Up 6.25am, no water in whole of camp-site! The site manager is not in yet, we make the best of it, luckily Ruben has some drinking water in big bottles and we can have coffee. After breakfast, we pack and leave the site just as the water comes back on. Hey-ho this is camping. I take one more picture of the rocks, it is a beautiful place.
Now we are driving through Damaraland, the scenery is amazing, vast landscapes that photos cannot do justice to.
We stop at the top of Grootberg Pass, 1540 metres above sea level. Incredible views.
Yumi takes pics of me holding a very unhappy Armoured Cricket. He is BIG.
We drive on, more immense scenery.
This beautiful bush with small yellow flowers is deadly. George tell us that a couple on a self-drive holiday lit a fire using branches from one of these bushes and the fumes killed them.
We stop to stretch our legs. George and Ruben take it to extremes.
I meet a Chameleon who makes it very clear he doesn’t want to be photographed. I persevere.
We reach Abacaltuab Camp in time for a late tuna salad lunch. Baboons watch from a distance. After lunch, time to relax for a few hours on the balcony of the club-house.
Late afternoon, a short drive to Twyfelfontein World Heritage Site. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twyfelfontein
Our guide is Hermanus, he tells us he is a bit crazy, a great guy, explains that rock drawings and paintings were made for communication of information and for teaching future generations. The sandstone rocks were formed up to 280 million years ago under the sea before being pushed up into massive rock faces. Hunter/gatherers arrived 6,000 years ago and although the rocks have slid and moved since, much of their rock-art survives today in this arid landscape. Hermanus leads us as we clamber and climb around a very dodgy looking collection of unstable rocks that, over the years, have fallen off the cliff that towers above us.
One rock has pictures of animal foot-prints and human ‘signature’ foot-prints.
Here is a map of water-holes showing the animals that use them..
Hermanus shows us many drawings of animals, here is a good example.
Finally, Hermanus sings a song to us in his own Damara language which involves a lot of clicking noises made with the tongue. Looks tricky. I am filled with admiration for his singing, excellent English and informative tour of the drawings. Fascinating stuff.
Back for dinner, chicken (not REAL meat says George), mash potato and salad. And a beer. This is a great group to be travelling with, we chat for a while then time to hit the sack.
During the night I wake up, it is pitch black as always but I cannot find my torch. I grope around and put my hand on something alive, it is the size of my hand, hard and wriggling and making a very loud angry noise. It makes me jump nearly out of my skin. I grope around some more, find the torch and see that it is another Armoured Cricket, I don’t know how it got into my tent but it is obviously getting revenge on behalf of the one I mis-handled at Grootberg Pass. Now I have upset TWO Armoured Crickets. Goodnight.
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