Damaraland’s desert landscapes, elephants and ancient rock art

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
7
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
6
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
7
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
8
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
4
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
7
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
72 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
132nd/454
Top 30%
continent
Africa
country
Namibia
Length of time
1-2 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$90 ($100-$220 in 2024 prices)
Time of year visited
September
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Desert Driving Wildlife - Elephants
All Tags
4WD Art Caves Mountains UNESCO world heritage site
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐

Summary

Damaraland is one of Namibia’s most dramatic collections of landscapes, has some of the best prehistoric rock art in Southern Africa, and home to desert-adapted elephants and lions.  It is a must if doing part of the standard Namibian loop drive from the Skeleton Coast to Etosha National Park.  Don’t just pass through – give yourself a night, ideally 2.

I’ve listed below my top tips and the highlights we had from the trip, as well as how Damaraland rates compared to the other nearby adventures in Namibia.

 

Damaraland's desert landscapes and elephants

 

1. Go with Twyfelfontein Elephants Drives to see the elephants – we heard lots of local Namibians telling us just to drive to see the desert elephants, and you definitely could, but the problems are 1. They move a lot, so you need very updated info as to their location; 2. The river bed you drive through is not straightforward, so you need to be confident of sand driving (if get stuck, would be a major major faff to get out); 3. The best experience is getting fairly close. The guides know how to do it, you probably don’t. Just go with Twyfelfontein Elephants Drives (direct or your hotel can arrange). Something like USD40 per person.

 

2. The White Lady rock art is worth it, but budget 3 hours – the whole Branderg Mountain is full of thousands of San rock paintings and the White Lady is the most famous, plus easiest to access. B ut … be aware that the drive from the C35 main road to the mountain is 30mins (so an hour there and back) and the walk to the White Lady from the car park 1 hour (so 2 hours there and back).

 

3. Read a little on the San Bushmen – I personally found their story fascinating.  Here before all other humans; by far the most capable of surviving in this harsh dry environment; far smaller, lighter and sharper features than all other Southern African tribes.  Their rock art was a way of, amongst other things, passing down stories. Knowing theirs really helped me appreciate the art.  Just have a general search on Wikipedia, or for more detailed reads I’d recommend the first chapter of James Michener’s The Covenant and Laurens van Dee Post’s The Lost World of the Kalahari.

 

4. Would recommend staying at Lodge Damaraland – not cheap (USD200 per night), but seemed to be nicest around and with easy access to the route you’ll be driving. Breakfast and dinner included, rooms very nice and a good pool area to chill by.

 

5. To see how Damaraland fits into a 1-2 week detailed roadtrip itinerary for Namibia – have a look at this individual travel entry, Driving through Namibia, for plenty of tips, highlights and what to prioritise.

 

Highlights

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1. Seeing the desert-adapted elephants of Twyfelfontein - it is remarkable to see them surviving, and thriving, in such a brutally arid area

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2. The White Lady rock art of the Brandberg - I’m not a huge fan of rock art, but this was brilliant. Very defined images and in a stunning setting

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3. The views of Twyfelfontein’s vast basin surrounded by mountains - it was previously a seabed, so seeing the crumbling sedimentary rocks was cool

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4. The views of the Brandberg Mountain from multiple angles

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5. Just generally the drive - Damaraland has Namibia’s most dramatic landscapes and we found ourselves regularly gawping as we crossed each ridge

How does Damaraland compare to the rest of Namibia

Namibia is just built for a 4×4 roadtrip.  Of all the trips I’ve done round the world I would place it in the top 10 because it has that wonderful combination of ✅ outstanding individual destinations + ✅ dramatic scenery in between + ✅ real feeling of adventure.  To help prioritise, this is how I see as wows:

 

  • Sossusvlei – Wow factor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.  Giant red sand dunes and white salt pans – one of the most surreal and iconic landscapes in Africa and a must for Namibia.  See the entry The red desert dunes of Sossusvlei for more tips.
  • Etosha National Park – ⭐️⭐️⭐️.  One of Africa’s best national parks for easy wildlife viewing, with huge salt pans and animals gathering at waterholes. Also don’t miss this. Self-drive Etosha National Park.
  • Damaraland – ⭐️⭐️⭐️.  Stark desert landscapes, ancient rock art and the chance to see desert-adapted elephants and lions in one of Namibia’s wildest regions.
  • Skeleton Coast – ⭐️⭐️.  A remote, foggy and haunting coastline of shipwrecks, seals and empty beaches stretching into the Atlantic.  Nice but overrated.  Driving the Skeleton Coast.
  • Windhoek – GASH.  Clean, quiet but fairly unremarkable capital that most people just pass through at the start or end of a trip.  Windhoek.

 

Extras.  Whilst the two below are in Botswana, they make it onto most itineraries due to their proximity, the ease of doing a loop to get there and their sheer wow factor.

 

Experiences Nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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