Located in the remote Kunene Region, Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp protects unique Namibian wildlife species – including desert-adapted lions, elephants, giraffes, and brown hyenas – that are able to survive the Namib Desert’s arid environment. In partnership with organisations such as the Lion Recovery Fund, the camp also works to reduce human-wildlife conflicts in local communities (for example, by providing lion-proof kraals, or cattle enclosures). Eco-excursions to the Skeleton Coast let guests experience the area’s dramatic coastline and famous Cape fur seal colonies.

The on-site Hoanib Research Centre hosts scientists whose research is vital to the camp’s – and Namibia’s – conservation efforts. Long-term studies, funded in part by Wilderness Safaris’ Wilderness Wildlife Trust, include Dr. Philip Stander’s work with the Desert Lion Conservation Project, researcher Emsie Verwey’s Skeleton Coast Brown Hyaena Project, and the Desert Elephant Conservation Study, spearheaded by Laura Brown and Rob Ramey. Guests can interact with, and learn from, these and other researchers while they’re in camp.

To promote employment opportunities for local people, Hoanib works with the community-owned conservancies of Torra, Sesfontein, and Anabeb. It also partners with Wilderness Safaris’ Children in the Wilderness program to support Eco-Club learning at local schools.

During the COVID-19 crisis, Children in the Wilderness also increased its outreach efforts to support rural Namibian communities by providing face masks and food parcels which were in great demand and need. The result helped rural community members get by during the peak of the pandemic in 2020.

The camp creates 100 percent of its power via solar panels, equips guest tents with solar geysers for hot water, relies on reverse osmosis filtration (to eliminate single-use plastic bottles) for drinking water, and recycles its wastewater for irrigation.