The Best New Hotels in the World: 2019 Hot List
"There is remote, and then there is the Skeleton Coast, a desolate sweep of coastline along the Atlantic that feels utterly isolated. Shipwreck Lodge is from the heavily conservation-driven outfitter Natural Selection and has now opened as the area’s first polished resort with a point of view worthy of such otherworldliness. The 10 wooden cabins set against a flaxen sand dune were designed by Namibian bio-architect Nina Maritz to look much like the many ships that have run aground here over the centuries. Through porthole windows, guests view a haunting, foggy landscape that is home to desert-adapted lion and antelope. During the day, four-wheel drives whiz up and down tawny dunes, past parched terrain, and along the edge of the brooding ocean, which crashes onto marbled sand, littered with whale bones. In the evenings, after the sun has burned the mist away, fynbos-infused gin and tonics are served on the beach. When the shore gets too chilly, it’s onto dinner in the main building, where sofas, cushions, candles, and blazing fireplaces keep things cozy once the all-but-certain sandstorm hits. The lodge scene in Namibia is frenetic; this one slows things down to a speed that reminds guests they are at the ends of the earth. FLASH POINT Go for a drive down the “roaring dunes” outside the lodge, so called for the sound the air makes between the tires and the sand as a car nosedives at 180 degrees. +27 2100-11-574; naturalselection.travel. Doubles from about $230." - CNT Editors
