From Henties Bay after driving north up the salt road we headed west into Damaraland into the desert towards Messum Crater.
On the way to Messum Crater we stopped to look at some of the plant life that survives in the desert – it is called the Welwitschia Mirabilis – some of these plants are estimated to be between 1000 and 1500 years old. These pics show different aspects of this plant.
This area is remote and we used all the aspects of our overland vehicles – with own water supplies, fridges, – we camped in the wild after driving round looking for a spot out of the wind – within a few minutes of deciding on a spot we had a full camp established
And after all the driving around there is always an opportunity to bring out the guitar and sing a tune or two
Messum Crater (in the Goboboseb Mountains) is over 20km in diameter, creating a vast lost world. – you feel isolated but with our fellow travellers and the evidence that people have come this way before – there is an assurance that all is well
Some evidence is not so good (like toilet paper in the wild) other evidence is of a more intriguing nature – Adrian and Andre found a little cave around the corner with some very good bushman paintings
The next morning we climbed the mountains above our camp site and had a wonderful panoramic view of the crater – this is the view looking due east – you can just make out our camp on the bottom left
this is the panoramic view due west – you can see the vehicles on the right
the drive out heading due west toward the Brandberg mountains was along a very rocky and harsh terrain
we used two way radios to keep in touch using call signs “Safari 1” “Safari 2”, “Safari 3” and “Safari 4”
and stopped along the way for leg stretches and views
We were now heading toward the overnight stop at the base of the Brandberg Mountain range in the Ugap river-bed – you can see the mountain range in the background – we skirted around to the left (north end) of the Mountains into the Ugap river bed
