We camped at a massif known as Brandberg, where there were some famous rock paintings.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Brandberg
After a couple of days on the coast we headed inland, and almost immediately the weather cleared to reveal clear skies, and lots of ... nothing really!
We camped at a massif known as Brandberg, where there were some famous rock paintings.
Brandberg looming up ahead
This part of Namibia is particularly empty. Hard to sneak up on people here...
And this layby is know as "the middle of nowhere". Hard to argue, though someone clearly got bored recently and decided to do a little target practice on the sign... Fiona is still in her jumper...
Quite a few of the locals make money by selling handicrafts and crystals. These ladies are from the Herero tribe, and this is really what they wear. (Introduced by colonial settlers in the 19th century)
Our camp at Brandberg, Paul's favourite one...
...sundowners, Paul's favourite time of day!
The cousins playing boule...
... they got quite good by the end of the holiday. Must be the French genes...
We went for a hike through the desert to see the Rock Paintings. Some of us like hiking in the heat more than others...
Most of the paintings were clear, and easy to identify.
The White Lady, the most famous painting in the area. Except it's not actually a Lady...
Giant Plated Lizard, very smart!
We camped at a massif known as Brandberg, where there were some famous rock paintings.
The coast...
After a few days in the desert we headed to the coast at Swakopmund. It was still cold, and very foggy, so felt just like the west coast of Ireland!
We found this apparent grave on a walk along the beach at Swakopmund. No idea who it was (if anyone), but we decided it was probably a fisherman who had caught such a large fish that when he got it out of the sea it flopped on him and squished him. Almost certainly.
Someone had been very busy making about 20 of these, so we chose the one we liked best...
Conor reading stories to a very appreciative audience (and even more appreciative busy parents)...
What you looking at?
On the dunes at Swakopmund. This is the problem with the desert coast. One minute you need your jumper, jeans and your boots and the next minute you need a T-shirt, shorts and no shoes...
Yes. He is yelling "Maaaaaaaammyy!!!!"
Renate being windswept and interesting in a nice photo taken by Natasha.
Natasha taking it easy.
The thing to do here is sandboarding. First you need a board...
...then you sit on it and slide down... The making of faces is optional.
...you can go faster if you have a bit of extra weight... Apparently it helps if you both make faces.
Biting the bottom lip is popular...
Cillian has worked out how to do it without getting sand in your eyes...
...but you can go a bit too fast...
...it might be easier just to run down.
About 60km north of Swakopmund is a huge colony of Cape Fur Seals (80,000 - 100,000 animals). It's a bit smelly....
...but they are cute...
Even when they are yelling at one another
They come in all sizes...
...They are really very cute...except for the smell...
The Namib Desert...
The first real destination on the trip was the Namib-Naukluft National Park, which we accessed at Sossusvlei, and then Homeb. A really beautiful place, but very harsh...
The start of the sand dunes at Sossusvlei. These dunes are big...
And more sand dunes...
Lovely tree next to sand dunes. We took the shade where we could find it!
The climb up is quite tiring, and requires 4 wheel drive... A lot harder than it looks...
But it's great to get to the top!
Making heavy weather of it! Hate when the sand gets in your eyes.
Coming down is a lot more fun though...
The cousins in the shade after having conquered yet another sand dune...
As you go further into the desert the vegetation becomes even less, and dunes even taller
Two of the kids are just visible climbing the dune...
That's Fiona in the green rescuing little people whose feet are burning half way up a giant sand dune.
This Gemsbok was hiding in the shade at the bottom of the dune
No. He really was!
The bakery at Solitaire bakes a marvelous apple-pie. Look at the size of the slices!
This is Solitaire. All of it.
Look what we found!
On the way to Homeb...
...on the sign was this marvelous cricket. Not all of the wildlife here is pretty!
...though some of it is magnificent
Homeb. I'm running out of ways to describe desolate... there's a place in Namibia which is called Moonscape, amazingly this isn't it.
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