Day 8 – Beautiful Damaraland

Today we drive to Damaraland, located in the northern central part of Namibia.

This is a drive of more than 500 km. It will be a nice trip through the beautiful landscape interrupted with the necessary visits. The temperature rises today to a magnificent 36 °, which is well tolerated in this dry climate.

First we stop at Shipwreck Beach, the place where a ship was stranded in 2006 and still remains here to rust.

Small boulders and large rocks are spread in the landscape as confetti. Bushes, trees and grasses were planted as a harmonious whole by the gardeners of the gods.

A so-called Kalahari Ferrari appears on the horizon: a donkey cart.

The flat landscape changes into rocky mountains. The color shades are amazing. It reminds me a bit of the Grand Canyon. The Brandberg appears, an oval-colored mountain range.

About 120 million years ago there was a volcano on a rocky plateau. Due to the gradual erosion of the lava layers on the plateau, a hard core of granite remained. The highest point, the 2,573 m high Konigstein, is the highest mountain in Namibia. Then the area changes in grass steppe. Here the inhabitants live in their remote farms letting  their cows, sheep and donkeys graze. Occasionally, a rusty car wreck interrupts the serenity of the area. It has something surreal.

We stop at the organ pipes, a formation of columns derived from volcanic rock, exposed by erosion. They actually look like organ pipes. They are about 130 to 150 million years old.

We continue over sandy roads and gravel roads to Twijfelfontein. Twijfelfontein is named after the unreliable source that sometimes gives and sometimes does not give water. The area is considered one of the most important places of rock art in Africa. There are more than 2,000 paintings and engravings found made by the Bushmen, both of animals and their tracks. These paintings were probably used to teach about tracks. Each drawing is signed by the creator using his handprints or footprints.

To see these drawings, a guide climbs with us on a rocky path. Climbing and descending is not that simple. Finally, we visit the Petrified Forest. This is a collection of fossil tree trunks estimated to be 240 to 300 million years old. These pine trees grew in Central Africa and were swept here after the ice age during the great flood. The wood is filled with minerals such as iron and magnesium and because the trees were not exposed to oxygen, they were perfectly preserved. There are about 50 trees to be seen here, which are partially dug into the sand.

The trees are not excavated. What we see are trees that have surfaced by natural erosion. Besides the entire trunks, the ground is also filled with smaller pieces. The sun shines with its last rays onto the moon, which colors red. A beautiful ending of a beautiful day.