Dead Vlei at Soussevlei. Once upon a time there was a big river flowing in this area- until the winds piled up the sands of the Kalahari, cutting of the river and forming the highest dune fields in the world. The air is so hot and dry that the trees trunks have almost petrified. It's hard to get perspective on the sheer size of these Vlei's hidden among the dunes- but me and about 20 other people were inthe Vlei when this photo was taken. We're jsut really, really small.... :)
Koolmanskoop was a diamond mining town opened in the early 1900's. It operated for about 50 years, housing 100 white men and thier families inthe town and 300 Africans in barracks. All the waterwas brought in from Luderitz about 50 km away. It is now a ghost town, but amazing to walk around and hear the echoes of life in the sand-drifted houses.
Koolmanskoop
Koolmanskoop
Enjoying the view of Fish River from the top of the truck
Fish River upstream of the canyon. The other side is South Africa where a heard of goats were enjoying a drink. This is also part of the Diamond 'no go' zone where Namib Diamonds and deBiers (sp?!) et al are quitely making a fortune.
Fish River Canyon is the 2nd biggest Canyon in the world. It was really hard to comprehend the size when standing on the edge- let alone in a photo?!
Enjoying the view of Fish river canyon
The giant's playground
Quiver tree's and aloes at sunset.
When I was a young warthog....
I love warthogs.
A baby seal escaping the mid-day heat under the walk way at Cape Cross- which got it's name from the several tonne rock cross erected at the site by a Portuguese explorer. The real cross is now in a museum somewhere in Portugal and 2 replicas keep the tourists happy.
The seals at Cape Cross - Skeleton Coast. The smell was unbelievable.
True desert. Hundreds of kilometers of nothing was mind boggling. So we decided to stop for a fashion shoot!
The famous 'white lady' painting of Brandburg mountain, which is - of course- neither female nor white...
A Herero woman by her trinket stall. The Herero speak the same language as the Himba, but were influenced by the missionaries long ago.
Rock carvings at Twyflfontein are connected with the ceremonies that used to take place here -and were also used to teach children about the different animals and their tracks.
the 5 'fingers' on the head of the giraffe supposedly represents the 'out of body' man-animal experience of the shamans/witchdoctors, and the elongated legs representing the sensation of rising as they united with the spiritual realm...
The view at Twyflefontein
7 comments:
wonderful, amazing, inspiring pics. Everything I expected Australian desert to be!(but it's not...) Your fashion shoot is so beautiful. Looking forward to chatting again - kid free this time. ox
I reckon you and Chris would love Namibia- it's great camping all the way, with african animals...but really safe and, well- nice! Im looking forward to going back hopefully one day!
Loved this post Rina.
Those Kookmanskoop buildings are awesome. After being abandoned 50 years they still look grand.
I never really imagined you could pat a warthog... I actually thought it was a statue, and a couple posts back I was nearly in tears because I thought it was hilarious that there are road signs warning of warthogs and tigers! It's unreal the difference between oz and Africa!
Fish river? Turns out they have just as much imagination naming things as we do! Deep river, fish creek...
I like you having more time on your hands cuz - you write to me! yay.
I L o v e d Koolmanskoop- but we were only given about an hour there and the memory card on my friends camera (mine was dead) was full...but i could've explored that town all day. Walking the corridors of the hospital was really spooky- especially when I lost the exit for a while (deep breath i dont believe in ghosts remember?!)
So anyways, I'm planning on exploring the north east coast of Moz for hols this year, or i certianly could be convinced to go back to Namibia...so I think you should visit and come too. (sound of bomb dropping) I'll leave that one with ya.
You might think I'm pulling your leg, but I had considered asking your dad if there could be work for me. The experience would be awesome, be good to see you, and I could swim in lake Milawi. Plus I feel I need to run away from something here before I go insane, I can confide that story in the next phone call! Actually I'll try now!
love these pics and the chicken story!
Me 39 weeks now so not long til I meet this creation growing inside me!
I loved these photos, Rina.
We've been reading about nomadic people and rock art for our homeschool history lessons, so I showed the girls your photos and they liked them better than the ones from the official Cave of Lascaux website and several Arnhem Land art sites, because in the Naimian art you can actually tell easily what something is meant to be!
I am especially grateful for your putting the whole high-res image online. We looked at the first painting closely and could make out the antlers on the umm... long, straight antlers/horns... gazelle? springbok-type thingy? Anyway, the detail was fabulous. You definitely have a way with a camera!
~ Sharon J
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