5 September 2025
Today we visit ancient rock engravings at Twyfelfontein, see a Petrified Forest, and meet the Damara and Himba peoples on our way to Etosha National Park.
There is a 5.00am start and a long day ahead. We pick up both breakfast and lunch boxes from the lodge and set off in the dark. As day dawns we are treated to seeing a black-backed jackal running and then a giraffe very close to us (even got a picture of it in front of the rising sun). They are not usually seen on this road so it partially makes up for not seeing the desert adapted elephants. We see bat-eared foxes also.
We cross Aba-Huab River bed and now start to see green Mopani trees. These are very common hard wood trees, great for building as termites don’t eat them. People use the bark to tie the wood together. It makes good firewood too. The Mopani caterpillar great source of protein – people ‘farm’ them. Mopani leaves can also be chewed and put on sores as an antibiotic poultice.
Our first stop of the day is a visit to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Twyfelfontein, the site of at least 2,500 ancient rock engravings that are thousands of years old. We see red sandstone standing out from the granite rocks – this is where the rock engravings are (it is too hard to carve granite but there are some paintings).
The name Twyfelfontein means ‘doubtful spring’ in Afrikaans and comes from a man named David Levin who looked into farming here after WWII. He was doubtful or uncertain whether the spring here would be able to sustain his family and farm. The Damara name means ‘place in the rocks’.
The rock engravings include depictions of animals like giraffes, rhinos, and elephants, as well as human figures, geometric patterns, and footprints, are considered one of Africa’s largest concentrations of rock art. Our guide explains that the engravings would have been for communication and education as well as artistic expression. There are footprints of dangerous and prey animals that would be educational. Human footprints could be the signature of the artist or indicative of transformation of human to animal and back. There is a lion with human hands at the ends of its tail and legs. Shamans would take hallucinatory substances and go into trance as spiritual animal to communicate with ancestors, heal people (especially when very sick), and also to ask for help when hunting (if they are not successful). There are also engravings of seals and penguins, indicating the artists may have traveled to the coast, 100km away, for salt.
There is a large map depicting the location of waterholes: a circle with dot is a permanent waterhole and without dot is temporary. There are lines indicating the walking paths of animals. The non-black weathered centre may have been used for ritual dance.
It is starting to get very hot even this early in the day – the temperature reached 40c here yesterday.
Next stop is the Damara Living Museum, where we learn about the rich history of the Damara people, one of Namibia’s oldest cultures. Their heritage, shaped by a blend of hunter-gatherer and herding traditions, has been profoundly influenced by colonization. Damara land used to be all commercial farming but was returned to the local people after independence from South Africa. The museum provides a rare glimpse into how their culture has adapted, offering insight into a society once on the brink of disappearing. The Damara people show us many aspects of their traditional way of life, including medicines, wood and metal work, jewellery making, starting fires and their traditional dance. Their language includes clicking sounds.
Then we visit the Petrified Forest. This is fascinating because the forest is pine trees that are not found in Namibia. They have been transported from 3-4000km away up north around 280 million years ago when Gondwanaland was in existence. The trees have been covered with soil and pressure applied. Minerals (red iron oxide, black manganese, white silica) entered the wood and petrification took place. The site was discovered in 1940. The first tree we saw was the biggest – likely 250-300 years old when fell. The second tree clearly shows rings and minerals, while the third was the longest (partially) exposed tree: 37m long out of the ground but continues further underneath.
We learn that Commifora africana is a type of myrrh tree that is used for perfume and also mixed with ochre and animal fat for a cream to make sunscreen.
We pass a vast area of burnt ground where a fire burnt for 4 days – difficult to get under control. There is another fire raging further north as well. We start to see lots of termite mounds (even a white one (indicating the soil type)).
Our last stop is at Omapaha Village: an Ozohere Himba Village home to Namibia’s last semi-nomadic people. The Himba are known for their distinctive practice of covering their skin with butterfat and ochre (otjize paste), to protect themselves from the harsh climate (it is 40+C outside).
Guide Paollina shows us around. In this village there are 65 people: 20 women, 10 men, and 35 children (23 children, 7 grandchildren of chief). They are polygamous so there are less men. We meet the chief and his #1 wife and learn a few words in the Himba language: Moro – hello good morning; Nawa – good; Okuhepa – thank you.
There are certainly some interesting customs: we learn that (after a ceremony) boys have their hair to the back while girls have their hair to the front. Boys are circumcised at 5 years, and all children have their bottom 4 teeth knocked out at around 9 years old.
We are shown inside the chief’s house and his wife demonstrates how they use perfumed smoke use for ‘washing’ – face, hair, under armpits. The ‘washing machine’ for goat skin garments is dry cleaning using smoke.
The Holy Fire is always kept going by chief: it is used to talk with ancestors. They try to cure ills using herbs first, and then by talking to ancestors, and finally to hospital if serious.
All cooking is done outside.
The village has 250 sheep and goats, and around 90 cattle. Some of the children are sent to school but others stay home as farmers – very important for the village. There are fruits and vegetables as well.
Women make and sell handcrafts. There is full utilisation of resources e.g. turning maize bags into threads for doing their hair. Goat skin is used for clothes, headdresses (2 diff types), baby carriers etc.
Then we head to our final destination at Etosha National Park. As we near the park we see giraffe, zebra and even a dik-dik, the smallest antelope in Africa.
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