NamibiaEtosha

After a few hours of driving we arrived at Twyfelfonten to see cave paintings and rock engravings located in a rather harsh landscape. We saw early stone age petroglyphs of the San hunters depicting giraffes, elephants, rhinos, lions etc. Then on to the Organ Pipes, a short path leading down to oddly shaped basalt rock columns formed by volcanic activity. From there we could view Burnt Mountain a 122 km long volcanic ridge... relatively unexciting sites. Can you believe we were the only tourists there-- seemingly in the middle of nowhere? Dizzy was back at camp busily preparing our chicken and rice meal. We enjoyed a beautiful clear sunset-- almost got 'big sun'. Our campground was the Aba-Huab Camp, very basic but with the best shower facilities of the trip. You showered in a tree that had the plumbing fixtures built into it and everything was enclosed by a large grass fence. The hot water was supplied by a 55 gallon drum that set on top of a fire pit. Big campfire, couple of night caps and called it a day.

We wake at 6 AM for a breathtaking sunrise, the day is clear and cool. We had a short drive this morning to the petrified forest of Namibia. It is a self-guided walk through paths strewn with large petrified tree trunks and lots of smaller pieces. The age of these trees is said to be 260 million years old and they arrived to this destination by a huge flood. Also in this area were Welwitschias, prehistoric plants that are downright unattractive. A midsize plant is supposedly about 1,000 years old. We now had a three hour drive ahead of us to get to Etosha National Park-- it was a longish hot day.

Etosha National Park is the world's largest national park one of the most important game parks in Africa. It covers more than 22,000 kilometers of the country. The park has dense brush and open plains and lots of wild animals. The area does not have a lot of water so the game viewing at the water holes is what makes this place unique. There are three tourist camps in the national park with bungalows and campgrounds. We are staying at the Okaukuejo Camp which is 18 kilometers from the Andersson gate. It has a large active water hole that is floodlit at night, a store and a swimming pool. We arrived at 3 PM most campers set up their tents and headed straight for the swimming pool. It was not quite the pools we are used to in Florida but it was refreshing and did the trick.