Doro Nawas Camp is located in a community-based tourism concession offering a true cultural immersion, as well as desert-adapted wildlife and dramatic scenery.

The camp is a community partnership between Wilderness Safaris and the local Doro !Nawas people and guests at the camp will be able to enjoy authentic and enriching cultural interactions. The camp staff are also members of this community.

Torra is located close to the life-giving Huab River, which although almost always dry on the surface, hold underground water which is accessed by elephants, thus providing wells for other animals. Despite the region's semi-desert climate and lack of any surface water, the area around the camp is home to good numbers of desert-adapted species. The area is particularly well-known for desert-adapted elephants, which are seen regularly.

Wildlife that can be seen on nature drives or walks includes elephant, greater kudu, springbok, giraffe, oryx, Hartmann's mountain zebra, brown hyena, spotted hyena, warthog, steenbok, Damara dik-dik, klipspringer, chacma baboon, and sometimes even lion, cheetah, and black rhino.

The camp is also situated close to a number of fascinating geological features and prehistoric bushman rock art sites. Excursions are offered to see the petroglyphs (rock engravings) at Twyfelfontein, Burnst Mountain, Organ Pipes, the Petrified Forest and the Damara Living Museum.

Doro Nawas Camp offers 16 simple but comfortable guest units, constructed with canvas walls, thatched roofing, wood beams and adobe cement. One of the guest rooms is a double unit, designed specifically for a family or couple wanting more space. The guest units are constructed atop raised adobe floors with outdoor verandas looking onto the valley and mountains around the camp. The units are connected to the main camp area via rocky footpaths on the ground.

The camp's main area includes a large, open living area consisting of indoor and outdoor dining areas, a rooftop area for more dining and superb panoramic views. There is also a partially shaded pool deck with loungers.

Wilderness Safaris are one of Africa's leading safari operators and they strive to minimize energy consumption at all their camps. Doro Nawas Camp is connected to the national grid with a 220V generator as a backup. 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.