More campsites planned for Donkerhuk

Farm Donkerhuk West was acquired by the Moldzio family in 1967 after they had to sell their previous farm, Estorff, near Kamanjab to the Odendaal Plan.

Erhard Moldzio successfully farmed on Estorff and later on Donkerhuk West, mainly with kararkul sheep, but also with cattle.

I started working on the Donkerhuk West farm at the end of 2012 as an employee of Moldzio's children, and we quickly learnt that the pre-Namib is not optimal farmland due to a lack of rain and pasture.

During the eight-year drought between 2013 and 2020, we slowly started building our first campsite, Andi's Camp, which became operational on a small scale as of 2018. The campsite is named after a dear friend of mine, Andi Maier, who was murdered in the Zambezi Region in 2015. Andi was very fond of the location, where the campsite was built after his untimely death.



Impressive options

Shortly afterwards, the self-catering campsite, Camp Barbarossa, was set up, and during the Covid-19 pandemic, we built another campsite, Duikers Den.

The name Barbarossa stems from a mountain peak with the same name.

Mount Barbarossa was named by the late Moldzio because its silhouette reminded him of Frederick Barbarossa, King of Germany, who was elected in 1152.

In fact, one can see in the rock formation above the campsites a man lying on his back, with a swollen tummy and a sunken look on his eyes and face.

Duikers Den is a well-visited resting place for the few common duikers found in its vicinity.

The campsites are all situated at the foothills of the Witwatersberge mountain range, of which some peaks have been named by Moldzio. There is the Dogs Head peak resting on one peak and the Two Right-Handed Fists of God on another.

There is also a prominent Large Rock Arch, easily reachable on foot from the campsite, and while on hikes in the mountains, one should keep a keen eye for feint remnants of the rock art of the San and Berg Damara peoples.

Donkerhuk West Farm is situated about halfway between Swakopmund and Windhoek along the C28 gravel road, making it the perfect meeting point for visitors from the coast and inland.

It has always been our main aim to cater for Namibians as we are not on a main tourist route, but since Covid-19 we have noticed that many more self-drive tourists are also travelling on the C28 and visiting our camping sites.

The spectacular and beautiful granite mountains, wide valleys and dry riverbeds with large acacia trees make Donkerhuk West a favourite destination for local and international visitors. It is assumed that the granite batholith, which is very present on the property, gave Farm Donkerhuk its name. The massive Donkerhuk granite batholith stretches for 200 km from Okahandja to Meob Bay, is between 25 km and 50 km wide, and is 520 million years old. It is the oldest granite in Namibia.



Array of activities

Activities on the property include mountain biking, if you bring your own bike, scenic drives in your own off-road vehicle and hiking in the hills and granite mountains surrounding the campsites.

Bird watching is also one of the main attractions at Farm Donkerhuk West, with nearly 80 bird species recorded to date. We encourage our visitors to explore the 7 610 hectares property on their own and in their own time.

For extra-special occasions, a highlight would definitely be our canyon dinner. This is a three-course 'Out of Africa' style candlelight dinner set up in the Leopard Gorge, a small granite canyon, close to the camping areas.

Our small team consists of five permanent employees, four of whom come from Otjimbingwe, about 80 kilometres east of Donkerhuk West. I moved to Donkerhuk West almost 12 years ago after working in many areas of Namibian tourism.

Moldzio's daughters, namely Renate, Katharina, Ruth and Sybille, live and work in and around Windhoek and take care of the business side of our small company in addition to their regular jobs. We work as a team to ensure that our guests enjoy a pleasant visit.



Farm products for sale

The farm provides dairy products, poultry and eggs, meat products from game, beef and pork, and the small garden provides vegetables and fruits.

We produce a variety of jams, juices, sausages, biltong, liver spread, cheeses, chutneys and other condiments primarily for our own use, but they are also for sale to our visitors as well as in Swakopmund and Windhoek, when available.

Our best memories as team Donkerhuk West are almost always associated with good rains and memorable guests. Unfortunately, we also experienced a small setback in 2022 when heavy rains destroyed parts of our campsites.

We are all very happy with small successes, for example, when we complete another project, no matter how long it takes. There is a saying in German that we quite often use: "Gut Ding will Weile haben."

It means that good things take their time to mature.

Looking forward, we plan to build two or three more exclusive campsites and another self-catering campsite for small families. We also want to create some marked hiking trails and are currently busy building a bird hide by a watering hole situated near a campsite.