May 17, 2007

Africa & Mideast | Namibia

Unsung Africa

By Nicole Cotroneo

Can’t shake the paparazzi? Follow the Brangelina clan to Namibia’s secluded Caprivi Strip.

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Crouched beneath shade trees skirting the Okavango River, in the lushest part of Namibia, the new Divava Okavango Lodge & Spa has been dubbed “Paradishi Ghomumbiru,” or “Little Paradise,” by the locals. In a country composed of two-thirds desert (including the world’s oldest), the high-end, low-impact lodge is set on the western fringes of the Caprivi Strip, a narrow finger of fertile, wooded land just north of the Okavango Delta.

Guests who venture beyond the lodge’s 20 luxe chalets will find this hidden pocket of southwestern Africa stuffed with wildlife. The Mahango Game Park offers year-round game-viewing (think: bushbuck and tsessebe), while a short boat ride from Divava brings you to Popa Falls, a series of rapids best visited this time of year, just after Namibia’s rainy season. But you don’t have to leave the lodge to embrace the scenery: you can take in views from the spa’s treatment rooms or the swimming pool. The only species you may not see in abundance is people. Namibia is among the most sparsely-populated countries on earth. And since the Brangelina clan went into lockdown here last year — for the birth of the genetically blessed Shiloh Jolie-Pitt — Namibia has sealed a reputation for granting well-healed guests unparalleled privacy.