Sundowners On Top of the World – Gemsbok Lapa

It’s like a sorbet machine churning orange on orange on orange on orange. This is the layered landscape from the hilltop of the Naries Namakwaland Retreat that left us breathless after our 6 hour drive up from Cape Town. It’s impossible to not try and count the layers as they lay across as far as the eye can see.

Naries Namakwa Retreat

After driving 7 hours from Cape Town to Sprinbok on the first day of our Cape to Namibia #SproatTrip, we stopped over at Naries to break up the journey. After getting our room key and settling in, we drove over the hill to capture the sunset from  their Gemsbok lapa.

Gemsbok Lapa

And what a sunset it was. There’s just no way I can articulate how incredible the view was – but I’ll try. Firstly, there were so many hills and ravines between the sun and I. This meant that the colours changed on a “level” bases as it sank. Each hill changed colour depending on its distance to me and the sun. It really was the most beautiful site to see hill after hill after hill.

The sky was completely orange, later turning into a burnt red. Yes, RED (watch the video to see it unfiltered and in motion). The whole world a burnt red colour. It’s like having tinted sunglasses on – but not! It really was exceptional.

We entered the lapa for a glass of wine and watched the world change colours. Eon, our host, was kind enough to tell us a little more about the retreat and the history of the land, which included being home to Khoisan and farmers.

Once the sun had set, the colours just kept on developing, soon turning to black. This was only day one of our trip and has been one of the most spectacular memories I have to date. UNREAL I tell you!

Visiting Naries Namakwa Retreat

Naries Namakwa Retreat is located 600 kms from Cape Town. They have a variety of accommodation options with the most affordable being the self-catering cottages for 4 (R2000 offseason) to the Mountain Suites being the most costly (R3700).