DAY 2 - DRAMATIC DAMARALAND
Our morning began with a hearty breakfast of omelette. I am sure the Africans believe it is we that are undernourished! So off we set heading north. Hills gave way to mountain ranges that became more dramatic as we traveled. Most of the country we traveled through was farmland using for grazing animals especially cattle. The farms are fenced with two parallel fences to stop animals especially kudu escaping in or out. We managed to sight numerous springbok and the occasional ostrich along the way.
As we entered Damaraland, named after the tribe that inhabits the area, the rocky vistas became even more spectacular. Huge boulders perched precariously on hill tops whilst others were strewn across the landscape like giant marbles. Our destination for the night was Mowani Mountain Camp tucked away on the edge of an escarpment between these massive storey outcrops. The setting for the camp couldn’t have been more stunning and I later learned Harry and Meghan stayed here. One couldn’t find a more romantic place! We were given a wonderful hut complete with an indoor and outdoor bathroom where we could sit on our porch and admire the fantastic view.
After a quick lunch, we proceeded to the Damara Living Museum where we were treated to a reenactment of village life. Their culture and tribal ways have been severely diluted and on the verge of being totally lost. Fortunately there was a collective drive to preserve the culture and enough elders remained to pass on their traditions. The members make a living for the tribe and keep alive the language and culture in a setting that replicates the way they live. The learning experience showed how they start fires, (John offered matches), how they prepared skins to wear, tool making, making jewellery and trinkets and the game that only the king would play with extremely high stakes. Instead of fighting between clans, the head of each clan in dispute would play the game and the winner took all. I mean all: wives, kids, everything. The language is one of the few click languages along with that of the San (Bushmen) People. The Damara language contains 4 click sounds whilst the San has an incredible tongue twisting eight.
We continued on to Twyfelfontein to visit the rock engravings (petroglyphs) created by the San people (the Bushman inhabitants of the region) some 5,000 years ago. This Unesco world heritage site forms a coherent, extensive and high-quality record of ritual practices relating to the hunter-gatherer communities in this part of Africa and illustrates the links between the ritual and economic practices of hunter-gatherers. Much climbing and scrambling around and over rocks obviously. Thank god we have digital cameras as I would have blown way to many rolls of film. It was a David Attenborough experience. I did balk at the climbing towards the end and said to John “You have the camera!”.
Sundowner drinks were taken at the edge of the escarpment to a glorious sunset. After dinner we returned to our hut and watched the moon rise from our balcony. Oh the ambience!