Desert Rhino Camp is a partnership with the local community and the on-site Save the Rhino Trust (SRT) and offers an authentic black-rhino-tracking experience with SRT monitors.

The camp is situated in the 2 124-square mile (5 500-sq-km) Palmwag concession in a remote and beautiful semi-desert environment that is home to one of Africa’s last remaining free-ranging populations of the critically endangered black rhino. Guests can partake in guided black rhino tracking on foot or by 4x4 vehicle across the rocky plains with SRT researchers, an experience matched by few others in Africa.

Besides the black rhinos, the area is home to a variety of other animals including desert-adapted elephant, Hartmann's mountain zebra, giraffe, oryx, springbok, greater kudu, klipspringer, warthog, and others. Spotted hyena are seen regularly and lion and leopard are seen occasionally. Birdlife is prolific, with most pf Namibia's dry-land endemic species found here.

The camp offers guided nature drives, nature walks, and tracking rhinos with SRT rhino monitors by vehicle or on foot. Activities are offered twice daily with the option of a full-day outing and picnic lunch.

Desert Rhino Camp offers 8 Meru-style canvas tented guest units. The guest tents are constructed atop raised wooden decks with outdoor verandas looking onto the desert plains and mountains around the camp. The tents are connected to the main camp area via rocky footpaths on the ground.

The camp's main area includes a large, open, canvas-tented living area consisting of an indoor dining area, lounge, and campfire area. There is also a partially shaded pool deck with loungers. There is a flood-lit waterhole in front of the camp which attracts wildlife.

Wilderness Safaris are one of Africa's leading safari operators and they strive to minimize energy consumption at all their camps. Desert Rhino Camp is powered using a combination of solar and diesel generator power. Guest showers use solar-heated water. Strict eco-friendly environmental standards are maintained so that no harmful chemicals or waste is allowed to enter the ecosystem around the camp.

About Damaraland

The Damaraland region is situated directly inland from the Skeleton Coast and is characterized by spectacular landscapes. The region includes desert mountains, wind-blown hills, dramatic rock inselbergs, rock-strewn plains, lava fields, and valleys with seasonal rivers that only flow after an infrequent rain. The area is also home to accessible prehistoric rock art and good numbers of wildlife, making it an excellent destination for its diversity.

Damaraland actually includes two distinct regions in terms of what can be experienced: northern Damaraland, which is far less accessible (fly-in or a good 4x4 vehicle) and southern Damaraland, which is easily accessible for self-drivers in any vehicle. The northern region offers the best wildlife viewing, while the southern region is home to rock-art sites and other geological points of interest that can be explored on foot.

Northern Damaraland

The northern section of Damaraland is characterized as a semi-desert, with very low rainfall and vegetation that is sparse and well-adapted to the harsh, arid environment. The landscape is dominated by massive lava fields and vast plains strewn with gravel, boulders, and smaller granitic rocks that are colored in various hues of red and orange. Geologic activity over millions of years here has created this dramatic and brilliantly-colored terrain where only sparse desert-tolerant grasses, bushes, and some trees can survive.

The shepherd's tree (Boscia albitrunca) and the spiky Damara milk bush (Euphorbia damarana) are abundant and some of the few floral species flourish here. The milk bush is poisonous to all animals (including humans) except for black rhino and greater kudu, which can eat them. Another notable plant found across the region is the amazing Welwitschia mirabilis, a species grows low on the ground like a lily and which survives upwards of a thousand years!

The only rivers here are seasonal and only flow on the surface after rare rains, but the Huab River has underground water that provides an oasis for elephants, which dig holes in the dry riverbed with their trunks to get to the water below the surface. The elephant wells also provide water for the areas other wildlife. Ana trees (Faidherbia albida) line the banks of the dry river, providing nourishment for elephants and other species, which relish the tasty seed pods.

Tourism Concessions

Northern Damaraland includes several land concessions that have been set aside by the local communities for use as tourism areas, which they lease to safari operators, leading to revenue and jobs for local people.

The most significant land concession in northern Damaraland is the Torra Conservancy. There are several good safari camps in the conservancy and it offers some of Damaraland's best wildlife experiences. The local communities live and graze their livestock in the conservancy, but there are very few people and only sparse development, with wildlife living in peace with the people. Other significant tourism concessions in the north include Palmwag, Etendeka, Damaraland/Desert Rhino, Hobatere (adjacent to western Etosha), and Huab.

Wildlife in Northern Damaraland includes good numbers of desert-adapted elephant, as well as a healthy population of endangered black rhino. Other species commonly seen includes giraffe, Hartmann's mountain zebra, oryx, greater kudu, springbok, steenbok, warthog, klipspringer, and chacma baboon. Lion and cheetah are seen on occasion, as well as the rare leopard sighting. Vegetation increases as one moves east from the Torra Conservancy and there is a chance to see other species like 'black-faced' impala, eland, and the Damara dik-dik (a tiny antelope). Bird life is mainly dry-land species.

Southern Damaraland

The southern side of Damaraland is less about wildlife and more about scenery. The area is defined by dramatic rock formations, desert mountains, and accessible Bushman rock-art sites.

Spitzkoppe is a group of bare granitic inselbergs that date back 120 million years and its highest outcrop reaches 5 800 feet (1 765 meters) above the desert. There are a good number of dramatic rock formations and over thirty Bushman cave paintings here.

Brandberg Mountain is Namibia's tallest peak, towering 8 442 feet (2 573 meters) over the surrounding plain and covering an area of 250 square miles (650 sq kms). The mountain was of spiritual significance to the ancient people who lived here and there there are beautiful rock paintings here, including the famous "White Lady" painting. The mountain is one of the world's richest galleries of prehistoric rock paintings.

Twyfelfontein is Damaraland's most popular tourist attraction and is Namibia's first UNESCO World Heritage Site (declared in 2007). It is the world's largest outdoor rock art site, with thousands of rock engravings on boulders scattered around the site. It is believed that ancient hunter-gatherers used the site as a place of worship where shamans conducted rituals. A guided tour is recommended.

Other sites of interest in southern Damaraland include Messum Crater, the remains of an ancient volcano spanning 13 miles (22 kms) across, the Petrified Forest, where trees thought to have died 250 million years ago lie forever in a bed of sandstone, and Vingerklip (rock finger), a dramatic rock obelisk protruding from the flat desert floor.