Close to Our Camp You find:
- Brandberg
The imposing Brandberg massif is a challenge to rock
climbers, especially its peak Kőonigstein, which at 2.580 m
is the highest peak in Namibia. The graceful Acacia
montis-usti trees, conspicuous in the Brandberg valley,
are endemic to this region. While its name is Afrikaans
for “burnt mountain”, the Brandberg is most famous for
the rock painting known as the White Lady of the Brandberg.
Painted on an overhang in Maack’s Shelter, named after
the surveyor who discovered it in 1917, the painting became
internationally known in 1955 when Abbé Henri Breuil, a
French archaeologist and cleric, copied and described it.
Since then there has been great controversy over the meaning and origin of this tantalising relic from the past. The late rock art specialist and researcher, Harold pager,
spent eight years at approximately 8.000 sites on the Brandberg documenting more than 40.000 figures. The University of Cologne, Germany is publishing the results of his research. The first three volumes of this major work are already in print. Maack’s Shelter lies in a superb setting in the Tsisab Gorge, a wild and beautiful ravine amongst a vast jumble of rocks, remnants of many ancient landslides. The walk to the “White Lady” takes about one hour along a well-marked route. It should not be undertaken at midday.
- Burnt Mountain
South of Twyfelfontein is the eerie landscape of a ridge of hills known as the Burnt Mountain. The mountain slopes are dead, practically without vegetation. The rocks are vividly coloured, mostly in shades of red and purple. Volcanic activity and erosion have created the shades and hues of this phantom tract of land, At the end of the road, looking for all the world like a slag heap from an iron factory is a great mound of cinder-like stone and rock, even ash, the origin of which has not yet been satisfactorily determined. This mountain has the appearance of having literally been exposed to fire and is part of a 12 km long ridge to the east of Twyfelfontein.
- Cape Cross Seal Colony
Of the 23 breeding colonies of Cape fur seals
along the coast of South Africa and Namibia, one of
the largest and best known is the Cape Cross
Seal Reserve north of Swakopmund. During the
November/December breeding season tens of
thousands of seals gather at Cape Cross.
The Cape fur seal is one of three species of fur
seals that occur along Southern African coasts.
The large concentration at Cape Cross guarantees
an impressive site. The reserve is open daily,
from 10.00 h. Here the seals can be viewed at
close quarters. The Portuguese navigator,
Diego Cao was the first European to set foot this far south on the African Continent and he erected a cross at this spot. The name Cape Cross is derived from this Portuguese navigator and the Cape Seals themselves.
- Damaraland
The district in the northwestern part of Namibia, just south of the Kaokoveld, is called Damaraland. Its administrative centre is Khorixas and Damara speaking Namibians mainly inhabits this part. Damaraland fascinates with its unique geological, archaeological and biological phenomena. This arid region is famous for the Petrified Forest, the age-old rock engravings at Twyfelfontein, Namibia’s highest mountain – the Brandberg, Burnt Mountain and the so-called Organ Pipes. The area is also home to the desert-adapted elephant and the endangered black rhino.
