Leaving Swakopmund we drove north through fairly thick mist for an hour or so before heading inland. Stopping for a fuel/loo break at the old mining town of Uis we saw a large number of graves on the roadside; apparently some mine workers had travelled to the area looking for work and having arrived too early they then bought a goat and cooked it over a fire – the following morning they were all found dead – they’d used branches from the highly poisonous Euphorbia damarana to make the fire.
We stopped near there to get petrol and were jumped on by gem touts.
And also a couple of ladies selling their tat. I paid a dollar to photograph this lady - clearly not enough for a smile :)
We drove on again through tremendous scenery and views of Namibia’s highest mountain Brandberg.
We then stopped at a roadside craft place run by Herero women. Hereros were the first settlers to the area some xxx years ago but when Europeans arrived in 1850s their women didn’t like the bare-breasted Herero females around their men so forced them to adopt a western style. The strange hat was the Hereros own addition and designed to resemble cow horns. Unfortunately they didn’t really have anything we wanted to buy and even a simple tea towel was £12, but we bought a small, hideous semi-fabric doll just to support the community.
There was also a Himba woman there and I paid to get a couple of photos but she wasn’t really bothered about showing any interest or engaging with me so the photos are quite weird. Himbas are semi nomadic and follow their cattle around looking for grazing. The women don’t wash and paint themselves daily with a red ochre mixed with ash from the fire.
As time was short, Carlos suggested we ate our lunch on the bus as we travelled north through Damaraland – the sausages were so superb at the Swakopmund Hotel I’d made us a couple of sandwiches to take with us and they were delicious.
We then visited the Damara Living Museum which was a replica village set up to show how the Damara people (also pastoralists) lived. I'm not entirely sure how I managed to get a pile of rocks out of focus!
It was the usual format but well done and quite interesting and we were shown around by a lovely young lady who spoke beautiful English.
These chaps were playing a form of backgammon originally played with diamonds.
The medicine lady still spoke the “click” language which was quite fascinating.
This lady was considerably larger than most of them and had the most incredible smile – we really enjoyed meeting each other through sign language and laughter.
The chief was also quite engaging.
And the girls were beautiful.
The usual making fire by friction demonstration.
Finally they did a traditional song and dance for us - cheesey - yeah, probably but nicely done.
The obligatory shopping experience also was a little different to others.
From there we drove to Twyfelfontein for the rock art and engraving which is thought to go back 2-6,000 years and done by the San (now known as bushmen) and the first people to inhabit southern Africa. It was quite a long walk over rough ground and the afternoon sun was blazing so after looking at a couple of the more accessible drawings most of us opted to head back to the Visitor Centre and have a cold drink.
This is the first site in Namibia to be awarded World Heritage Status but what surprised us was that there was no protection whatsoever to the paintings and many had already been lost to erosion and fading by the sun.
As is so often the case I found the flora and fauna infinitely more interesting.
Although some of the rock formations were pretty interesting too - I see so many faces here.
There wasn't much in the way of wildlife around - probably too hot and dry, just this Agama planiceps
And a striped ground squirrel much like we see on Fuerteventura.
En route to our overnight accommodation at Palmwag (pronounced pal-m-vag) Lodge we were fortunate enough to pass a small herd of Desert Adapted Elephants for which the area is famous (along with Desert Adapted Black Rhino). These are not a subspecies but have certain modifications like longer legs for walking up sand dunes and wider toes along with having a large dewlap to hold water which they could they spray over themselves to cool.
This big bull definitely wanted to remind us who was boss.
A few snaps from the bus window as we drove along.
