Namibia 2014

Thursday9October

We leave the Brandberg massif and take the track again to reach Twyfelfontein, another archaeological site.

The Dome landscapes of Damaraland.

Very few people in these vast spaces...

After 2 hours on the track, we arrive at our new campsite for the day, Mowani mountain campsite. It is impeccably located, in the rocks of the mountain, with a completely unobstructed view of the superb savanna.

Once settled and satisfied, we set off to visit Twyfelfontein. On the way, we come across a superb secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius) also called serpent eagle or secretary...

A black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas).

Here we are at Twyfelfontein. We park the car next to the parking attendant, a fork-tailed drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis).

The site and its petroglyphs (rock carvings) have been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2007.

The first attraction is a Cape ground squirrel (Xerus inauris)...

But we didn't come here for this small rodent, but for the rock carvings. A guide takes us to the different frescoes.

The carvings, some dating back several millennia, largely represent animals but also footprints and handprints.

The essential giraffe.

The great elephant...

The lion with its 90° tail-paw...

The antelopes...

We leave the rock art to discover other curiosities of the region. The Burnt Mountain gets its name from the geological soil burned by contact with lava in a very, very distant era...

The packed parking lot of Burnt Mountain, and our car...

In the same area, one can also see basaltic organs.

The petrified trees are also a must-see in the Damaraland region. Several "unofficial" but still paid areas (but we hadn't understood that...  ) allow you to see these stone trees...

The trunks were covered by mud and millions of years of sediment transformed them into stone due to the absence of oxygen.

Right photo: a Welwitschia mirabilis. This endemic plant, which can live for over 1000 years, is one of the symbols representing Namibia.

It's only by touch that one truly realizes it is indeed stone.

Ha! This time we are indeed in the official Petrified Forest site, classified as a national monument... A guide who leads us with a firm hand   gives us the scientific explanations about the site. This entire petrified forest undoubtedly comes from the neighboring country, Angola. A tidal wave would have occurred 300 million years ago, carrying the trees here... The trunks, buried and deprived of oxygen under layers of sediment, to which is added the silica contained in rainwater infiltrated into the soil, impregnated all the cells and fossilized the plant.

30 meters of a trunk preserved whole through eras of geological history...

An Agama aculeata mimics the petrified stone with a Shakespearean pout...  

A euphorbia (Euphorbia damarana) known for its toxic white sap. It was used to coat the tips of arrows to fatally poison the affected "prey"...

Some trunks can reach 6 meters in circumference.

Another Welwitschia mirabilis.

Back at the campsite, a quick shower is in order!

Thanks to the charcoal placed in the tank right next to it, we have hot water!

The view of the landscape during the shower is most pleasant...!

Sunset in front of the barbecue... 

A superb ceiling of stars covers the sky. I can even distinguish the Small Magellanic Cloud (top left in the photo) that I discovered during the Tok Tokkie trek! Also visible are Centaurus and the Southern Cross.

With an increased exposure time on the camera, the background of the sky reveals itself and highlights even more the edge-on view of our galaxy, the Milky Way...