Southern Africa - Day 13

Saturday, 25 January 2020 - Namibia

Today is Appa’s birthday! Luckily I already wished him yesterday when there is good internet because there is no internet here in Brandberg. 

Today we hike the Brandberg Mountain for a bit - about 2.5 km in and 2.5 km out to see another ancient rock art known as the ‘White Lady’. The Brandberg Mountain range is a massive granite intrusion, exposed by erosion of the earth’s surface following the breakup of the American and African continents. Weakness in the crust admitted many similar intrusions, one of which is Spitzkoppe (this happened about 120 million years ago). 

You could see the layers of history in the rocks here. The black is dolerite, brown is granite and there is basalt too. The basalt is used to make weapons by the nomadic bushmen of yesteryears. The ancient people viewed the mountain as a sacred place; they used to hold rituals for many purposes, including healing and making rain. During ritual dances, medicine men wore rattles made from insect cocoons around their ankles.  

We traveled through pretty easy but rough terrain along the gorge of the normally dry Tsisab River. I think we were actually walking on the river bed because I saw many black stones with smooth surfaces; to me it looked like river rocks. On the way we saw many acacia trees torn down by elephants, sometimes they break the branches so that they can eat the leaves and smaller branches. We were walking in the track of elephants! We also saw an albino sherbet tree, leopard dung and tracks, and a male elephant’s bedroom (right beside the river but now it is dry). 

Then the White Lady rock art, one of more than 4,000 rock paintings in this area. From carbon dating techniques, these paintings are between 2,000 to 5,000 years old. The White Lady is about 2,000 years old and it is the most famous rock art in this area. The colours of the paintings are polycrome (different colours - white, red, yellow) or monochrome (only red or only white). 

As I have mentioned before, the bushmen were nomadic people and hunter gatherers, so they used rock art as a way of communicating with other nomadic bushmen.

And here is the secret of the White Lady. It is not a lady at all! It is a shaman with a bow and arrow and an ostrich egg. The “ White Lady” medicine man was a real person who practiced as a healer in this area. When the men go out hunting they wear animal skin on their heads as camouflage, and this is depicted in the rock art.

Before making our way back we went to see the highest peak of the Brandberg Mountain, which is the highest peak in Namibia. It takes 3 days to hike up there, you have to bring 10 litres of water and sleeping bags on your own. 

On the way back down poor Yetta (it is actually spelt Jette 😅) slipped on some stones and fell down twice! To fall down at her age is no joke and I was quite worried for her but she seemed ok. When we reached the truck we checked her wounds and luckily it was only a few scratches here and there. Then we continued our journey to the area of Kamanjab.

After checking into the guesthouse, we just hung out in the afternoon with beers, swimming, and songs. Then dinner and after dinner we had some brandy. Then everyone went to bed and it was only me and Jette chit chatting for some time. I really like her too. Both Rigmar and Jette remind me of Amma and yet they are the polar opposites of Amma. I thought about it and I think what these 3 fantastic women have in common is the amount of strength they possess, and they don’t even know it. 

I’d like to take this opportunity to declare that I really love my mother although we’ve had our differences in the past and even now. It wasn’t always an easy relationship but at least it was a relationship of love. For that, I am forever grateful.