Thembi

We are travelling through Namibia as part of our 2008 Southern African safari - in with our agent now. We have indicated Doro Nawas (WS) as our preffered lodging in Damaarland region - but wish to know from previously experienced travellers what it is like and whether we would be better off splitting the 4 days (or so) between Palmwag and Damaaraland (WS) camps. We selected Doro Nawas so that we could visit nearby Twyfelfontein for the petroglyphs/san rock art - but our main focus on the trip is wildlife so Desert Adapted Ele and Rhino are also a focus.

What are your thoughts?

Thembi

For those interested our (65 day)itinerary was posted here on 1/18/07:-
<a href="http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...t;Thembi's 2008 65 Day Itinerary</a>.

Lin

Hi Thembi, I stayed at Palmwag Thino Camp last June, and it was fantastic. The only reservation I'd have about splitting your stay is that the drive to Palmwag is quite long, well it was 3 hours from the airstrip, not sure how you plan to arrive there. The rhino tracking is the main focus of a stay at Palmwag. If you only have 2 days, you will be quite rushed, since there is so much travel time involved and since it might be necessary to drive long distances in search of the rhino. If you decide to go for two days, at least make sure you get to Palmwag as early as possible and that you are able to leave as late as possible. Seeing the rhino in the wild is unforgettable. I don't know that I could compare that with seeing petroglyphs, as interesting as they are.

Thembi

Howdy Lin
I read your trip report last week and that is what prompted me to ask the question!

Petroglyphs might not be mega-fauna (and we are REALLY "into" mega-fauna!) but they are intresting! Palmwag is a big pull. You know how it is. So MANY destinations/foccii - so little time/$$

Our itinerary is already 65 days and we keep vascillating about adding another 3 or 4 days at Kafue, Zambia and 5 days at Chitabe Trails in Botswana - the Namibian leg of our journey is already several weeks long too! Thank gopodness we wrote MOST of our itenerary before discovering Fodors - with the interesting and exciting reports from various Africa travel Forum fodorites we could just keep adding days here and weeks there and in fact if we won Lotto - we probably would!

panecott

Hi Thembi,
I don't know about Doro Nawas, but I have stayed at both Palmwag Rhino and Damaraland, and would heartily recommend them both. You can get to Twylfelfontein from Damaraland, which is what we did.
We only had one night at Damaraland and stopped at Twyl on our way from there to Etosha. I loved Damaraland and remember thinking that Twyl would have been a nice day trip from there, with plenty of time to return to camp and enjoy it for another evening.

PredatorBiologist

I also don't know anything about Doro Nawas but I have stayed at Damaraland Camp and thought it was a very special place. Seeing the desert eles is awesome and I agree that with a 2 night stay you could still have time to shoot over the Twyl. Palmwag consistently gets great reviews, and while I did not stay there I have tracked rhino on foot and it is one of the most exhilirating safari experiences you can have so if your focus is desert adapted ele and rhino I would do the Damaraland Camp/Palmwag split.

Thembi

Lin, panecott and PredatorBioligist

Good advice thank you, I have just compared all the "news" from Wilderness Safari's website on the three camps.

On our itinerary we are staying in this area for four nights and we had put it in the "with wilderness" part of the itinerary, so not exactly sure how we will transfer from Ongava to Damarland region - hopefully fly because the small plane transfers are such a great addition to the trip too so one can view the landscape from that perspective. It is only after the northern parts that we will begin our self-drive.

All the news from the three camps is stunning - however, I would also reflect that as we are staying in mostly small "5- paw" camps at other locations maybe Doro Nawas with it's 14 rooms might be a bit "crowded" HA! for our liking.

It is good to know that one can visit the San rockart/petroglyphs as a day trip from Damarland camp, the Wilderness brochure for Namibia and their website does not mention this.

Lin - I take your point about the time limitations if only at Palmwag for 2 days particulary dependent on arrival and leaving times. Like panecott's Botswana and Namibian trip report we too wished, in our incredibly busy 2005 itinerary, for more "down" time in camp so we could just view the surrounding landscape and whatever wandered up - sometimes the small things are just as awe inspiring as the big un's, eh? Your reprt on tracking Rhino really did excite us - and although more of an adventure than 'fun' the time it took to track and time in vehicle must have been really pushed.

Will discuss all of these new findings with my partner - thanks so much for your useful help. Ain't Africa grand?