About us

 When Jan and Suzi van de Reep first came to Huab Valley in 1992 they found a sorry sight. The barren farmland had been hopelessly overgrazed and eroded. The Desert Elephants, threatened by extinction, panicked as they ran from people who were aggravating them. There was hardly any regular game to be found as their numbers had been decimated by shooting.

The concept of the Huab Conservation Trust was born in 1994 and with it eight thousand hectares were returned to nature where wild animals and in particular the gentle grey giants should find refuge in a stress-free buffer-zone between commercial and communal land on the border of Damaraland.

Success soon became apparent as the wounds in the landscape healed and the game was able to regenerate and migrate freely again. Game-friendly drinking troughs were constructed, fences removed and the refuse of years of devastating farming was trucked away. Such decimated animals as giraffe, springbok and ostrich were reintroduced and today Jan and Suzi are gratified to be able to present a vastly recovered wilderness area where they are happy to have elephants "modify" the vegetation as much as they like.

Hillegom born Jan van de Reep began his African dream 35 years ago in Little Falls near Johannesburg growing flowers and flower bulbs for HaDeCo. His imagination soon took him to South West Africa, as it was then known, where he ended up in Tsumeb near Etosha. He soon made friends in the National Park which drew him like a magnet. He worked in the park and eagerly absorbed all the knowledge he could.

In 1978 he took over a small safari company in Etosha and continued to enjoy the privilege of living in one of the most exciting game areas in the world. As he guided his guests through the park he infected them with his enthusiasm and obvious love of his surroundings apart from astounding them with his wealth of knowledge.

In 1981 he met Suzi and they got married at a waterhole near Namutoni in 1983. They continued guiding until they wanted to go into "semi-retirement" in 1990 when they sold the business. After travelling Africa for a couple of years they found their dream place by "luck" – it was actually written in the stars long ago.

The place called Monte Carlo on the Huab River at the end of the District Road 2670 caught their imagination. As a pair of Verreaux Eagles showed them the way they agreed this was the place they were destined for. The overgrazed and shot-out land was rid of livestock and gradually rehabilitated. Together with friends and investors they increased the area and had it proclaimed a nature reserve of 8.000 hectares. Giraffes and ostriches were brought in and allowed to wander freely according to their philosophy of no fences, no ear tags! And wander they did, to re-populate the greater area.

The elephants of Damaraland were the main reason for the conservation activity: they were harassed by the farmers whose fences and water reservoirs they frequently damaged. By buying out these disgruntled farmers and coaxing the land back to its natural state the area became a refuge for the elephants. They were treated with respect and regained their deserved status and a tourist lodge was built. Today Jan and Suzi are back to full time employment and again feel privileged to be the custodians of a piece of African paradise visited by the so-called desert elephant.

Their little safari company called Safari Wild offers guests to Huab Lodge various day as well as overnight trips to surrounding places using Huab Lodge as a base.