Spitzkoppe, Namibia by the kids.

On the 31st we drove to Spitzkoppe (pronounced: spit-s-cop) it is a bunch of really big boulders and rocks, here’s some history of how it was made (and some other stuff). Spitzkoppe is German for “pointed dome”, Spitzkoppe isn’t the only name it has it is often referred to as “the Matterhorn of Namibia”. The highset elevation of any point is 1728m above sea level and 670m above the ground, Spitzkoppe isn’t the only mountain in the area, not far away is little Spitzkoppe, it is 1557m above sea level and then a bit further over is what is known as the Pontok mountains. Spitzkoppe was made in the Damara Orogeny, 210 million years ago, it was a huge geological event that changed the scenery of Namibia, over millions of years, wind and erosion smoothed down the rock granite surface to make it smooth and look like it was carved specifically. Other than the scenery there is rock painting from the Khoi San people, the paintings were made 2000-4000 years ago.
When we got to Spitzkoppe we found our camp set up I played on a big rock near the camp site, then we made dinner and went to sleep.
On the 1st we went to a national park, Spitzkoppe is in the national park, we paid the entrance fee and went in, in this park we were allowed to get out of the car because there weren’t many animals. When we found a nice rock, we got out and started climbing it (yes, we are allowed to do that in this park), we climbed up a bit and then we got to the top, the view was beautiful, it was worth coming up here. We looked out at the land scape and then we went down the rock and into the car, when we kept going we went to the place with the rock paintings, to go up we had to get a guide, there were some guides waiting there though. There was no fixed price but you had to pay a tip of some amount of money, when we got a guide we went up the rock and into a place that there was a bunch of rock hanging out over it. and then I saw it, a human painted into the side of the wall, there was other stuff like animals and, well it was basically just animals and humans, we looked at it for a while and now here is some facts that we learnt. Emma covered a lot so I’m only talking about a bit of it, the paintings were made in red & white colours, red was made with blood and ochre, and white was made with bone, ostrich egg yolk and surprisingly hyrax pee, (which was white). After that we went down to the car and we kept driving and went to another rock that we could climb, then we went to a little track, me and dad did it (mum and Emma were too tired). On the path we didn’t see much just rocks and birds, we came down after a bit and went back to the car and came back to camp to make dinner and sleep.
On the 2nd we didn’t do much we just stayed at the camp doing blog and schoolwork, after that we went to bed.
On the 3rd we packed up the tents and went to the national park, we went in there hoping it would be a good day. When we got in we went to a big rock to climb (I’m enjoying all this climbing), then we went to that track we went to yesterday, but this time with mum & Emma. After that we went to another big rock to climb, we sat up the top discussing were to go next, we didn’t go any where we just sat there looking at the land scape, it was beautiful. After that we went down and drove around a bit more, and then went back to the camp to do blog and then we had a fire and then we went to sleep.
Andrew (10 years old)

Good morning peeps. We are up to our blog for Spitzkoppe. Take a look.
On the 31st we drove to Spitzkoppe. It took about 1 hour and 30 minutes. We found our campsite and set up. We were next to a big rock, so me and Andrew climbed on it, then we had dinner around the fire.
On the 1st it was our first day in the park. The entrance fee was a lot. We got in, drove around, saw a rock and decided we wanted to climb it. When we got to the rock, we got out. Then we noticed there was a camp there. An angry man came out and told us that we weren’t meant to come into camps. We told him that all we wanted to do was climb the rock, but he would not listen. In the end they left, and we climbed the rock. We found out that all the good spots were camps. Some of the rocks looked like they were rock giants. There was one rock that looked like a hand poking out of the ground. And then there was some that looked like people.
After that we went up a big rock to look at cave painting. In the paintings, we saw humans and animals. The Khoisan people were the ones who painted the paintings. Facts about the Khoisan people. They did the paintings 2000 or 4000 years ago. The made their paint with bones, Hyrax pee, (A Hyrax is an animal that is small and brown and fast. And surprisingly related to elephants.) ostrich yolk and animal blood. The animals helped the Khoisan people. The elephants and rhinos help by leading the Khoisan people to water. The Khoisan people hunted the other animals for meat. When the Khoisan people hunted, they did not talk, they used the clicking language. The clicking language is a language where they click with their mouth. The Khoisan people disguise as animals to get close to them and when they are close enough, they’d fire poison arrows at the animals. They did not kill pregnant animals. The reason why they did not kill pregnant animals was because if they did, the animals might go extinct. They used the skin of animals to make clothes, the meat to eat, the blood and the bones for painting. They used an ostrich egg as a water bottle. They would get the egg, shake it up, puncture a hole in it and tip the yolk out. Then they would put honey in it and put it next to an ant nest. They would put it next to an ant nest, because the ants would eat the honey while cleaning the egg. After a few hours, the Khoisan people would come and tip the ants out and fill the egg with water. They would close the hole off with a stick.
The rocks were on an angle which made it hard to climb. Even if it was hard to climb, I would not have made it up as quick at the beginning of the trip. When we were going down, we saw Hyraxes. They were cute. Then we had a sandwich. Then we went to an arch. It was made from rock. We had to climb to get to the arch. It was world made. We took a couple photos and then climbed the arch it wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t easy either. Dad and Adnrew climbed a big rock next to the arch, while me and mum watched. When me and mum were sitting, we saw a baby hyrax. It was so itty bitty.
On the 2nd we did blog and schoolwork. Then we played our computer.
On the 3rd we went to the park. we got in, drove around and found a rock we wanted to climb. We started climbing, but my pants got spiky plants in them, so we turned back. It was an amazing view. We saw hyraxes, birds and lizards. Did a bit of hiking, climbing, walking and driving. I felt pain because of the plants. I felt tied from the hiking. We listened to harry potter. Then we went home and blogged. Night-night.
Tomorrow we’re going to our next destination which is Swakopmund.
Emma (3 month of being 9 years old!)Weiterlesen