The idea behind the NamibRand Nature reserve was to integrate a number of sheep farms into one game sanctuary. The NamibRand is free of fences and allows the wildlife to roam in their natural habitat, as they did before commercial farming. Covering an area of 200000 hectares close to Sossusvlei, NamibRand is bordered by the Naukluft Park in the west and the impressive Nubib Mountain range in the East.

Due to its unique location the reserve offers a diversity of desert landscapes. Game species found in the reserve include gemsbok, mountain and plains zebra, springbok, red hartebeest, bat-eared fox, spotted hyena, Cape fox and African wildcats. The more rocky areas are inhabited by kudu, klipspringer, baboon and leopard.

Every guest staying at Wolwedans contributes towards the conservation of NamibRand, as a fixed percentage of revenue flows towards conservation. It is hoped that in the long run, such levies will make the reserve self-sustainable. However, income from tourism will always be limited, because right from the outset, we have restricted the number of guests this wilderness paradise can and should accommodate.

It has been decided that every bed, must be surrounded by 2000 hectares of wilderness. Due to this restriction the funding of major conservation projects, such as the introduction of the endangered black rhino, cannot be financed out of the reserve’s own resources. This is where the NamibRand Conservation Foundation comes into the picture. The NRCF is a non-profit organisation, established during 1998 under the patronage of the Namibia Nature Foundation with the aim of promoting large scale conservation and research projects in the NamibRand Nature Reserve and the south-western Namib region.