The Erongo massif rises out of the plains between Omaruru, Karibib and Usakos, a ring of weathered granite roughly 30 kilometres across and the eroded remains of a volcano that was active around 140 million years ago. Most of the range now sits inside the Erongo Mountain Rhino Sanctuary Trust, a block of private land of almost 180,000 hectares whose owners dropped their internal fences and brought black rhino back. It is a landscape reserve rather than a big-game one, and the reasons to come are rock, rock art, endemic birds and space.
Ratings
Wildlife Density: ★★☆☆☆ Infrastructure: ★★★☆☆ Photography: ★★★★☆
Adventure: ★★★★☆ Exclusivity: ★★★★☆ Price: $$ Scenery: ★★★★★
Key wildlife: Black rhino, leopard, Hartmann’s mountain zebra, black-faced impala, kudu, klipspringer
Best for: Rock art, granite scenery, Namibia’s endemic birds, walking
Best time: April–October, with January to March best for birding
Wildlife & Ecology
Granite domes, boulder fields and narrow valleys, with a band of taller trees where water collects in the rock. The high ground holds leopard, Hartmann’s mountain zebra, klipspringer and kudu, and the sanctuary has reintroduced black rhino and black-faced impala to the lower plains. For birders the range is one of the best places in the country for Namibia’s endemics, among them Hartlaub’s spurfowl, Rockrunner, Monteiro’s hornbill, Rüppell’s parrot and the white-tailed shrike.
Best Time to Visit
April to October brings clear, dry days and cool nights, which suits walking and rock-art visits. The summer rains between January and March turn the boulder fields green, fill the rock pools and bring the birding to its peak, at the cost of hot afternoons and the occasional washed-out track.
Conservation & Community
The Erongo Mountain Rhino Sanctuary Trust was founded in 2006 and registered the following year, bringing together twenty member farms and a further twelve neighbouring units into one largely unfenced block of almost 180,000 hectares. Black rhino were reintroduced from 2008 under Namibia’s black rhino custodianship scheme, in which the state retains ownership and private landowners take on the protection. The trust runs daily anti-poaching patrols, camera systems and aerial surveillance, and also works on black-faced impala and on the range’s endemic birds.
Activities
Guided rock-art walks, nature drives, hiking among the granite formations and birding for the Namibian endemics. The best known rock-art site is Phillipp’s Cave on the southern side of the range, with its white elephant frieze, and there are further painted shelters and granite curiosities such as the Bull’s Party at Ameib.
How to Get There
About 2.5 hours by road from Windhoek, on the B1 and B2 to Karibib or Usakos and then onto gravel, and roughly the same again from Swakopmund. The range sits neatly between the coast and the north, which makes it a natural first or last night on a route linking Sossusvlei, Swakopmund and Etosha.