ROOTS

LOCATED WITHIN THE EXTRAORDINARY LANDSCAPES OF THE SINCLAIR NATURE RESERVE, NOOISHOF IS A PLACE OF SOUL-STIRRING BEAUTY THE RESULT OF A LIFELONG LOVE AFFAIR WITH SOUTHERN NAMIBIA.

- PIPPA DE BRUYN

"WE HUMANS ARE JUST ENZYMES," says Marc Pampe, contemplating the scene below in the softening light. "We can speed things up or slow things down, but nature is ultimately in charge." We are seated on smooth boulders warmed by the sun, our ice-cold G&Ts fragranced with fresh mint picked from Nooishof's garden.

The plains are washed in pink and gold, tufts of grass pixellating into a vast pelt edged with a thin brushstroke of lime - the diminishing remains of some localised rainfall. Nameless mountains rise like rock-encrusted inselbergs, vertically striated with black rocks that look like split seams. It is a scene of ancient grandeur, sculpted by millennia.

Southern Namibia is a place of awe, seemingly almost devoid of life. With an annual rainfall as low as 50mm, survival in the 25 000-hectare Sinclair Nature Reserve, located south of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, is testament to Darwinian lore. On a nature drive, we pass the occasional gnarled tree; warthog, tails aloft; a herd of oryx, startled into a gallop, raising clouds of pink dust in their wake.

This only serves to highlight the luxury of returning to a glowing oasis, surrounded by cypresses and palms, where the aroma of Mariza Pampe's roasting Muscovy duck, reared on the farm, greets us.