Discovering
Paul Van Schalkwyk
Damaraland The highlight of this region is Twyfelfontein – Namibia’s first World Heritage Site – with its wealth of rock engravings. Other special attractions are the majestic Brandberg with its treasure trove of ancient San rock art and daunting backpacking challenges, the Petrified Forest, Burnt Mountain, Organ Pipes, the Spitzkoppe, and the Erongo Mountains. TWYFELFONTEIN AND SURROUNDINGS Namibia’s first World Heritage Site (status awarded in 2007), Twyfelfontein (meaning doubtful fountain), is a massive, open-air art gallery that is of great interest to international rock-art connoisseurs. The 2,000-plus rock engravings, estimated to be 6,000 years old, represent one of Africa’s largest and most noteworthy concentrations of rock art. Contemporary research suggests that the creators of the rock art were San medicine people or shamans who went into an altered state of consciousness and connected with the spiritual world when a trance was induced. This could be used for purposes such as rain-making and healing the sick. The engravings depicted the images they saw after returning to normal consciousness. About 50 km away is the Petrified Forest, where a cataclysmic event millions of years ago deposited giant tree trunks that subsequently turned to stone. Today the Namib’s living fossil plant, Welwitschia mirabilis, grows among these prostrate fossilised trunks. South of Twyfelfontein is the Burnt Mountain, a panorama of desolation with coloured rocks contrasting vividly against the grey-black surroundings. The Organ Pipes, a mass of vertical basalt columns in a ravine gouged out by a river, is another geological curiosity in the area. Southwest of Twyfelfontein is the Doros Crater, where fossil remains have been found among the rocks.
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FINGER ROCK
Dominating the landscape when travelling westwards en route to Khorixas, 95 km west of Outjo, is the Ugab Vingerklip (Finger Rock) situated amongst the rugged Ugab Terraces. About 35 metres high, this distinctive monolith was shaped by erosion spanning many millennia.
MESSUM CRATER
Fine specimens of the desert plant, Welwitschia mirabilis, can be seen at the Messum Crater southwest of the Brandberg. Between 132 and 135 million years old, Messum has a diameter of 18 km. Messum is regarded as a volcanic feature that forms part of the Goboboseb Mountains to the northeast. It dates from the Etendeka period and, according to geologists, was the source of many of the intrusive and quartz-like extrusive rocks found in the area today. The crater was named after Captain W Messum, who was an explorer of the coastal regions of Southern Africa, which he surveyed from the ocean between 1846 and 1848. While driving to the Messum area you should, however, not overlook the lichen fields. The western part of Messum lies in the Dorob National Park and you will need a permit, obtainable at the Henties Bay Tourism Association.
THE BRANDBERG
The imposing Brandberg massif is a challenge to hikers, especially its peak, Königstein, which at 2 573 metres is the