Brandenberg Mountains, Namibia
Driving through stunning Brandberg mountains on the way to our next bush camp. The journey is taking several hours and the scenery is superb. We are on a desert and the road is just a compacted dirt one so pretty bumpy but we’re used to that. There are no signs of people or human habitation around here except for the odd village. We haven’t seen seen a car for ages and we’re all alone in this ancient landscape.
(Please click on the image above to enlarge the whole gallery)
Brandberg Mountain is located in former Damaraland, now Erongo, in the northwestern Namib Desert, near the coast, and covers an area of approximately 650 km². With its highest point, the Königstein (German for ‘King’s Stone’), standing at 2,573 m above sea level and located on the flat Namib gravel plains, on a clear day ‘The Brandberg’ can be seen from a great distance. There are various routes to the summit, the easiest (also steepest) being up the Ga’aseb river valley, but other routes include the Hungurob and Tsisab river valleys. The nearest settlement is Uis, roughly 30 km from the mountain.
The core area of 450 square kilometres was declared a National Monument in 1951.
The Brandberg is a spiritual site of great significance to the San (Bushman) tribes. The main tourist attraction is The White Lady rock painting, located on a rock face with other art work, under a small rock overhang, in the Tsisab Ravine at the foot of the mountain. The ravine contains more than 1, 000 rock shelters, as well as more than 45, 000 rock painting