Feeding Behaviour

They feed on a wide range of plants, and their diet varies according to the season.  During the rainy season, they will tend to eat more grass, which is abundantly available. 

During the dry season, they become browsers, feeding off the leaves and bark of trees - the mopani tree being a firm favourite. They also eat plants like ink bush and the exotic castor oil, which are unpalatable to other animals.

Although surface water is extremely scarce, the elephants appear to have a marvellous knack of remembering where the nearest water supply is - and not necessarily a natural waterhole - they are not adverse to knocking over a farmer's water tank!

The desert elephants in Namibia are now a protected species, following extensive poaching in the early 1980s, which drastically reduced their numbers.  It is estimated that their population today is approximately 600.

Black Rhinos

The desert-adapted black rhino in the arid north-west of Namibia are the only rhino world-wide that have survived on communal land with no formal conservation status.

The rhino are known to cover some 2,500 km² in search of food, and they can survive without water for 4 days. The rhino favours different plant species at different times of the year, but the Euphorbia is definitely the most highly favoured plant species (although it is highly poisonous to humans). 

Rhino have been observed browsing this plant for hours at a time, sometimes staying to feed on one large bush until it is totally eaten up, which can take days.

Desert Elephants

The desert elephants of Namibia are one group of only 2 known populations of desert-dwelling elephants in the world.

The other group are in Mali, and both are an awesome illustration of how adaptable animals can be.  

Whilst genetically no different from their cousins who live in wetter lands with a greater abundance of food, these remarkable creatures have adapted their behaviour to the harsh conditions of the desert.

They eat less, drink less, and walk up to 70 km per day to feed and find water.

Appearances can be deceptive

Because they walk such great distances a day, their legs appear to be slimmer than their National Park cousins, which has also given rise to the 'myth' that desert elephants have bigger feet - this isn't actually the case, their feet just look bigger against their narrower legs!

Living Environments

Their mountaineering abilities are amazing, as they are able to climb onto high mountain ledges out of the heat of the valley, where they sleep in the cool wind from the Atlantic or forage for food.

The desert black rhino have very large home ranges, measuring 500 - 600 km².  Although they have occasionally been observed in groups of 6, mostly they are solitary animals. 

Bringing up a Calf

A female will give birth to one calf, and will spend the first 2 to 2½ years weaning her calf in a specific area of her home range. This allows the calf to learn the whereabouts of water, mountain succulents and other food sources. 

Once the calf is weaned, the female will then move out of the area to another part of her home range to give birth to the new calf. The weaned calf may join up for a while later on but soon leaves and returns to the range which is familiar to it.

It will stay there unless something, such as the first rains, urges it to move right away from the area into new territory (usually in the direction of the rain).

Save the Rhino Trust

The black rhino is undoubtedly the most critically endangered mammal in Africa today.  Excessive poaching has meant that at least 96% of the population world-wide has been eliminated.

The Save the Rhino Trust was formed in the early 1980s to try to protect the black rhino population of  Namibia.  Since the start of the Save the Rhino Trust, the rhino numbers in the Damaraland region have more than doubled.