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Many PLUS readers surely remember the three ill-tempered camels British explorer Benedict Allen struggled with on his epic televised expedition through Namibia’s desert and Skeleton Coast.He left them with Save the Rhino Trust (SRT) after he concluded his Namibian adventure. According to insiders since his departure the tempers of the camels have improved considerably. Three other camels from the the project Wildlife Scouts – and two more from Rhino Rescue now make up the SRT camel corps in the Sesfontein area and Khowarib Schlucht. The German orgnaisation Aktion Lebensraum has provided the camel base station and SRT staff are working with the Gowareb family at Mbakondja for the camel patrol base, acording to the latest update received from the SRT.

The members of the camel corps are as follows: Nelson, Sindbad Bedu, Andri, Jan, Janu, Babu and Mama. They are ideal for the terrain as they can walk long distances and need very litle water. The camel patrols visit all the outlying settlements and stay a few days with the local goat and cattle herders, finding out any news about rhino, potentially hostile infiltrators, checking on the well-being of the human and non human Kunene inhabitants etc. If they find tracks they follow the rhino, identify it and note its condition and behaviour. Thecamel corps also patrol mountainous areas that are inaccessible by vehicle and areas that are too far from water to be patrolled on donkeys.

Local Herero and Damara people are both fascinated by the camels and extremely proud to be involved with the Camel Corps. Village elders (the oldest ones) still remember the time when the Germans used camels in the Sesfontein area, according to the latest report of the Save the Rhino Trust.

The camels

In the future we hope to make the Camel Corps self sustaining by further developing community eco-tourism. After all where else in the world can a tourist join a desert rhino patrol on camel back in one of the world’s last great wilderness areas ?

Locals are being trained as safari guides and already a delightful (if rustic) tourist camp has been set up at the village of Khowarib overlooking the one and only surface running river in the region. Other community run camp sites have also been set up.

Adoption Info

Each camel needs food, water, veterinary check ups and herding. To adopt your own camel would cost $360 per year.

The lucky adoptee will receive:

1.A handsome photograph of his or her camel in action (probably pulling a hideous face and showing its crooked yellow teeth and lustrous eyelashes). The photograph will be personally signed by Blythe Loutit, a wildlife artist and founder of SRT, and Hugh Paxton, BBC Wildlife Magazine Nature Writer of the Year 2000. Also anyone else who is in the vicinity when the photo is taken.

2.A Golden Rhino certificate. Highly collectable !

3. Regular up dates on SRT activities and progress.

Oh, and the adoptee is welcome to drop by and take it out for a ride !