Let me continue our African Adventure with you 😊 After a couple of days in Etosha National Park, we headed south to Spitzkoppe mountains in Namibia.
Along the long and dusty road covered in pot holes. We had a brief stop at a market place on the side of the road which is run by the Herero tribe.
They had lots of tourists treasures for sale. But what caught my eye was their beautiful bright coloured clothing.
The style is from the early-20th-century German colonization. The big hat represents cow horns as the Herero people like to pay respect to cattle.
The ladies were lovely to talk to, we bought some tourist treasures and shared some laughs.
Not far down the road we stopped off at another market on the side of the road. This one was run by the hostile Himba tribe. They were very pushy to buy their treasures. I had some jokes with them to finally win them over and was able to snap a couple of photos before we got back on the truck.
We made it to our camp site in Brandberg and set up our tents and had some lunch.
Then we headed out to the Spitzkoppe mountains.
These mountains are off the normal tourist route, a long drive through the desert then….. They finally appear on the horizon.
The rock formation is an amazing sight to see out here in the desert.
We meet up with a local guide who showed us around the mountain and schooled us on the sand people that lived here for thousands of years. He took us to some 2000+ year old rock painting on the side of the mountain.
This rock wall is kind of like a message board. The different pictures represent different things. Like the image of a rhinoceros always points in the direction of where water can be found.
Paintings
It was interesting the way they would make the different colour paints. For red they would use animal blood and mix it with some rock dust. For white they would mix in egg shells and yellow is made from egg yolk and leaves.
It’s amazing how well preserved these painting are! Especially since they are over 2000+ years old and are not that hidden from the elements.
Exploring the rocks was alot of fun. There was some cool trees growing at the base of the mountain
We climbed up some of the rocks for a better view of the surrounding area.
For a fee you can actually camp at the base of the Spitzkoppe mountains. I hear the sun sets here are amazing! But we didn’t get a chance to see it as we had to head back to our camp site in time for dinner.
As we were driving away from the mountains we noticed a school. I asked if we could quickly stop and hook the kids up with some books that we brought with us from Australia as a gift.
Some of them would have preferred candy ha ha. But they all seemed pretty stoked about the whole ordeal which was pretty cool 😊
Night cap
Back at camp we had dinner then drinks at the local bar. The bar had this L shaped pool table which was interesting to play on.
And also a beers of the world wall. Glad a Milton Mango made the cut 😁
So if you ever find yourself road tripping through Namibia, Spitzkoppe mountains is worth the detour to check it out. It actually reminded me alot like Ayers Rock in Australia!
Once again thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more African Adventure blogs coming soon.
In the mean time check out my other posts from this adventure 😊