Burning Mountain

We have just had 3 nights’ camping in the Brandberg.

Brandberg Mountain is Namibia’s highest mountain (2606 m) and well known for the thousands of bushman rock art paintings that have been found in the area. Brandberg Mountain is located in Damaraland, in the northwestern Namib Desert, 3.5 hours North East of Walvis Bay (of which 3 hours are dirt road.

The name Brandberg is Afrikaans, Dutch and German for Fire Mountain, which comes from its glowing colour which is sometimes seen in the setting sun. The Damara name for the mountain is Dâures, which means ‘burning mountain’, while the Herero name, Omukuruvaro means ‘mountain of the Gods’. It is an extinct volcano (see satellite image below).

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 artwork. The ravine contains more than 1 000 rock shelters, as well as more than 45 000 rock paintings. The so-called White Lady (see below) was first discovered in 1918 by German explorer and topographer Reinhard Maack as he was surveying the Brandberg. Later studies showed the 'her' to be a 'him': a shaman/witchdoctor.

To reach the White Lady it is necessary to hike for about 40 minutes over rough terrain, along the ancient watercourses threading through the mountain. It is very arid and finding water can be difficult or impossible. In summer temperatures over 40°C are routine. It was very hot in the daytime when we were there, and it is barely out of Winter!