Rock Art of Namibia June, 2028 Participants:  - confirmed     - tentative  Trip Status:  TENTATIVE

Day 1 - Windhoek

With flights from Frankfurt, Jo’burg and Capetown arriving early morning (arriving a day earlier, expecially if from overseas, is possible), we should be ready to depart by late morning. We may have lunch at the very pleasant Okahandja Country Hotel on the way. After lunch we will continue to the Ameib, located at the southern part of the Erongo, where we will stay for two nights at the Ameib Gesthouse.

Day 2 - Ameib

After an early breakfast we will set out to see the “Geisterkampf” site recorded by Breuil, which should be seen as early as possible before the rising sun reaches the panels and makes them invisible for the rest of the day. Then we will drive back a bit, to make the roughly one kilometre walk to Philipp Cave, another trip highlight. This should take up all of the morning, we’ll return to the farmhouse for lunch.

In the afternoon we will will return to the central area (around and to the east of the Klein Ameib spring), with some spectacular scenery and a several more paintings.

Day 3 - Spitzkoppe

After breakfast we will drive to the prominent granite mountain of Spitzkoppe, about 50 kilometres to the west of the Erongo. In the morning we will visit the two most important Spitzkoppe sites, the "Big Rhinoceros shelter" (also known as "Sphinx shelter") with the strange sphinx-like figures, and "Bushman's Paradise", both of which were copied by the Abbé Breuil, and published (posthumously) in the sixth volume of "The rock paintings of southern Africa" series. The latter takes some effort to get up to on a steep granite slope, fortunately there is a chain installed to aid the ascent.

We will have lunch at the Spitzkoppe community restaurant, then we will continue to the more distant Kleine Spitzkoppe, where the Abbé Breuil copied two very interesting paintings ("White Ghost" and "Fine Giraffe" shelters). In the late afternoon we will return to the Spitzkoppe tented camp (accommodation in permanent tents) for the night.

Day 4 - Omandumba West

In the morning we will drive back to Omandumba West, a huge farm along the north western part of the Erongo mountains. We will stay there at the ‘Bush Camp’ with Harald & Dieke Rust for two nights. Omandumba West contains the biggest concentration of sites in the Erongo region. Harald’s father hosted the Abbé Breuil (though most of the Omandumba sites were recorded by Scherz later). We will spend the day visiting sites on various parts of the enormous farm, as much as possible timing our visits to have the best light conditions at the various panels. We will return to the Bush Camp for lunch and a little rest, then set out again in the afternoon for some more sites.

Day 5 - Tubusis & Springbokfontein

In the morning we will leave Omandumba and round the outcrops of the Erongo Mountains to the Western side towards the village of Tubusis. First we will visit a number of spectacular unpublished and very little known sites to the north of Tubusis (discovered by Harald’s father after Scherz completed his monumental catalogue). This will involve walking on some fairly easy terrain for about a kilometre and a half (there, same back) from the point where we will need to leave our minibus.

After the Tubusis sites we will take a track leading in towards the edge of the Erongo (in fact just on the other side of the ridge delimiting Omandumba to the West). This area, called Springbockfontein on account of the spring on the plain, contains a good dozen sites recorded by both Breuil and Scherz. We will spend the rest of the day visiting the best of them (with a packed lunch in the shade of one of the sites), before returning to Omandumba for the night.

Day 6 - Omandumba - Anibib

In the morning we will make a round of the remaining Omandumba sites, then will continue to Anibib, the farm immediately to the north of Omandumba. We will stay at the Ai Aiba lodge built in a very picturesque location among huge granite boulders. After lunch we will make a visit to the Western part of Anibib, where the Abbé Breuil recorded a number of sites when he visited Anibib and Omandumba.

Day 7 - Ekuta

In the morning before breakfast we will visit another group of fine sites immediately behind the lodge, which need to be viewed before the sun rises above the Erongo, as they are partially on the sun for the rest of the day. After breakfast we will make the roughly 45 minute drive to Otjimisauna farm, deep in the interior of the Erongo, owned by the Hinterholzer family for over 100 years now. In the late morning we will visit an intriguing series of engravings, a little change from the more common paintings of the area.

We will have lunch at the Erongo Lodge, then drive to the adjacent Ekuta farm, the home of Karl Hinterholzer, to visit the amazing Ekuta cave, one of the absolute trip highlights. Ekuta Cave is one of (if not THE) richest rock art sites in Namibia, discovered by Karl himself when he was a small child about 70 years ago. The track is not passable for our minibus, we need to take a 4WD, we may spend a long time marveling at these superb paintings, which must be visited in the afternoon for best light.

In the late afternoon we will drive via Omaruru to Eremutua, a huge cattle farm owned for generations by the Nitsche family. The farm is a really special place, an island of old Africa, very different from the other lodges and guest farms. A new guest block has recently been completed, we will be some of the first ones to use the new facilities.

Day 8 - Eremutua – Aspro - Twyfelfontein

The Eremutua paintings are located on a small scenic granite knoll a few hundred metres from the farmhouse. These were recorded by Ernst Rudolf Scherz in the nineteen forties, Friedhof Nitsche still remembers him from his childhood. We can spend the entire morning at the hill, all the sites are within walking distance, some requiring a bit of scrambling up among the rocks.

After lunch we will drive north east via Aspro farm (with a nice site just by the road) to Khorixas (to fuel), then continue to the Twyfelfontein Lodge where we will spend two nights.

Day 9 - Twyfelfontein

Twyfelfontein is the finest site with engravings in Southern Africa. We will move to a very different landscape, leaving the granite outcrops and entering a golden sandstone country. We will visit the principal sites in the morning, After lunch we will spend the afternoon visiting some remote, seldom visited engravings and paintings in the area.

Day 10 - Twyfelfontein - Uis

In the morning we may visit a number of sites in the area (Grosse Blockberg, Blaauwpoort) then continue south towards Uis via the site of Sosode. We should reach Uis by midday-early afternoon, after the packed days there will be an opportunity to relax a bit by the pool and lick wounds at the Brandberg Restcamp (two nights’ accommodation in poolside rooms), where we will also have dinner.

Day 11 - Brandberg, Tsisab Gorge

With an early morning start we will drive to the entrance of the Tsisab Gorge on the Eastern side of the Brandberg, to spend the entire day in the valley. We will require about two hours to get up to the Tsisab Island, including a long stop at the White Lady site. There are a number of principal sites (and several minor ones) on the Island, we will spend the late morning and early afternoon visiting them, with a pause for lunch (which we will carry with us, together with about 3 litres of water for the day) at one of the sites. In the afternoon we will climb up to the "Girl's School" shelter, which is above the valley on the Northern Side, then return to the car park and Uis by sunset.

Day 12 - Uis - Windhoek

In the morning we will make a small detour to visit the sites of Kaukausib (also recorded by E.R. Scherz) about a dozen kilometres east of Uis, then will continue to Okahandja for lunch, before driving to Windhoek. We will be back in time to catch the late afternoon flight departures to Jo’burg / Cape Town or the evening direct flight to Frankfurt.

Optional Extras
These side trips may be organised both before and after the core trip, on a self-drive basis using 4WD pickups (or if everyone wishes to participate, Etosha may be visited with the minibus straight after Twyfelfontein instead of returning to Uis, saving a day).

TWO DAYS - Sossusvlei - Namib Naukluft National park

Sossusvlei is picture-book Namibia, with the huge red dunes of the Namib Desert towering over the riverbed disappearing among the sand. For those having more time, there will be an option to make a two day self-drive (with a 4wd pickup, equipped with rooftop tents) excursion to Sosssusvlei, driving in the morning of the first day to Sesriem at the entrance of Sossusvlei via Rehoboth and the C24/M47, staying at the Sesriem Campsite at the entrance, inside the park. In the afternoon one may drive to the dunes and spend the rest of the afternoon there till sunset. There is an opton to return to the dunes for sunrise (or later in the morning) before driving back to Windhoek. (Note, this may be extended to three days with two nights at Sesriem to allow a fill day at Sossusvlei. Staying at the Sossus Dune Lodge is also an (expensive) opion.)

THREE DAYS - Etosha National Park

Etosha is one of the prime game viewing locations in southern Africa, requiring a minimum of three days to visit (self drive). It is a good half-day drive from Windhoek staying at Okaukuejo for the first night, converging on the lodge waterhole for sunset when there is the greatest activity. If in luck, there will be more action at the waterhole after dinner. The next day one may take a morning game drive to the various water holes around Okakuejo, returning for a late breakfast. Checking out, drive accross the park towards the East, making loops to waterholes and scenic spots along the way, and stopping for lunch at Halali. In the afternoon continue to Namutoni, again spending time at the various nearby waterholes until sunset when one must enter the lodge grounds adjacent to the old German fort. There may be some more game drives around Namutoni in the morning before heading back to Windhoek.

Day 13 - Etosha - Windhoek

Make the long drive back to Windhoek (~380 kilometres), with a stop in Okahandja for lunch, reaching Windhoek by mid-afternoon. For the night we will again stay at the Pension Moni.

Back to planned expeditions...