Highlights of Damaraland and Kaokoveld, Namibia

By Roxanne Reid
Once you head for Damaraland and Kaokoveld (now renamed Kunene) in Namibia's northwest, the landscape becomes increasingly stark, yet it’s surprisingly full of life. This Arid Eden is full of contradictions, amazing geological formations, harsh landscapes and free-ranging animals. Here are some highlights of Damaraland and Kaokoveld from our recent road trip.

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Spitzkoppe

The views at Spitzkoppe Community Campsite in Damaraland were wonderful and the chicken burgers were served on enamel plates while two meerkat chirped at our feet waiting for scraps that weren’t coming. There was a lovely lapa area and bar, where the barstools were made of zinc buckets with cushions on top. I couldn’t wait for sunrise to see more of the bald granite mountains.

Damaraland Mopane Lodge

Near Khorixas, we stayed a night at Damaraland Mopane Lodge. Each chalet had a tiny walled garden where Erro Pandeni-Ilonga and his eight-man crew grow a huge variety of veggies, herbs and fruit for use in the lodge. Once he got talking about his plants, his face lit up. He was horrified to discover I’d never eaten kohlrabi so he ripped out a few bulbs there and then and went off to ask the kitchen to put it on that night’s menu. Chef Maria Nangolo brought me a huge plate of it cooked in a little butter with a sprinkling of herbs. Thank goodness I enjoyed the taste, a cross between the stalks of cauliflower and broccoli.

Tracking black rhino with Save the Rhino Trust

Our stay at Desert Rhino Camp was a highlight. Albertus Ganuseb, pictured here, is one of the trackers for the Save the Rhino Trust. He and two colleagues went out early to track black rhino and we joined them with our guide Bons Roman, the last few hundred metres on foot across rocky terrain. What a sight it was. A free-roaming desert rhino browsing on a melkbos, oblivious of us as we settled in quietly to enjoy his presence. Sad to say that he was dehorned last year, part of Namibia’s attempt to prevent poaching of these ancient animals for their horns, which are nothing more than the keratin in our hair or fingernails.

Desert Rhino Camp, Damaraland

Desert Rhino Camp was our Wilderness Safaris home from home for two wonderful days. We tracked and found a desert rhino, we saw lots of Hartmann’s mountain zebra and a clan of spotted hyena with six inquisitive youngsters. We watched the volcani rocks turn reddish pink in the late afternoon sunlight, we saw countless welwitschias, we enjoyed a bush dinner by candlelight after a choral welcome by the staff, and we loved the people who work there, all so passionate and friendly. Top honours to our guide Bons Roman for showing us so much of the fascinating environment he works in, and for being an unending source of knowledge and a really fun guy.

Glamping with Wilderness Safaris

Those of you who thought the word ‘tent’ meant we were roughing it at Desert Rhino Camp couldn’t be more wrong. This was glamping (glamorous camping). We had a kingsize bed with hand-embroidered bedhead,a writing desk, a leather easy chair and twin copper basins in the bathroom. But of course the best thing of all were the guided activies such as tracking desert rhino and the fab candlelight bush dinner to which we were welcomed by singing. Very special.

Palmwag, Damaraland

Palmwag is a green oasis of makalani palms where we met a man called Education, whose mother was clear about what she wanted for him. Since he was one of the guys worked at the reception office, she must be proud. Last time we were here we met a desert elephant on our nature walk, but due to bad rains this year the elephants have apparently moved away in search of better food.

Traditional Himba 

We visited this traditional Himba woman at a village in the Anabeb Conservancy near Sesfontein in Kunene, northwestern Namibia. Our guide, Ueera Kasaona, Himba himself, explained all about their culture, their dress and the colourful ochre mixed with butterfat that they smear on their bodies. We learnt how to tell a girl from a woman, a mother from a woman who hasn’t yet had children. There’s no language barrier with the children, who only want to high-five you and play, or see the photos of themselves. On a searingly hot winter’s day when a newly dead goat was already starting to smell, I had to wonder how the Himba cope with life in the heat of mid-summer. Make no mistake, no matter how elegant and beautiful the Himba women are, their life is a hard one.

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