Today we have a long way ahead of us so we wake up early and walk to the breakfast area which is quite far away from our room. Along the way we see and especially hear lots of birds including some local sparrows.
The breakfast is buffet-type and relatively good with eggs again as the main dish, as expected. By this point we are getting sick of eggs but we still have a lot more egg days ahead of us.
The lodge has quite a few interesting sculptures that we examine and a nearby landing strip for richer tourists. We walk around for a while and try hard to find cell phone reception and finally get it in the parking lot and call our kayaking guide for the next day to confirm the reservation. Then we load the car and drive to the lodge’s work station that is 6 km from the lodge and is supposed to have gas so we can top up. Unfortunately they have only diesel and leaded gas and our car needs unleaded so we move on to Twyfelfontein which is both a National Monument and Namibia’s first Unesco World Heritage Site protecting a large area full of petroglyphs.
After parking (again there is a guard watching over the cars) we walk to the visitor center where we pay the entrance fee, fill out our details in the guestbook and get a guide for the tour. From the beginning he gives us a choice of the 2 trails, Dancing Kudu (1/2h easy) and Lion Man (1h more difficult but with more petroglyphs). We choose the longer one and on we go passing the ruins of a farm which the previous owners had to leave as the water level from the permanent fountain nearby dropped dangerously.
Otherwise the trail starts slowly with only one panel initially but it is not boring as the guide is showing us different plants along the way as we approach the more petroglyph rich area.
The most interesting things in this section, until we reach the main panel sites, are a tree that looks like an elephant foot and a dassie rat, a very cute local rat.
Then we arrive at the petroglyphs which are interesting representing the diverse fauna both in the area and further away. There are petrogyphs of penguins and seals that are found only on the coast 100 km away for example showing the range the local nomad community traveled. There are also engravings of animals with human features including the well known Lion Man which are supposed to show shamans that are in trance and have taken an animal shape.
We examine the petroglyphs for some time and enjoy the many details that can be seen throughout before moving on to the next panels.
The guide presents the petroglyphs as being a way for the San, the local nomad people, to teach their children about the different animals and their footprints as well as maps of permanent and temporary waterholes in the area. It is interesting but quite exhausting especially as the temperature starts to climb and we are happy that we visited in the morning.
We pass a few larger tours and are happy that we are on a private tour as we loop back towards the entrance meeting a few ground squirrels along the way. As we reach the parking lot we tip the guide and start the long drive to Swakopmund, we have a long day ahead of us.
