Desert Adventures
“I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams..”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The northern reaches of the great Namib Desert extend 450 km into Angola where it is also known as the Namibe or Mocamedes Desert. The coastal sand seas support the second highest sand dunes in the world and annual rainfall may be as little as 2 mm a year. Further from the sea the landscape consists of gravel plains and rocky outcrops. We have long been huge fans of desert beauty, and were keen to experience the Angolan variety, so we set our noses east and south into the desert landscape, weighed down with as much fuel and water as we could carry.
Tchitundu Hulu
We left Flamingo Lodge early while the temperature remained cool and there was light mist on the ground.
We were headed for 2000 year old rock paintings at Tchitundu Hulu, in the Namib desert. 180 km away. Even though we started on tar the road quickly deteriorated to a stony sandy track. 180 km took us 6 hours and we arrived in the middle of the midday desert heat.
Tchitundu-Hulu is the name for a group of four rock art sites grouped together, Tchitundu-Hulu Mulume, Tchitundu-Hulu Mucai, Pedra das Zebras (rock of the zebras) and Pedra da Lagoa (rock of the pond).
The name of Tchitundu-Hulu has different interpretations in the local languages, the hill of heaven, the hill of the souls or the sacred hill.
The cave at the bottom of Tchitundu-Hulu Mucai
Tchitundu-Hulu Mulume
The site is a semi-arid plain characterized by the presence of inselbergs (isolated hills rising from the plain). Of the four sites, Tchitundu-Hulu Mulume is the largest and most important, located at the top of an inselberg, 726m in height.
The slopes of the outcrop are covered by large engravings, most of them consisting of circle-like shapes, although some human figures or animals are also present.
In an overhang on the top of the outcrop images can be found, paintings in red or white geometric shapes.
In comparison, Tchitundu-Hulu Mucai is situated on the plain around 1 km away, in a rock outcrop containing engravings on the top and a cave at its base covered by painted rock art. The other two sites consist of similar engravings made in different periods.
The current resident tribes here are the Nhaneca Humbe and Mucubal tribes. Those we met were, I think, Mucubal, nomadic pastoralists who migrated from the Great Lakes. The men wear loin clothes and carry a curved scimitar. The girls have stiff square hats and are bare breasted with a rope around their chests as a sort of bra. They live in tiny conical huts.
We arrived without much idea where to start but by chance parked right next to the cave at Tchitundu-Hulu Mucai. The paintings were vivid and abstract and unlike any cave paintings we have seen before. Certainly unlike our familiar bushmen paintings.
They are said to be similar to the schematic traditions that characterize the rock art of Central Africa.
After about 30 minutes 2 local boys and a girl pitched up and by means of mime they agreed to guide us to Tchitundu-Hulu Mulume.
They wore some of the traditional dress and the younger boy had a boom box which was solar powered and thumping rap music. They were friendly and had only cheap plastic shoes on for scrabbling around the rocks but lept like sure footed klipspringers over the boulders.
Eventually we reached a large sloping rock face which was covered in engravings. They were weathered and faded and becoming more damaged by wear and slippage of the rocks. Some paintings were in the cave at the top but Carmen and I stayed down as the surface of the rock was steep and slippy. It was also so hot.
The chronology of the Tchitundu-Hulu rock art is difficult to establish, and it is unclear if the four sites are of the same period at all. Stone tools found throughout the area have been radiocarbon dated to the first millennia BC. A sample taken from the paint pigments at the site gave a date at the beginning of the first century AD. It is likely paintings and engravings were added over a period of time.
The question of who made the engravings or paintings is another issue. The sites are surrounded by several seasonal rivers. It is likely this was a strategic seasonal site for nomadic communities living in the region. Who created the engravings and paintings, the motives for them and the purpose and cultural context of the images remains unknown
The vast stony barren landscape, the amazing history and the sense that nothing much had changed here in millennia was powerful. The exposed engravings are very vulnerable to the harsh climate and the scrambling feet of tourists. No one seems to care where you walk. If they are going to survive some better protection is needed but then you will be denied the experience of seeing them in their natural environment.
View from the top of Tchitundu-Hulu Mulume
Pediva Springs
By about 2.30 we waved bye to our new friends at Tchitundu Hulu and continued south. Our next destination was a hot springs at Pediva.
It was getting late and the road was slow and atrocious in places so at about 5 we veered off and camped behind some boulders.
No people were around but a couple of motor bikes went past. The guys just laughed and left us alone.
It was a beautiful calm night and we slept well in peace and quiet. These nights in the desert under a canopy of stars became one of the most intense pleasures of our trip.
Next day, refreshed, we headed out and made Pediva at about 8.00am. Pediva is a hot spring on the edge of Iona National Park and presented as a lovely oasis of green in the desert rock and sand. There was a small village on the edge.
They had a thriving community vegetable garden. The people lived in tiny conical huts and fragile looking stick houses with mossy roofs. They were selling baskets and beads and I bought some to show support.
We wandered on the side of the springs looking for birds and taking pictures. Dudley took out the drone for a spin.
There was little evidence of wild animals although the book says leopards are known to be here. There are enough goats for them to eat.
A newish compound was going up nearby and we met some mining prospectors. I hope this beautiful wilderness is not about to be raped. I am sure this whole area is awash with mineral wealth.
The tiny huts and flimsy shelters.
Brick making.
Veggie patch
Colinas Vermelhas
From Pediva we headed West again. The plan was to return to the coast at Tombua before heading into Iona because we would really need more fuel to get through Iona to the border.
To put it in some perspective we had just done a 500 km loop. We drove across granite koppies and down dry river beds.
Fields of Wewitchia greeted us and scattered villages and goats and cows. We actually saw 2 springbok which was a treat but no other wild things.
It appeared a very sparsely settled area until we reached Arco, a small village 30 km from the coast where several inland lakes and river mouths coalesce.
We planned to stop in at a canyon called Colinas Vermelhas, literally meaning red rocks. We arrived there around 4 and were the only people there. It was an amazing landscape. There was a wide area of eroded sandstone, multiple colours, red, pink, yellow, orange and grey in layers. It almost looked like a lost city with walls and domes, overhangs, columns and buttresses.
We found a spot in a dead end by a beautiful rock arch and set up camp and then spent an hour before sunset wandering down the little avenues between the beautiful rock formations.
Dudley took out his drone again and took pictures from above before taking it back to fly through the rock arch by our camp.
I can honestly say this was one of the best nights ever. It was so peaceful it was like being in perfect silence. Not even crickets or night bird song disturbed the peace. You could hear yourself think more clearly than at any other time. If you want to meditate it’s the perfect place to tap into your inner energy.
The night sky was magnificent and we took some photos through the arch, painting with light, before falling asleep exhausted.
Arco
On the outskirts of Arco a graveyard in the desert sand.
Next day we set off for Arco village as there is another stone arch there through which you are supposed to see the lake. Because we were close we got there in good light.
A guy greeted us at the entry of the village and offered to guide us and we walked through quite a lush landscape, blackthorn, acacia and mustard bush to another rock wall where we climbed to a beautiful arch.
Unfortunately the drought seemed to have done its work as the lake was a puddle, but the lake area was green with vegetation and the villagers were busy cultivating in the lake bed.
The children giggled and posed for us. We took loads of photos then trotted back to the cars leaving a small donation for the village.
Tombua
From Arco we drove over the sand plateau next to the main road and headed for Tombua. This is the second largest town in Namibe province but was actually little more than a fishing village.
We were looking for fuel, concerned that we may not find it, but we were pleasantly surprised. Tombua seems to be showing signs of investment with a new tar road and quite a lot of new building.
We drove along the seafront, taking in the harbour and fishing boats bobbing on the waves. There was a vibrant town centre and the fishermen were selling fish in the market.
At the centre of town was a yet another round concrete fountain, I told you this is the staple Portuguese town planning feature, and we found fuel and water and bread, and braved the market for veg and fruit.
Restocked we were ready to head out again, this time for Iona and new wilds. We were pretty dirty having wild camped for 2 days but so be it. It was unlikely to change anytime soon and you soon get addicted to life in the desert. The police station gave us a hose to fill water and we were good to go.
