Damaraland

After a couple of days reconnecting with the outside world, we restocked the truck at the supermarket.  We’d head North along the coast before turning inland.  About 30 kms from Swakopmund, we passed the Zeila shipwreck.  It was a fishing boat that went ashore in 2008.  While we hadn’t quite reached the Skeleton Coast, the entire coastline is littered with wrecks.  The wind, fog and currents have caused issues to thousands of ships over the years.

 

 

Once we turned inland, we were sandwiched between plains of flat, sandy gravel.  We’d been driving for over an hour when we heard a loud pop.  Tico and I both looked out the window to see one of our tires rolling beside us.  Reinier gracefully pulled the truck over to inspect the damage.  Our truck was a 2×6 and we managed to blow out both of our back left tires.  One was laying meters from where we stopped while the other was in shreds on the wheel well.  Thankfully, almost all cars have 2 spare tires as this is not an uncommon occurrence.

 

 

Reinier rotated the front tire to the back and put on the 2 new tires with help from Tico.  Meanwhile, we prepared lunch and stood in the shade of the truck as there wasn’t a tree in sight.  We could see the heat rising from the ground in the distance and trucks flew past us as they literally left us in the dust.  And, in less than 3 hours we were back on the truck and en route to our destination again.

 

 

White Lady Painting

 

We booked the first tour of the morning (8 am) so that we could continue on in the afternoon.  Reinier dropped us off before heading to the tire shop to get the replacements that another driver brought up the night before put on the rims.  As it turns out, by arriving 10 minutes late we were actually too early.  We’d beat the woman that collects the fee as well as the guides.

 

After about 20 minutes, they all showed up and we began our walk.  It was a 2.5 kms trek along a dry riverbed to the painting.  We passed skinks and lizards while our guide, Collin, talked to us about the area.  There are typically desert elephants in the area and he was able to show us where one had slept months before as its impression was still in the dirt.  He also pointed out where they had rammed into the trees to cause the fruit to fall and where they used the tree trunk to scratch themselves.

 

 

We reached the spot of the painting and took time to read the signs that explained a little more of the history.  The White Lady painting, which is one of a thousand found in the Brandberg Mountains, is famous as it was the first to be discovered.  Ironically, its namesake is actually a male medicine man surrounded by some of his tribe and several animals.  It was painted some 2000 years ago by the nomadic bushmen.  Oddly enough, the paintings are better viewed through a picture as it captures the contrast better than we are able to do so with our eyes.

Twyfelfontein

From the Brandberg Mountains, we made our way towards Twyfelfontein.  It is most well-known for the rock engravings that are a UNESCO World Heritiage site.  As we got closer to camp, there was one last river that we needed to cross.  With the recent rains, it was flooded so much that it covered the road.  Reinier opted for an alternate route that lead us along the river, through a small village and in the middle of the rocky landscape.

 

 

Our activity for the afternoon was seeing the engravings or going to the Living Damara Museum and we all chose the latter.  We arrived at the museum and it was deserted.  After shouting and no one coming out, we decided to walk around the recreated village.  There were several huts made from branches and tools that they would explain how they use them.  Since we still had time, Tico and I opted to go see the engravings.  As it was just us with Reinier, we moved up into the cab to see his point of view.  Compared to the smaller windows we had in the back, it felt like watching a big screen HDTV.

 

We arrived to the engraving site 5 minutes after they were supposed to close.  The security told us it was too late, but to ask inside.  The woman in the office didn’t want to let us in, but Reinier was able to convince her.  We were told we would get a guide, but would have to drive them home after the tour as he’d miss the bus.  In the end, we went without a guide and Reinier shared all the information he knew with us.

 

 

We walked around looking at the different drawings and noticing how they etched the graphics into the rocks.  There were several types of animals and even some sea creatures, which tells a story about what was around when the bushmen lived.  A rainstorm came in just as quickly as it left and we continued looking at the engravings.  There was a lion man that told of how the medicine men transformed into animals through their trance sessions.  Human footprints were engraved next to animal prints showing how their lives were intertwined with the spirits.

 

The next morning the plan was to wake up before the sun came up in case the roads were washed out from the rain.  It had rained again during the night and there was a fear that the roads would be worse from the additional water.  Our wake-up call was pushed back an hour so that we could begin the day with light instead of guessing the route in the dark.  We would retrace our steps from the day before and it was my job to make sure we stayed on course.

 

We winded through the village as the sun rose directly in front of us.  The truck went left when it should have gone right according to my GPS (thanks to maps.me).  The decision was made to have me move up front to help guide instead of radioing back and forth.  I jumped in the cab with Reinier and using both of our devices we were able to make it back to the main road.  As it turned out, the river that flooded our crossing the afternoon before was now dry, but our detour had saved us from possibly getting stuck in the soft sand.  Now back on the main road, we made our way towards Opuwo.

 

Overland tour organized by Africa4Us.

Helpful tips:

• Entrance to see the “White Lady” painting is $N 60 and includes the guide as you are not allowed to hike alone.
• The highest peak in Namibia can also be summited, but a guide is required.
• Entrance to the rock engravings is $N 60 and includes the guide.