Wilderness Desert Rhino Camp (DRC) is temporarily closed for rebuild from 7 December 2023, with the new DRC reopening 1 July 2024. While DRC is closed, Wilderness encourages guests to experience the extraordinary Wilderness Damaraland Camp, from where rhino tracking on foot will also be offered at no extra cost during this time.
Set in a valley in Damaraland’s expansive Palmwag Concession, Wilderness Desert Rhino Camp (DRC) started as a research base for Save the Rhino Trust Namibia (SRT). Now a thriving partnership between local communities, SRT and Wilderness, trackers patrol and protect one of Africa’s most precious populations of desert-adapted black rhino.
Built in 2003, Desert Rhino Camp has been an enduring favourite among Wilderness guests – famed for the passion and energy of its staff as well as its meaningful guest experience, the historic conservation impact it’s had, and as a conservation monitoring outpost for SRT.
Operating a camp in the desert comes with natural challenges: harsh weather, high temperatures and severe water shortages. Now, 20 years in, it’s time for a revamp. This DRC rebuild will elevate the guest in-camp safari experience in this unique, vast and at times, hostile Namib Desert landscape. Its spectacular new design is born from, inspired by and will blend as seamlessly as possible into, its landscape and environment, telling the unique story of the rhino, while in every way enhancing guest comfort and experience.
