The front diff is a smallish open diff, that's true, and it really won't put up with a lot of punishment - but then neither will the axles or CVs.
Most of the damage is caused by a spinning wheel coming into firm contact with the ground and stopping - the kinetic energy of the rotating wheel transfers inwards, and if you duck underneath and have a gander at the drive shaft you'll see that it's certainly NOT a weak point!
The remedy isn't necessarily a bigger diff or a drive train replacement. You can just put a locker in - you'll lift a wheel, but it won't spin like mad and then cause grief as it comes back down. Instead, you'll turn your Navara into something like a tank - capable of crawling up hills that without the locker you'd either floor it and hope for the best or not bother attempting.
There are three types of locker that I am aware of. Auto locker - a reasonable choice, nothing attached to tear off in the scrub but it could lock on any slippery surface (and maybe that's not a bad thing). Manual lockers come in air and electric - either could suffer from having their control mechanism torn. Neither will activate without you wanting them to, and both could be forgotten in the haste to catch up to the guys in front who are hammering it (and risking it!).
Personally, if I couldn't afford to drop the Titan drive train underneath, I'd go e-lockers.