Bushmen Paintings
Trip Start
Jul 17, 2010
1
57
73
Trip End
Sep 19, 2010
Spitzkoppe, Erongo, Namibia
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Before we left for the walk Kenny said “watch for the leopards”. Now they tell us, after sleeping outside overnight, that there are leopards around Spitzkoppe. The walk was around the “other” part of the outcrop, not the main peak.
Richie knew what he was talking about and pointed out plenty of things, like the “stink bush” that might put out a bad smell but is good for upset stomachs, a few different formations in the rock, how to cook up the rock hyraxes that we saw running around (stew them in their own juices as they are pretty fat as it is), the history of the Bushmen in the area.
He also said other areas in Africa may have the “big 5” but here in Bushmanland they had the “little 5” – antlion, elephant shrew, rhinoceros beetle and others. Apparently there are many painting sites but only a couple are for tourists to see, the others are kept secret.
The painting we were going to were up on top and to get there we had to climb up a steep flat section using a chain, much like going up Ayers Rock, then up in the higher section we went to a large overhang under which were the rock paintings, estimated to be up to 2000 years old. These ones seemed to be not so much a recreational thing as a billboard for passing on information to anyone else coming along.
Different animals were used to symbolise different things, such as using antelope for good hunting, white rhino facing in the direction of water. I did my bit for conservation when I suggested they put a line of something like “no more gaps” along the roof of the underhung up above the paintings to stop the water running down to them and causing more damage. They liked that idea.
Then it was back down to the truck and west to the coast. The roads were flat now but mostly sand until we got close to the coast and hit the "salt road" (something about compressing salt and sand together until its very hard) running along the coast, then headed north to the seal colony at Cape Cross.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/makemydinner/sets/72157625455956578/
