Considering my sleeping conditions, the desert floor is very hard, I had a fairly good nights sleep. We woke to a chilly winter morning and an amazing sunrise, literally a red ball rising in the east. After a shower and breakfast we disassembled the camp site. The first night of set up and take down is always a bit rusty but we were ready to leave by 8:30, after jump starting Tony’s car.
Today we travelled from Damaraland into the Kaokoveld.
The first stretch this morning was along a freshly graded road, what a pleasure. There is a fair amount of vegetation around. We came to a T-junction, with the mountain behind us we turned left to Khorixas. We passed villagers of Hereros and Ovahimbas posing on the side of the road. We passed over mountainous regions with a variety of biomes, including areas of euphorbia and mopani.
We stopped for a quick leg stretch, George headed off to find bird species, the girls discussed welwitschias – so academic – and Gray & Tony had the bonnet of Tony’s car open, sorting out battery systems. Al joked that that the Discovery driver has spent lots of time fixing the Prado.
On entry into the Khorixas District we crossed the dry river bed of the Ugab River and into an area with Mopani tree vegetation.The area is more populated, the main mode of transport is donkey cart.
The last 8 km into Khorixas, was on tar. It is a neat, clean rural town. We stopped for fuel and headed along a hilly dirt road to the petrified forests. This morning we decided to forgo an arduous 2 hour mountain hike to visit the rock painting of the ‘White Lady’. We were however very happy to take the 800m tour of the Petrified Forest. A forest, it is not, it is dry and rocky and fascinating. The area boasts petrified pine trees that were washed down into the valley 280 million years ago. There are various minerals embedded in the wood. It is also an area of fascinating flora. The guide got a little concerned when I backed into a euphorbia bush (to take a pic), the poison of which is used by the bushman to dart animals. There are also a number of Welwitschia, but they are are smaller than those we saw yesterday. Our guide explained the difference between the male and female and their form of pollination. We really have become fascinated with these plants. We saw a few bird species and an agama (gecko).
The next gravel road stretch took us over an attractive mountain pass to Bergsig. We saw ellie dung but unfortunately no ellies.
Our final destination for the day was Bergsig. The town consisted of a few buildings, no shops or other amenities. Here we passed into a veterinary controlled area – we are not allowed to take meat or animals out this area – animals won't be a problem.
We camped at Palmwag under some beautiful….palms. After setting up we went for a walk along the river area. It is luscious and green along the river bed and we saw an elephant in the distance.
Unfortunately an overlandtruck full of Spaniards arrived that evening and camped next to us. They were rather loud.
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