Having never driven a car of this size it has to be said mum did quite well - I even let her drive on gravel ;0)
We had to have the compulsory size of the car shots though...
"I know a lot about cars, man. I can look at any car's headlights and tell you exactly which way it's coming." - Mitch Hedberg
So, after a drive down from Rehoboth to just north of Keetmanshoop this is where we ended up - with the Quiver trees...
"The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself."- William Blake
As we arrived early we decided to go down the road a bit further to the Megasaurus man, sorry I mean the Meseosaurus man, oh hang on let me look it up.....Mesosaurus man (got it!). After driving 30kms down the road mum was convinced we had taken a wrong turn (no the country really is this quiet!).
We landed at a little hut with a charming old gent who shared what he had found on his farm with us...
Firstly we were shown the graves from the war - a lot of farms have the graves of German soldiers here. These men were literally buried where they were killed - one on either side of this hill.
The there were the fossils....One day when they were farming the son found a rock with a crack in it - he opened it up and there was a fossil. The fossil have been analysed and match with fossils of the same species in South America and exist as evidence of Gondwana (what the land mass was called before S America and Africa split apart).
Mainly fossilised ribs.
"The belief that the animals exist because God created them - and that he created them so we can better meet our needs - is contrary to our scientific understanding of evolution and, of course, to the fossil record, which shows the existence of non-human primates and other animals millions of years before there were any human beings at all." - Peter Singer
Amazing the patterns they produce.
On his farm he also had some amazing Quiver trees so called as the san used to make quivers from their branches and trunks - amazingly light. The tree itself is actually an aloe and they live like cacti on stony sandy ground. The Quiver trees favour the dolomite rocks which emit heat after the sun has gone down.
Very smooth bark
Rare to see them in flower - only in the winter.
Our host also played a couple of tunes on the dolomite rocks for us - one of the groups of rocks he had together played Frere Jacques when hit in the right places- seriously!
Amazing sociable weaver nest found on the way off his farm.
We drove back down the road to our nights lodgings, on the edge of the official Quiver Tree forest. Here we stayed in 'igloos' left over from the army, very strange place to sleep, but pretty awesome!
“May you have warmth in your igloo, oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart”.- Eskimo Proverb
Inside view.
The food at this camp was pretty unusual with the evening meal being bobotie (like shepards pie but egg instead of mash) which is one of my least favourite meals - this one had banana slice on the top - eeeew! (They saved themselves with a good malva pudding for desert).
In the morning we decided to see the official Quiver tree forest and giants playground. We were directed to go 'left up the hill, not to the right as that took you behind the campsite'. With my off roading gusto in full flair off I set 'up the hill', now I know it doesn't look like much (see below), but bear in mind the rocks and if you can see the actual angle of the road you will realise we were on a 45 dagree angle to the left going over bumps and boulders as we went, with a sharp turn at the top.
"Back up five feet and mat it" - anon, Jeep fourm
"Oh was that a tree I hit? " - Bryan, Jeep forum
"I can't count the number of time my uncle Scotty said "don't worry about the rocks"- Mikey, Jeep forum
Anyway, after a twenty minute drive round the property, including a drive through the feet of an electricity pylon and a sheep kraal and meeting some South Africans who had also gone up that hill with a trailer on the back of their bakkie we finally found where we were supposed to be - on a very easy road to take where the 'hill' in question was a minor bump in the road!
THE hill.
Quiver tree forest.
From the forest we headed down to the 'Giants playground' made of huge dolomite rocks that have weathered and cracked into unusual formations...
From here we refuelled in Keetmanshoop and without lingering. A grubby little boy ushered us into a parking spot and offered to watch the car (common in towns to ask someone to watch the car and pay then a dollar or two) as we left the car a young guy in his twenties told us this young boys brother was the biggest thief in town and our car would be stolen he offered to watch it. I told him I'd asked the little lad. Heading into the supermarket wondering what would be left of the car, we were quick! The car was fine and the little lad was still waiting and watching, so he got a few more dollars for his effort than usual, he skipped off with his winnings as we left which was nice to see (as was the presence of the car).
"The world is getting to be such a dangerous place, a man is lucky to get out of it alive."- W. C. Fields
Once refuelled we were back on the B1 - road signs pointing to South Africa... the hot springs of /Ai-/Ais and Fish River canyon here we come.....
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