Nhoma Safari Camp

Tsumkwe- Namibia

Nhoma Safari Camp is a small activity oriented, luxury tented camp (ten units) situated in the north east of Namibia, 80 km from Tsumkwe and 280 km from Grootfontein. The camp is situated on a dune vegetated with Zambesi teak trees with a 180 degree view over the Nhoma omuramba (fossil river bed). It is adjacent to the Ju/'hoan Bushman/San village by the name of //nhoq’ma, on whose culture the activities are based, and only 60 km, or a one-and-a-half hour drive on 4WD track, from the Khaudum National Park. The //nhoq'ma community, of about 50 adults and 100 children, has earned between N$60 000 and N$140 000 per year since 2000 from cultural activities as well as accommodation in the camp, allowing them to buy food and supplies not provided by the surrounding environment. Without tourism, the community would have left their ancestral land and moved to settled areas such as Tsumkwe where alcoholism is rife.

Nhoma Safari Camp offers an intensive and authentic Ju/'hoan Bushman/San experience due to the limited number of visitors, the location of the camp next to the village, the wilderness area surrounding the camp, the spontaneity of the community and the fact that every day's activities are not set, but based on where the hunters want to go and search for food that day. Guests are taken with on these excursions.

Description of activities:

First afternoon:

Activities in the village - activities depend on what individual people are doing, such as cooking, making crafts, preparing hides, making hunting equipment such as quivers or arrows, preparing medicine. Afternoon activities start at 3 pm in winter and 4 pm in summer. There may or may not be a healing dance in the evening, but it is usual for guests to experience this on at least one evening.

Full day:

- Cultural experience - guests are taken on a hunting/gathering excursion with four hunters. Skills such as fire making, rope making and setting of traps for birds and antelopes are demonstrated, as well as lesser known hunting skills with, for example, the springhare probe. Because the Ju/'hoansi are still active hunters, the hunters will follow promising tracks and the walk can turn into an actual hunt. The duration and intensity of the walk depends on the fitness of the guests and is adaptable. No set route or programme is followed. Honey and veld food is also actively sought. There is lots of interaction between the visitor and the hunters. In the afternoon, the community of //nhoq’ma awaits the return of the hunters to see what they brought back. The whole community will then participate in traditional games. This is followed by the Giraffe or Elephant healing dances in the evening after dinner, through which the healers reach an altered state of consciousness whereby they can cure illness. (Day visitors will only see a demonstration of the dance in daylight).

- Khaudum National Park – Day tours to this unfenced and unspoilt park (60 km away, but one and a half hour drive with a 4WD vehicle), is only recommended from July till October (game numbers too low in the rainy season). Overnight camping tours will again be offered when the facilities in the park are improved in 2009 (at fully-inclusive daily rate).

- A full day tour to the Nyae Nyae pan (interesting bird life) and the fascinating baobab trees to the east. (The area can become inaccessible from February to April as it may become water-logged).

The usual length of stay at Nhoma Camp is two nights, but it is possible to stay only one night or even longer.

Features of Nhoma Safari Camp

Some ideas of what to do at Nhoma Safari Camp
The Dutch Reformed Church operates a curio shop in Tsumkwe. The curios are authentic items obtained from all the Ju/'hoan communities in the area in exchange for basic food supplies and anything and everything made by the Ju/'hoansi are sold here. The shop is next to reverend Hendrik van Zyl's house. Drive south through Tsumkwe and turn left at the Local Government Offices. The house is the second one to the left and the only one with a nice garden. The shop is opened on request whenever the reverend and his wife are in town and may be visited even on weekends.

The Nyae Nyae Conservancy's craft centre is next to the Conservancy Office (the first buildings on the right hand side of the road if entering the settlement from the direction of Grootfontein). They sell high quality curios made from ostrich eggshells (in short supply these days) and glass beads by Ju/'hoan women. They are only open during office hours. The multi-coloured Tsumkwe Craft Centre at the Tsumkwe crossroad is merely window dressing and harbors informal shops that sell anything from lingerie to bush slaughtered meat.

Baobab trees

The tree known as Grootboom was the biggest in the area until it died in 2004. It was 43m in circumference and died in April 2004. It was estimated to have been 1000 to 1100 years old. The second biggest baobab is the Holboom, 38m in circumference. The turnoff to Holboom is 12 km from Tsumkwe on the Tsumkwe-Botswana road. Holboom is close to a community camp site and you should walk from the camp site to the tree. Camping fees should be payed at Djokhoe village if you want to camp there.

You can take the old Grootboom turn-off 17km from Tsumkwe, but continue southwards instead of turning right to the Grootboom site. This road runs parallel with the Gam road and will take you past Makuri village and numerous large baobab trees to the village of Xamsa. There is a game water hole at Xamsa and there usually is a translator available at either Makuri or Xamsa. You can drive through the villages to the Gam road, but don't take photos without permission.

The Dorslandboom is a big baobab close to the track from Tsumkwe to Sikereti in Khaudum National Park.Take the second turn-off after the sign that reads "Casa's Trading". This is a historic site. The oldest name carved on the tree is the name Black '84. He was a Dorslandtrekker. The other names are of German Schutztruppe that surveyed the area in 1891.

Making fire on top of baobab tree roots will damage the tree and branches regularly break off. Black mambas make their homes in hollows in the trees. Therefore, don't camp underneath the tree! A camping fee should be paid at the nearest village. Ashes from camp fires should be buried and names should definitely not be carved on trees, although it seems like the national sport.

Nyae Nyae pan

The road to the pan is the one going south from the government offices in Tsumkwe after driving through town. The turn-off to the left after the fenced field goes to Gura pan. Don't take it unless you want to go to Gura or /Autcha pans. Just before Nyae Nyae pan, there is a road to Krispinsky’s hide. The road around Nyae Nyae pan goes to Kebe pan where there are numerous forks in the road. The road to the west circles the pan. There is a road to a water hole in the west and one east to elephant straw, a borehole where elephants drink from the casing. It is not allowed to drive over the pan: it leaves unsightly tracks. The wattled crane is a highly endangered species that visit the pan in the rainy season and should not be disturbed. People should not camp at the edge of the pans: tourists go there to view birds and game, not campers....

Cultural tours

If you are interested in learning about Ju/’hoansi culture – tracking, bush food, hunting and traditional dancing - you can enquire at the Nyae Nyae Conservancy Office in Tsumkwe: tel. no. 067-244011. They can arrange a guide from the community. Namibia Adventure Safaris & Tours operates Nhoma Camp at //nhoq’ma village (80km from Tsumkwe). The activities at the camp are bushman related and day tours to Khaudum National Park can also be done from the camp.

Always arrange payment before going on an outing. It is usual to pay about N$1000 for a full day’s activities at the villages or N$50 to N$100 per hunter accompanying you on a walk and about N$30 per dancer for traditional dancing. The payment should allow you to take photos as well. If you think that a “real bushmen” is one that only wears skin clothes, you’ve come to the wrong place. Handcrafted goods are normally for sale. Bargaining is not acceptable, but it is a good idea to take tobacco (shorro), tea (ti) or sugar (zo) as a gift or foodstuff and clothing.

Where is Nhoma Safari Camp?