Twyfelfontein
Dear Readers, after spending time at Swakopmund we headed north to Damaraland, to see the rock engravings at Twyfelfontein. The Afrikaans name means ‘uncertain spring’, and indeed this is an area of very low rainfall. The Damara name is ‘ǀUi-ǁAis’, which means ‘jumping waterhole’. You can see just how important water is, and has always been, to this region.
I’d been a bit worried about how my leg and feet would hold out on this trip, and this walk was perhaps the sternest challenge – it was very hot, and the path was rocky, steep and in places precipitous. At one point I wasn’t sure if I could make a particularly tricky section, only to be hoisted up by John and another strong chap from the tour. I was so glad I managed it (with a bit of help), because look….
The rocks are covered in engravings dating between 6,000 and 2,000 years old. In the one above you an see a giraffe, some ostrich and various antelopes – it’s thought that this might a) have served the practical purpose of letting people know what animals were about, and/or b) have served a shamanic purpose, to encourage success in hunting.
The image of the lion, below, has puzzled scholars for quite a while. The ‘lion’ with the long tail is thought to have human toes, while the long, kinked tail has either a pugmark or a face at the end. You can also see a very fine giraffe, an elephant, a rhino and another ostrich.
Clearer photo of ‘the lion man’ by By Thomas Schoch – own work at http://www.retas.de/thomas/travel/namibia2003/index.html, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=726303
Well, after all that excitement it was time to go and see if we could find the famous desert-adapted elephants who live in the area. These are the same species as other Namibian elephants, but they seem to be able to manage on less water. However, when they find water they enjoy it as much as any other elephant, and one of the local villages has built an enormous water tank so that the elephants can drink.
We caught up with them just before lunch, and were able to spend a wonderful half an hour watching them.
Baby elephant playing with his sibling
Baby elephant playing with his sibling.
It’s always such a pleasure to spend time watching animals going about their business, and the water tank means that the elephants have a reliable source of water when they pass this way, which is only occasionally – we were very lucky indeed. They are a bonus for the villagers too, who benefit from the tourists who pass by to see if the elephants are about, and who will stop to buy from the local shop. It’s a win-win for everyone, and a much better source of regular revenue than that that comes from a big-game hunter – most of the money from hunting goes to the local elites, whereas this money is spread more equally. It’s so important for local people to get benefit from conservation measures: these are some of the poorest people in the world. Here, at least, it feels as if things are working.
A fine row of elephant bottoms!