Hammerstein Lodge

The stay

A big, well-established stopover

Hammerstein has been taking travellers since the early 1990s and is a traditional base for exploring the Namib. It sits on the C19 between the Nubib and Tsaris mountains, roughly halfway along the long road south.

It is a large operation by the standards of this road — sixty air-conditioned twin rooms, six self-catering units and four campsites — which means it usually has space when the smaller places do not, and it handles families and groups easily.

The main lodge has a buffet restaurant serving Namibian cooking, a bar, a swimming pool with loungers and towels, and a children’s playground. The farm takes its name from an enormous boulder shaped like a hammer.

What to do

Why stay at Hammerstein?

Mostly for practical reasons, which is no bad thing on a long drive. With sixty rooms plus self-catering units and four campsites, Hammerstein usually has availability when the smaller lodges on this road are full, and it takes families and groups without fuss.

It has been going since the early 1990s and knows what travellers need: a buffet dinner, a continental breakfast, a bar, a swimming pool with loungers and towels, and a playground for children.

The private campsite is the interesting option. Twenty kilometres out, one party at a time, with a wood-fired geyser for hot water — a genuinely remote night at camping rates.

The honest part: at about 60 km from the Sesriem gate, Sossusvlei is a long early start from here. If first light at Deadvlei is the point of your trip, Sossus Dune Lodge is inside the gate and we will say so.

Before you book

• Rooms are dinner, bed and breakfast; campsites are camping only, with no meals included
• For camping, children pay the full adult rate
• Self-catering units provide cutlery and crockery on request — ask when you book, not on arrival
• The private campsite must be arranged before arrival, and takes one party of up to six
• Firewood is available on request at the lodge check-in point — collect it before heading out
• About 60 km from the Sesriem gate, on the C19
• Park entry fees for Sossusvlei are payable at the gate
• The lodge keeps tame leopard, cheetah and caracal that guests can see — ask us if you would like to know more before booking

Activities

• Guided excursions to Sossusvlei and Sesriem Canyon
• Nature drives on the farm
• Sundowner drives into the mountains
• 4x4 trips to Sossusvlei, on request
• Sightseeing flights, on request
• The swimming pool and the children’s playground

Things to see

• The Nubib and Tsaris mountains, either side of the lodge
• The hammer-shaped boulder that gave the farm its name
• Sossusvlei, Deadvlei and Sesriem Canyon, as day trips
• Desert landscapes on the sundowner drive

Facilities

• Buffet restaurant serving Namibian cooking
• Bar
• Swimming pool, with loungers and towels
• Children’s playground
• Braai areas
• Air-conditioning in the rooms and self-catering units

Part of Daosa Africa

Hammerstein belongs to the same family as Desert Hills Lodge and We Kebi Safari Lodge in the Namib, and Etosha Omusati near Etosha. If you are building a self-drive across Namibia, they link up and we can put the route together.

Getting there

• On the C19, between the Nubib and Tsaris mountains
• About 60 km from the Sesriem gate into the Namib-Naukluft Park
• Between Swakopmund and Lüderitz — a natural stopover heading south
• Gravel roads — allow more time than the distance suggests