The third Pontok and Bushmen Paintings

Welllll, the day wasn't off to a good start. We had set our alarms to 05:30am so we could pick up our guide at 06:00. At 05:40 I came to the conclusion that I had no idea where the car keys had gone. They were definitely somewhere around, as I had unlocked the car in the morning, but where were they now?

After a considerable effort by the both of us, I finally found the car keys in the folds of one of the sleeping bags in the back of our truck. We left super late and only managed to pick up our guide Gotthard at around 06:15. That soured my morning mood considerably 😒 We were actually quite worried that the guide might leave if we show up late, but we got lucky.

We loaded Gotthard into our truck, and drove deeper into the park, in order to climb up the third Pontok peak. It was quite literally a climb up, as there were many spots where we had to use our hands and knees to climb the steep slope. Along the way we learned more about Gotthard, his family history, his connection to nature and guiding, the local village and the life within it, the handling of investors by the community, the local flora and fauna, as well as some geological tidbits of info.

This was exactly the type of hike I enjoy a lot, but the morning key episode was still lingering over me for the entirety of the climb up. Only once we got to the top my mood started to improve, as I breathed in both the windy air from the very top of the rock formation, as well as gorged my eyes on the beautiful view below me.

Gotthard convinced us to take a unique photo opportunity (pic below), and we had a quick snack as an early breakfast. We were running a bit late, as we had to hit the highway again before 10:00 so that Anne could facilitate an important call with her team. The Spitzkoppe area itself was a dead zone when it came to phone signals. So, the decision was taken to try to make good time on the way down.

The track up, and down, is moderately challenging due to the very steep slope. But nonetheless we almost managed to set a new speed record for the descend 😉 With the few minutes of extra time that we gained on the way down, we decided to have Gotthard show us some of the ancient cave paintings that were found in the area.

I have to say they were a lot more interesting than how it sounded like initially. Our guide was able to explain the different intricate details that were painted by the bushmen some 4000-6000 years ago. They were drawing what they experienced and observed, for the next tribe to know what to expect from the area. The bushmen were nomadic hunters and gatherers.

After a brief goodbye it was time to hit the road again. We had a very amazing morning (with a wake up snag) and were ready to start energized into the day.Read more