Damara Living... Twyfelfontein

Leaving the beautiful Etosha Park behind, we ventured onto our next destination Twyfelfontein. Twyfelfontein is a semi desert, savanna, shrubland and the home to the Damara tribe. We stopped at a Damara Living Museum which enabled us to gain an insight into their way of life. The boys were encouraged to try and make fire (allowing them the pick of the women) while the women were taught how to cater for the men including the traditional medcines that are used.

Twyfelfontein is also home to two other sites we visited, the ancient bushman rock carvings and the petrified rock forest. The petrified rock forest was our lunch stop where we were amazed to see how wood had formed into stone and rock. Visiting the ancient carvings took us further into the desert. The bushman predominantly carved pictures of animals and their track; the most carved animal was the antelope. The ancient site also boasted a natural water spring which allowed us to cool down in the blistering Namibian heat.

Our campsite for the night was next to a beautiful dried out river bed. A group of locals came and greeted us with singing and dancing and of course we were all encouraged to join in. One of their songs was an ode to the popular South African drink of Amarula. Coincidently that evening our group had invested in a bottle of Amarula to celebrate the arrival in Twyfelfontein. Click on the link to hear the song and listen to local women talking in Oshiwambo with lots of clicks and pops  http://youtu.be/CkA-vEMB6nQ

After our beautiful sing along we grabbed our Amaraula and blankets and headed to the river bed... (not to mention our torches to watch out for the scorpions). We sat there for a couple of hours under a blanket of stars. This was truely an amazing experience! The sky was full of stars, the milkyway was so clear and the nearest light pollution was miles away. The amount of shooting stars we saw that night was phenominal.