Dedication and Determination in the Desert
Desert Rhino Camp ... Part 1.
Desert Rhino Camp is one of the seven Wilderness Safaris lodges to be found in Namibia. It is situated in the Palmwag concession which lies to the east of the Skeleton Coast National park and is around a 600km drive from Windhoek. The camp is rustic and comfortable, the people warm and welcoming and I, the lucky chap, got to spend three nights there in November 2015. They have an airstrip into which one can fly using the local charters and then there is also a pick-up point from which one of the guides will collect you at the main gate to the 450 000 hectare property. Option two it was for me, I was on a self-drive holiday through Namibia and making the most of my time there.
On the drive into camp our guide, Erwin, wasted no time sharing the beauty to be found in amongst this dramatic terrain which left me and my three fellow travelers, and new friends, feeling excited over what was in store for us in the next few days.
We certainly weren’t disappointed. The morning starts are early there, but totally worth it and the trackers - working for the “Save the Rhino Trust” in a collaborative effort with Wilderness Safaris - head out even earlier; finding a lone black rhino in the middle of such a vast landscape is comparable to the proverbial “finding a needle in a haystack”. Granted the needle doesn’t leave tracks (unless of course said tracker is a steely-eyed forensic expert and said needle finds itself an unwitting murder participant in the middle of a popular Hollywood television series … I digress!), but I challenge you to try see what these devotees to their charges are able to read over this stony ground … they have my absolute respect.
That morning and the next we were fortunate enough to get to follow, successfully find and spend time with two of the last remaining black rhinoceros in Africa; truly majestic animals. What made this experience so much richer was the sharing of it with people clearly living something they emphatically believe in. The life history they have on each animal, its behaviour patterns and individual personality is shared in a manner leaving one in no doubt that they are all considered a part of the family and the lengths to which these protectors and conservationists will go to if called upon.
In keeping with a minimal disturbance policy time spent in the close proximity of these rhino is limited and as such after around 30 minutes of photo taking and visual absorption of the moment we were beckoned by our guide and trackers to make our way back to the vehicle.
As would be expected lots of excited chatter ensued, sharing our differed feelings of the experience, our perspectives and of course our photographs. We clambered aboard and one of us wondered aloud what more it was we could expect to see this day after such a privileged start? It turns out, as we were all soon to discover, there is a lot this precious land has to offer.
In the reflective silence that for a while ensued I couldn’t help thinking it can’t be easy living permanently out in the harsh climatic conditions within which Desert Rhino Camp finds itself located. It must take a certain kind of resilience and determination. The team’s passion was obvious, but that alone would not be enough to endure. Underlying this they possess an unspoken love for the land they call home, coupled with a dogged determination to succeed in protecting it … and boy is it worth protecting.
