Damaraland

Damaraland is a spectacular rugged and mountainous wilderness shaped by flat-topped mountains and imposing granite domes.

In the south, it boasts fascinating geological features such as the Petrified Forest, fossilised trees, thought to be over 250 million years old, and the basalt Organ Pipes, as well as a wealth of incredible rock art. Further north, there are private reserves where the wildlife is unique rather than abundant, and you can track black rhino, elephant and other intriguing, desert-adapted wildlife, offering an exhilarating wilderness experience.

Did you know?

• The basalt Organ Pipes are a rock formation comprising of a group of columnar basalts which resemble organ pipes. The Organ Pipes were formed about 150 million years ago as the result of the intrusion of liquid lava into the slate rock formation, which has eroded over time.
• There is a fair amount of game in the area, notably the desert elephant who feed up and down the river system. There is plenty of other game here too, such as kudu, oryx, springbok, baboons and a bit further afield the endangered black desert rhino.
• Desert Rhino Camp is a mobile camp run in conjunction with the ‘Save the Rhino Trust’ in the private Palmwag area of northern Damaraland.
• There is nothing more exciting than tracking desert rhino on foot.
• Many of the lodges in the area are community owned and run NS in partnership with safari companies.
• Desert adapted elephant eat every leaf of the branch they pull down. They conserve the little food they have so much more carefully than their savannah cousins who seems to pull down branches and trees for fun!
• Desert rhino love euphorbia which is highly poisonous to humans.
• Brandberg is Namibias highest mountain at 2573m. It is not a volcano but a granite plug that rose out of the earth 120 million years ago.