 |
| Ant hill on the way. |
Ollie from S/V “Fagel bla”, Finish flag, whom we met
many moons ago in Fortaleza on the Brazilian Coast, arrived at Luderitz. He joined us, Anita and Joep on a short safari to
the Brandberg.
Unfortunately the campsite at Spitzkoppe, one of our all time favourite sites in Namibia, became ridiculously
expensive, so we camped (for free) the first night in the
Omaruru
River, just passed the Spitzkoppe.
 |
| Omaruru river camping |
 |
| T-Bone steak done by Master "braaier",Jaco, |
 |
| Scenery on the way to the Ugab River. |
 |
| Brandberg Mountain with a summit reaching 2573 meters above sea level is Namibia’s highest mountain. It is covering an area of approximately 650 km². Because of its significance and rich biodiversity, it has been declared a national monument of Namibia. It is estimated that San tribes have been living in this area for the last 30 000 years. It is evident that they attached a great sense of spiritual significance to Brandberg. More than 45 000 individual rock paintings have been discovered together with about 1 000 rock shelters and crevices lining the Tsisab Ravine along the foot of the mountain. You might just be lucky enough to see rare Black Rhino or Desert Elephant dwelling around the massif. Brandberg has a virtually untouched and preserved ecosystem, containing what is probably the richest scorpion habitat in southern Africa. |
 |
| Martin at a Welwitschia mirabilis. It is a plant of remarkably bizarre habits and survives in very harsh conditions where the annual rainfall is often less that 25 mm and where the coastal fog is equivalent to about further 50 mm. The Welwitschia's oldest living specimens are estimated at 1500 to 2000 years is capable of surviving severe conditions of stress. It is native to a strip of land about 50 miles wide and over 500 miles in length along the coast of the Namib Desert. |
 |
| Giraffe |
 |
| "Lafenis" at a water hole. |
 |
| Cold platter for lunch under a Camelthorn tree. |
 |
| Joep's Jeep is like a Ford... hy vat met n klein stootjie...... |
 |
| Rhino rubbing stone. |
 |
| Black Rhino foot print. |
 |
| Joep cooking his famous chicken potjie. |
The second evening we camped (again for free) in the Ugab
River.
While we were scrambling around to set up camp
and cooking dinner, Ollie went on a walk about to get close up pictures of Eland (Jaco was actually joking by pointing out normal cattle as Eland….)
The next thing he came running back pointing and
shouting…. There were elephants feeding just around the corner from us! Luckily
for the strong wind they did not sense us or him!
That night under full moon they came walking past a few
meters from us.
 |
| on our way home. |
 |
| Brandberg pondokke. |
 |
| Damara child asking for food. |
 |
| Ciao Ollie, hope to see you soon in the Carribe! |
