If there was ever an enchanted garden, this is it. Entering the Kalahari Farmhouse is like stepping into a magical enclave or an oasis in the desert – far away from the world. It urges you to take off shoes, lie on the soft grass, open a book and relax. The cottagey chalets with colourful patchwork quilts, fireplaces and oodles of charm look onto the garden lined with towering palms. Birds flutter through the trees, water runs in the streamlets and the feeling of peace pervades the intimate Kalahari resort. Well-positioned on the outskirts of Stampriet where life-giving artesian water spurts to the surface, the Farmhouse enjoys this generous boon in the Kalahari Desert.
The ample water supply allows the garden to be kept lush and Gondwana’s Self Sufficiency Centre to grow its produce for the collection of lodges around the country. The gods surely smile on this land where goodness grows. At the Centre, adjacent to the lodge, seasonal vegetables are grown, cows are milked, and a variety of salamis, sausages and biltong are produced. Chickens wander about and pigs grunt contentedly from their enclosures. Take the time off on a trip to put up feet at Kalahari Farmhouse. Easily accessible if travelling between Windhoek and the South, or if en route to the Kgalagadi or South Africa, the lodge is best enjoyed over a few days. Visit the Self Sufficiency Centre, lounge around the pool or in the garden, join a sunset excursion into the burnished dunes at Kalahari Anib Lodge, 30km away, and rest.
