-winged starlings.
The Fish River Canyon is 22 km away, about 30 minutes on gravel to the main viewpoint at Hobas. It runs for some 160 km and drops up to 550 m, and early morning is the time to see it, before the heat flattens the colours. Closer to home, the 640 km² Ombara Canyon Reserve protects side gorges, plateau and stony plains where Hartmann's mountain zebra, kudu, klipspringer and the occasional leopard live.
The main building has thick walls, a long dining room and a terrace that hangs over a small kloof of its own. Breakfast brings stewed figs, farm yoghurt and bread from the oven. Dinner might be kudu loin with a red wine sauce, roast butternut and spiced dates, or slow-cooked oxtail on cold nights. A short walk up the ridge, the Rim Bar is a stone platform with a fire pit, a cool box of drinks and nothing between you and the stars.
Twenty-four chalets of about 40 m² with a king bed or two singles, stone floors that stay cool in summer, a fireplace for winter and a large bathroom with a bath under a window onto the rocks. A private terrace looks across the plain towards the canyon edge.
The chalets are set well apart and turned away from each other, so the only sound is birdsong.
Four double chalets of about 70 m², with two bedrooms (one king, one twin), each with its own bathroom, joined by a shared lounge and a wide terrace.
Sleeps four, with room for an extra bed for a child.
Rates and live availability are on the Ombara booking engine. Ask the Windhoek team and they reply with both.
Leave in the dark with a guide and a flask of coffee, and stand at the main viewpoint as the first light reaches the river 500 m below. Walk the rim path between lookouts while the guide explains how the river cut down through rock more than a billion years old, then sit down to breakfast at a folding table near the edge.
An afternoon drive across the Ombara Canyon Reserve, up onto the plateau and into the side gorges. Mountain zebra, kudu, oryx, ostrich and steenbok are regulars. Leopard tracks are common; the leopards themselves are rare. The drive ends with drinks on a ridge facing west.
A guided walk down a dry side gorge on the reserve, scrambling over boulders, past rock pools that hold water for weeks after rain, to a cliff face pecked with old engravings of giraffe and antelope. Good shoes and a fair level of fitness needed.
Walk ten minutes up the path behind the main building to the Rim Bar, where the fire is already lit. Drinks, warm biltong and a view over 30 km of plain to the dark line of the canyon. Stay on after sunset for the first stars before dinner.
Drive about an hour south through canyon country to Ai-Ais, where hot springs rise at the bottom of the canyon. Swim in the thermal pools, walk a short way along the riverbed under the cliffs and have lunch before driving back in the late afternoon light.
Off the C37, 22 km north-east of the Fish River Canyon main viewpoint at Hobas, Ombara Canyon Reserve, Karas Region, Namibia
27.4486° S, 17.7038° E
Getting there: Ombara Shuttle and Ombara Drive 4x4s both reach most of our lodges. Ask the team for the best route from where you are.
Tell us your dates and group. We come back with availability and a sensible way to get there.
