4 July 2011 - Damara Land

This day was supposed to be a relatively short day, with a few stops at interesting places. But we underestimated the traveling time, and at every opportunity (like large ant hills or random road-side shebeens) the kids demanded a stop and dance, so it became a very long day.


We started with Fuel in Outjo - but ended up emptying a local craft shop too.

Next stop was the Vingerklip. This is a sandstone spire 60 meters tall. We climbed up the small hill to the base of the spire for pictures. The view from there is great as it is surrounded by vast plains, and in the distance mountains rising to the same level as the Vingerklip.


The Namibian roads are generally very good, but when you follow Garmin, and ignore the fact that you are using so-called "D" routes, you do sometimes hit some pretty rough patches. All we can say is that we are glad it is winter - and thus dry - because these roads in wet times must be impassable for normal vehicles.


Next stop - Petrified Forest. We never understood what gave the wood such a fright, but it all turned to stone. There are some petrified logs that are more than 10 meters long, and the largest is claimed to be over 40 meters in length. Rock that looks like wood is strange indeed. While viewing the petrified forest we also saw the very weird welwitzia plant, which seems to grow well in that area. It grows so slowly that a plant with leaves a meter long may be 200 years old. They apparently live for anything up to 2000 years.


Next stop was to be the Twyfelontein rock engraving, but we were too late for the guided tour. We moved swiftly along to see the organ pipes. These are rocks that split and break in such a way that they look a bit like banks of organ pipes. These are found along the two sides of a small ravine. It was dry when we were there, but looks like a strong stream rushes through it after good rains.


By this time it as dark, we had to make our way home along unfamiliar dirt roads in the Damara desert. Damon made us stop for a roadside dusk photograph which you can see here. This is becoming a real adventure. We finally found the Damara Mopani Camp at about 8pm.


After dinner Damon decide to try his Camera in telescope mode. He had surprisingly good results in the dark Damara desert with crystal clear skies.