The road to Spitzkoppe

After lunch, we drove on through the desert to our camp for the night at Spitzkoppe. The landscape was very flat and dusty, but as we approached our destination, there were a number of hills and mountains, including Spitzkoppe itself, ‘the Matterhorn of Africa’.

The Spitzkoppe (from the German for "pointed dome") is a group of bald granite peaks or inselbergs located between Usakos and Swakopmund in the Namib desert of Namibia. The granite is more than 120 million years old, and the highest outcrop rises about 1,728 metres (5,669 ft) above sea level. The peaks stand out dramatically from the flat surrounding plains. The highest peak is about 670 m (2,200 ft) above the floor of the desert below.Read more