The hunter-gatherers known as the San (also called Bushmen) are among the oldest cultures on earth. The San were semi-nomadic and defined themselves as people who lived off the land without raising livestock. They settled seasonally and followed the availability of water, animals and edible plants. The San hunted exclusively with bows and arrows, never made weapons, and were peaceful, experienced hunters who have lived in southern Africa for over 25,000 years. They are considered the oldest people in the world.

With our 4x4 van, we follow their tracks, their history and their way of life.

In the mid-1990s, a white Namibian from Windhoek gave up his job as an insurance broker and turned his back on civilisation to live barefoot with nothing in the solitude and silence of the desert as a direct part of nature. The word ‘Namib’ means ‘nothing’. He initially lived as a desert guide in the Sossusvlei area and founded his company ‘Sossus on foot’ in 1996. His compatriots gave him the nickname ‘Bushman’. As such, he became a living legend and in 2004 acquired the abandoned desert farm ‘Cha-re’. He still lives there today with his Japanese wife Yuri and shares his immense knowledge of San culture and his own history with guests who find their way to him. ‘Bushman's Desert Camp’ is our base camp during ‘Authentic Desert Namibia’.

... and yet so close. The Fifth Quarter team is equipped with HIKmicro Habrok Pro HX60LN thermal imaging cameras, night vision devices and binoculars at all camps. This means you can observe animals not only during the day, but also in their natural, unobserved behaviour in the pitch-dark night. The thermal binoculars make animals visible even in daylight when we cannot see them with the naked eye due to their natural camouflage.

As in all our camps, authentic outdoor cooking, known as ‘braai’, is the order of the day – meals are prepared almost exclusively over an open wood fire. Regional meat, game, fish and vegetables from local farms are prepared traditionally every day, all accompanied by a magnificent variety of wines from the Cape Wine Kingdom and South African fynbos gins.