Namibia - Twyfelfontein

 From Swakopmund, we travelled north to Twyfelfontein, which has Nambia's first UNESCO World Heritage site.  I think it may be helpful at this point to share a map of our journey.

We drove along the coast for a bit before turning inland at Henties Bay.  This shipwreck of the fishing trawler Zeila (m 2008) and the ocean provided a photo break before we continued inland through the desert.   

The flat barren landscape along the way changed to red rocks as we approached Twyfelfontein.  Someone commented that the red boulders look like the ones at Joshua Tree National Park in California, another place I would like to visit.  

We arrived at the lodge during the golden hour and the colour of the rocks were almost surreal.

We were welcomed by a pair of Namib Rock agamas - the male with the bright red head and tail and the female in more subtle colours.

 

Armoured ground cricket

African-red-eyed bulbul - first of many lifers on this trip

Namib Day gecko

We had our first game drive in the morning.  It was a long trek down a dried up river bed looking for recent footprints and signs of the elephants.  What a pleasant surprise to see one finally strolling towards us.  It was our first elephant sighting in Africa!  

First giraffe sighting

Then along came a bull in heat - the guide quickly backed off and drove away from the river bed.  

There are often circular bare patches on the grassland - nothing grew there and research has been done to try and find out why.  These are known as "fairy circles" - most prevalent in the Namib desert.  

This is the seedpod from the white acacia tree, also known as apple-ring Acacia - one of the he elephants' favourite foods.

We visited the Damara Living Museum - a community project to provide a cultural experience of the Damara people, the oldest ethnic group in Namibia.  We were warmly welcomed by the community with song and dance and demonstrations of their native arts, crafts and medicine.  Their friendliness was heartwarming.

The Museum entrance

Welcome song and dance - a joyful crowd

Before we head to Etosha National Park the following morning, we visited the UNESCO heritage site and did a short hike to see the petroglyphs.  This is a view of the surrounding red rock cliffs from the trail.  I would not call it an easy hike because there is some clambering up and down rocks at some point, but it is doable for the majority of our group because it is thankfully short and there were interesting petroglyphs along the trail.

Lion Man rock - represented by the lion with a man's foot at the end of its tail.

This is supposed to be a water map, showing where water can be found

Giraffes with four heads are supposed to indicate movement

We also stopped by the Petrified Forest National Park just before Khorixas - it has some very large fossilized tree trunks some said to be 280 million years old.  The photo below shows one of the largest pieces.  The park also has some excellent examples of the Namibia national flower, the Welwitschia mirabilis, known to be one of the longest living plants in the world.  

Welwitschia mirabilis female

Welwitschia mirabilis male - The plant has only two leaves that grow out of a large woody stem, known as a crown, and continue to grow throughout the plant's life. Welwitschia is one of the longest-living plants on Earth, with some individuals being thousands of years old. (Wikipaedia)

This lark-like bunting was singing atop a bush

We arrived at the lodge just outside of Etosha National Park just in time for sunset.