November 7th – Day Forty Four
After our Himba experience in the north west of Namibia we were now to head back south in search of rock carvings and paintings in the Twyfelfontein and Brandberg Mountain areas. It was another reasonably long drive and this time we had to contend with a number of winding and mountainous gravel roads. We stopped at the top of a particularly torturous climb for a toilet stop and to admire the view. You can tell the steepest parts of the road in this area as they are covered in tarmac, I guess when it does rain these areas become rather difficult to travel through.
The windy, dusty roads of northern Namibia
The camp of choice for the night was called Camp Xarangu and it was quite nice in a dusty way. The bar/restaurant area was very nice and there was a pool surrounded by green grass that stood out in the rock and dust environment. The camp is also home to a number of animals such as a lone ostrich, a few hyrax (or rock dassie if you prefer) and also a slow shuffling porcupine. There was also a baboon running around the garden in front of the bar, a rescued animal that they had attempted to release back into the wild but had then been beaten by the local baboons so now lives a solitary life with his roaming dictated by the length of his rope.
The usual camp things happened, we set up tents, sorted out washing, prepared and ate lunch and dealt with dishes. Then we had the afternoon to ourselves which was time spent by Keryn writing up the cliff notes version of this diary. As sunset approached I climbed above the camp on a nearby hill and took a few sunset shots. Helen climbed up as well to look at the view and I promised to get up early for sunrise as well – something I forgot to do so Helen spent the chilly sunrise minutes alone on a Namibia hill probably cursing my name while admiring the rising sun. I was to busy resting and sleeping in after a good nights rest.
Looking down on our Xarangu campsite
