Wilderness Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp

Wilderness Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp is a beautiful camp in a very remote location of northern Damaraland, about 1km outside the boundary of the Skeleton Coast National Park. Built in a private concession, or reserve, close to the ephemeral Hoanib River, it is surrounded by gravel plains, mountains, and large yellow sand dunes.

There are eight modern, stylish suites at Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp, seven of them standard twin or double rooms, and one a family unit. All the suites have a distinctive and innovative design that makes use of natural light through floor-to-ceiling glass windows in the main bedroom space. Airflow is maximised by panels both large and small within the canvas walls, which can be opened to allow a breeze to flow through the whole room. Facing the full-length windows, with stunning views, the beds have white bedside tables and reading lamps integrated into the headboard, all surrounded by a mosquito net that makes it feel spacious and roomy. Two open-sided closet areas combine to give plenty of hanging space, and housing for a digital safe, insect repellent and bug sprays, small hanging canvas shelves, extra blankets etc. There are plenty of plug points around the room incorporating most pin styles. Outside is a veranda with shaded lounge area incorporating comfortable seating, ‘tree stump’ coffee tables, plus a small table with chairs. There is also a fridge where you can help yourself to a cold drink while you take in the views. The family unit has two bedrooms, separated by a shared lounge area, and can accommodate a maximum of four guests.

The main areas at Hoanib Camp include a dining room, inside and outside lounge areas, a bar and a long, narrow plunge pool. With the same double canvas structure as the suites and a comfortable yet stylish interior and furnishings, it exudes an air of luxury.

Activities from Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp include morning and afternoon 4WD drives – either scenic or for wildlife viewing; nature walks where you can learn close up about the smaller animals and insects as plants, and full-day trips to Klein Oase, and Auses and Mudorib springs (which attract desert-adapted elephant and plenty of birds). The camp’s proximity to the Skeleton Coast National Park affords guests great access to this remote and inhospitable part of Namibia. Very few people get to visit this unique park, an area of vast dunes fields, gravel plains with delicate lichen fields, windswept beaches, Cape fur seals and remnants of shipwrecks, and Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp is the very best base from which to explore. Included in a stay of three nights or more is an excursion to the coast, which is a real highlight.

About the Skeleton Coast National Park

The so-called Skeleton Coast is a 40 km wide and 500 km long coastal stretch in Namibia, a hostile but fascinating area. Here the cold and unpredictable Benguela Current of the Atlantic Ocean clashes with the dune and desert landscape of north-western Namibia.

The name Skeleton Coast derived most probably from the huge numbers of stranded whales that lost their life here and whose skeletons could be seen all over the place.

Numerous ships have stranded at the Skeleton Coast thanks to the thick fog, the rough sea, unpredictable currents, and stormy winds. The sailors who were able to make it to the land did not stand a chance of survival at this inhospitable coast and died of thirst.

Despite the hostile character of the Skeleton Coast, there are quite several wild animals to observe, for example, desert-adapted elephants, rhinos, desert lions, brown hyenas, jackals, giraffes, seals, oryx, kudus and zebras. Also, some plants are incredibly adapted to the rainless area of the Skeleton Coast and depend solely on the daily fog from the Atlantic Ocean: There are welwitschias,!Nara melons, several lithops succulent plants (often called “living stones”), lichen and pencil bush (ink bush).