Damaraland Camp opened in 1996 as the first joint venture between a Namibian community and the private sector, pairing the people of the Torra Conservancy with Wilderness. It was also the company’s first camp in Namibia, and the model it created went on to shape the country’s communal conservancy movement.
The arrangement was deliberate. Over fifteen years the community built towards full ownership, eventually holding the lodge outright before Wilderness repurchased a 60 percent stake. Today the community retains a 40 percent share, alongside land rent and a 10 percent bed levy, and the camp is run almost entirely by people who have worked their way up through the ranks.
Twenty-three full-time jobs now flow into the conservancy, clear proof that living alongside wildlife can pay.
The setting is the Huab River valley, a dry landscape of ancient volcanic rock, petrified forests and open plains framed by the Brandberg Mountains to the south. Ten adobe-style thatched units stand raised on wooden decks, each with a walk-in dressing area and a large viewing platform looking out over the desert.
Come for the desert-adapted elephant, but stay for the conversations with the people who run the place.
Game drives follow the riverbed in search of elephant, oryx, springbok and ostrich, with lion and black rhino sometimes crossing the route. Because this is a conservancy rather than a national park, guided walking, night drives and off-road tracking are all permitted, opening up the valley in ways a park rarely allows.
Damaraland Camp lies on the northern face of the Huab River valley in the Kunene Region, looking south towards the Brandberg Mountains. The wider Damaraland counts among Namibia’s most pristine wilderness areas, a place of ancient volcanic rock and petrified forests. Nearby is Twyfelfontein, home to one of Africa’s largest concentrations of San rock engravings and Namibia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, declared in 2007.
The architecture merges traditional building methods with modern green technology. The ten units are built from adobe, thatch, canvas and wood and raised on individual decks, each with an en-suite shower, flush toilet, wash basins, a dressing area and a built-in fan. A hybrid power system runs the camp, with solar panels, inverters and solar-powered geysers in every tent, while LED lighting keeps light pollution to a minimum.
This is conservation you can stay inside, not simply look at.
Days are shaped around the Huab River system, where guides track desert-adapted elephant on drives by day and after dark. Guests can explore on foot, by mountain bike or by 4×4, walk with a qualified guide or join a scorpion walk at night. On longer stays, guided rhino tracking with the Save the Rhino Trust follows the conservancy’s black rhino by vehicle and on foot.
The Torra Conservancy covers around 352,000 hectares and was formally registered in 1998, among the first communal conservancies gazetted in Namibia. Wildlife has rebounded and poaching has fallen sharply. Children in the Wilderness runs Eco-Clubs and scholarships across thirteen Namibian schools, and a Pack for a Purpose partnership lets guests bring needed supplies for local schools and communities.
In 2005 the World Travel and Tourism Council named Damaraland Camp overall winner of its Tourism for Tomorrow Conservation Award, and the project is cited by the UNDP Equator Initiative as a benchmark in community-based conservation. The thatched main area holds a dining space, lounge, bar and a small boutique, with evening meals often cooked over an open fire and served in the boma beneath the stars.
accommodation
Ten adobe-style thatched units, including a family unit, are raised on individual wooden decks, each with a walk-in dressing area and a large viewing platform facing the desert. Every tent has en-suite facilities with a shower, flush toilet and wash basins, plus a built-in fan and a solar-powered geyser.
activities
Activities centre on the Huab River system, with day and night drives in search of desert-adapted elephant, oryx, springbok and ostrich. Guests can walk with a qualified guide, ride a mountain bike, explore by 4x4 or, on longer stays, track black rhino with Save the Rhino Trust experts.
conservation
The 352,000-hectare Torra Conservancy was registered in 1998 and won the 2005 WTTC Tourism for Tomorrow Conservation Award. The community holds a 40 percent share plus a bed levy and land rent, while Children in the Wilderness and Pack for a Purpose support local schools.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
Most guests fly in. You arrive into Windhoek at Hosea Kutako International, and the light aircraft safari charters lift off from Eros, the smaller airport in town, for the roughly one and a half to two hour hop onto a Damaraland airstrip and a short transfer to camp. We can also arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, timed to your international arrival so the connection works around you.
You can drive it instead, but it is a long day of around six to seven hours, much of it on gravel once you leave the main roads. We usually build the flight in to save you a travel day and the corrugations, and we will confirm the exact airstrip and transfer when we plan your route.
Damaraland is a low-risk malaria area, and the risk is seasonal. This dry desert country holds little standing water for mosquitoes, so risk is at its lowest in the cool, dry winter from about June to October, which is the main time to come, and rises a little in the green summer months after the rains.
Health guidance can shift from year to year, so we always suggest confirming the current position with a travel clinic or your doctor before you travel, and taking the usual precautions against bites after dark.
Pack for a big daily temperature swing. Days in Damaraland are warm to hot, often into the thirties, while nights and dawns turn cold, and in the winter months of June to August the temperature can drop close to freezing after dark.
Layers are the answer: light, breathable clothes and a hat for the heat and dust, then a warm fleece or jacket for early game drives and cold evenings, along with something warm to sleep in. Bring sun cream, sunglasses and a scarf or buff for the dust.
Damaraland Camp takes children from six years old, and there is a dedicated family unit that sleeps four. Younger children may be asked to use a private vehicle on the game drives, which we can arrange.
The rhythm here is long tracking drives in open country, so it rewards children who enjoy being out in the vehicle. Tell us their ages and we will set the family unit and activities up accordingly.
Days follow the Huab riverbed by vehicle in search of desert-adapted elephant, with oryx, springbok and ostrich along the way and the chance of lion or black rhino crossing the route. Because this is a community conservancy rather than a national park, your guide can walk you out on foot, drive after dark and leave the track to reach an animal, none of which the parks allow.
Nothing is guaranteed in country this wild, which is part of why finding the wildlife here means so much.
Black rhino tracking on foot, with the Save the Rhino Trust teams, is offered on longer stays, so plan three nights or more if that is a priority for you. It is demanding, on foot across rough desert ground, and best suited to fit adults.
Shorter stays still give you the elephant drives and the walks, but the rhino tracking needs the extra time. Tell us how important it is and we will build the stay around it.
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our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
