From Khorixas we headed into Damaraland proper – more like desert and home to Himba / Herero people.
The Herero dress in almost traditional ‘Victorian’ clothing, except in bright colours like something from a Beryl Cook picture.

Whereas the Himba are a little less formally dressed (covering themselves in a mixture of red-ochre, fat and aromatic resins).

These people are known as Ovahimba and are much more traditional of the area.
They are occasionally seen in town when shopping – not what you’d expect at Tesco in the UK, but quite frequent in the Spar in the local towns. The covering is applied continuously to their hair and bodies to protect them from the sun.

Deciding whether or not to take photographs is tricky – although this is totally natural and in no way touristic, it’s still feels slightly awkward and potentially intrusive.
Helene choses to protect herself in alternative fashion…

The boots are a recent addition after hearing tales of Spitting Cobras, Black Mambas, etc from some of the campsite owners.
Not that we’ve seen any.
But you cant be too careful – we did come across these guys in the showers the other day…

…and this guy took us by surprise (a foot long, although totally harmless)…

You still don’t really want him around your feet while on the loo.

Whilst on the back roads (‘D’ & ‘F’ roads – shocking condition) towards Uis, we drove through superb countryside – The Klipsfinger Terraces.

Like something from the USA Mid-west deserts.
Klipsfinger itself is a natural obelisk. The largest left standing in Southern / Western Africa at approximately 400ft tall.

Very remote – we saw maybe 2 vehicles all day and travelled about 250km.
The only sign of life was the occasional hut of someone, away from the road (I use the term road loosely) making charcoal.

In the middle of nowhere really is a National Monument.
The Petrified Forest.
An area of about 100km2 where ancient fossilised trees have been protected from looters / souvenir-hunters.
Wonderful place: only a few dollars to enter and great guides to show us around.
Gabriel was our guide and explained how the trees were originally in North Africa and brought to Namibia in glaciers during the Ice-Age to what was to become South West Africa / South America.

The trees were then trapped in ancient mud.
Over thousands of years the acids in the soil ate away the wood, and the rotted wood was replaced with stone.

The largest uncovered so far is over 60 metres long and the fossilised stone exactly replicates the wood texture.

Even down to the annual rings of the trunk where the stone has split…

We camped that night at Twyfelfontein Community Camp but moved on the following day as unfortunately there was no water available in either the showers or the toilets – pretty typical of this area at the moment, almost drought conditions and the people at the camp explained how the cattle at the local farms wander freely (up to 40 miles) just to find water since there is little available locally.
A couple camped next to us thought it important to complain to the staff loudly and grumpily – but what are the staff supposed to do?
When cattle have no water & people have no water it seems a little shallow to make a fuss over the lack of a shower for a day or two.
After another long hard day on the road we arrived at Brandenberg Rest Camp in Uis (the headquarters of an old Tin Mine which closed 15 years ago).
A quirky place run by a real cast of ‘characters’.
A good place to stop for a couple of days.
Plenty of water for showers.
A tv to watch Ireland v All Blacks rugby.
Plus the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Marvellous.
However, the best part of the stay was meeting up with Luis – a Brazilian backpacker who has recently hitched round Asia and then down from North Africa.
We got the chance to spend a couple of mornings with him over coffee…

… before he headed off north towards Etosha.

Really nice guy, with a great attitude.
Hope we will get the chance to stay in touch.
He gave us a ‘charm’ to keep us safe on our travels and it has pride of place in ‘Yardarm’

Apologies for the incredibly long post – it’s been a long time since we had internet and much has happened.
ps – view from The Penthouse the other night…

Next – Swapokmund and Spitzkoppe.