Rugged wilderness for the intrepid adventurer, accessible only by 4 wheel drive or light air craft. Where you can discover the Himba people and their traditional nomadic lifestyle.
- Learn about the desert-adapted elephant and the world's only free-roaming black rhino
- See hardy drought resistant wildlife and interesting plants
- Not a fence in sight and barely any sign of civilisation, this is a true wilderness area
- Experience camping in the wild on a self-sufficient expedition
- The Kunene River and Epupa Falls are some of the well known attractions in the area
- Stay at luxury lodges in ridiculously enchanting settings
- Purros is a semi permanent Himba settlement where you can visit and see their traditional way of life
East of the Skeleton Coast Park lies a very rugged area that is one of Namibia’s most scenic regions – Kaokoland. It is a starkly beautiful landscape of table top mountains, cone shaped hills, and rock- strewn plains where desert dwelling elephant, rhino and giraffe roam. The region is also home the home of the nomadic Himba people, who migrate seasonally with their herds of livestock in search of grazing, much as they did a century ago. Covering some 49, 500km sq Kaokoland stretches from the Hoanib river northward to the Kunene. Among it scenic attractions are the Epupa and Ruacana Fall, as well as the rapids at Enyandi and Ondorusu.
If you look at a
map of Namibia, the large area of wilderness west and north of
Etosha National Park is Kaokoland. Pronounce it “Coco-land” to sound like you know your apples!
Sparsely populated, even by Namibian standards,
Kaokoland has no shops, no fuel, and barely any roads to speak of; the few towns that serve the region offer little more than the essentials. Welcome to expedition-land.
The rocky mountain ranges and pan-flat plains of arid mopane savannah are about as wild and remote as you can get in southern Africa. Donkey tracks clogged with boulders lead you over treacherous passes and your OS map and GPS will pay for themselves a hundred times over - each day.
Himba nomads, of which there are no more than two per sq km, herd goats and cattle and erect other-worldly beehive huts for the season; rhino and elephant have adapted to the sparse and dry conditions; strange aloe trees grow out of the rocks; and the heat blazes in your ear like swarm of mopane flies.
Though wildlife encounters are rare, you may be lucky enough to see giraffe, mountain zebra, gemsbok, black-faced impala, springbok. The northern border of Namibia follows the perennial Kunene River through an almost barren landscape towards the
Skeleton Coast and the northern reaches of the
Namib Desert. Two of southern Africa's rarest birds - the cinderella waxbill and the rufous-tailed palm thrush - live in the tropical belt of vegetation along the river.
With its scenically beautiful surroundings,
Epupa is one of Namibia’s prime tourist destinations. The falls are a series of cascades where the Kunene River drops a total of 60m over a distance of about 1.5 km, dividing into a multitude of channels and forming a myriad of rock pools. It is possible to swim in these pools, but keep a look out for crocodiles ! With its richly coloured rock walls, variety of trees including wild figs, baobabs, and waving makalani palms, spectacular sunsets and perennially flowing, the Epupa area offer much to see, do and experience.
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