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Daily Archives: July 14, 2012

brandberg mountain is a big chunk of rock about three hours north-north-west of swakopmund. it is famous for having rock paintings that are over 4,000 years old, including the well known “white lady“. the place has been on our radar ever since we got here, but last weekend was when the stars finally aligned and we made it out there. we camped out at the white lady lodge, which is a gorgeous lodge/luxury tent/campsite facility right at the base of the mountain. the lodge has a history of spotty reviews from various websites, but the campsites were really nice.

there are some resident springbok and a cute but very grumpy meerkat at the lodge.

the weather was perfect – sunny and hot. it was a nice change from the fog and chill of swakopmund.

we even found kermit the frog sunbathing!

on sunday we did the one hour trek up to see the white lady. some baboons where chillaxing along the way.

the paintings are remarkably well preserved. our guide told us that the artists mixed animal fat in with the pigment which is what has made it last so long. i wonder if anything that we create will be able to reach across four millenia and be marvelled at by distant relatives.