Mowani Mountain Camp Damaraland

... They rub their bodies with red ochre and fat, a treatment that protects their skins against the harsh desert climate. The homes of the Himba of Kaokoland are simple, cone-shaped structures of saplings, bound together with palm leaves and plastered with mud and dung. The men build the structures, while the women mix the clay and do the plastering. A fire burns in the headman’s hut day and night, to keep away insects and provide light and heating. A family ...

... the desert elephants and the sundown. Neil and Paul did see elephant tracks near to our part of the camp, and the lodge does warn that elephants can be dangerous. Plenty of birdlife around here and Neil and Paul were busy taking photos. Actually saw another meerkats, a young one in the garden by the restaurant. Plenty of expansion work going on here too, the chalets look lovely ...

... get back out) to climb one of the outcrops and view some San Bushman paintings. From there we continued into the local village and then in the afternoon took another walk to climb one of the other hills although decided half way was enough in the baking sun and given the sheer rock faces. The two evenings were spent sitting around the campfire toasting marshmallows and listening to Ingwe's (one of our guides) tales of life in ...

... the kids wouldn't be satisfied by just one. The women are beautiful - more about their style of dress and hair later. Although we were encouraged to take as many pictures as we liked, I felt uncomfortable. I always feel uncomfortable taking pictures of people I do not know. It feels too much like they're an exhibit on display, and I feel like I'm taking advantage by taking their photos. Perhaps if they spoke enough English (or I spoke enough Himba!) to converse, I ...

"We drive inland through the Damaraland region with its vast and rugged terrain. Its mountain ranges are intercepted by wide gravel plains, which run into sandy, vegetated riverbeds and hot, dry valleys. We visit the Twyfelfontein area for walks to the bushmen paintings/ rock engravings as well as the Organ Pipes." 468 km/290 miles driving

... to, we went to the car park. Only, our bus wasn't there. Our guide and assistant weren't anywhere to be seen. Slightly puzzled we all huddled under the only shade we could find and pondered more and more bizarre explainations of where they could have got to and what we should do now. After about half an hour of waiting, we spotted our bus speedily bumping down the road. Apparently we'd had two flats, and as we'd used a spare tyre the other day, we only had one more spare, so they ...

... and ancient wall paintings in all of Africa. Apparently some twit of a European explorer priest tried to take it as evidence of Mediterraneans in this region ... and while he called it White Lady it is in fact a man .... The hike is easy but the heat makes it a challenge ... I walk with Godhirdine ... who can talk to beat the band ... but she is lovely ... so full of life and very intelligent. She has a wonderful way of telling the local stories and history ...

... it to your imagination of how they looked. We drove that night until after dark and set up camp for what was to be our first bush camp. What a great location, tucked in behind one of the big red boulder hills with a fantastically clear view of the Milky Way up above. Liam and Charlie decided to sleep under that stars, much to the concern of Patrick who warned them about all the scorpions and snakes in the area.