Thursday, April 12, 2007
Namibia Road Trip: Day Three
Thursday 5th April - 445.6km
We were up early again. We had a few things planned for the day - visiting the Mesosaurus fossil park, the Giant's Playground and a Quiver tree forest. So we had a lovely buffet breakfast, which filled me up a treat, and got on our way.
First stop was a town called Keetmanshoop, where Minna and Heikki bought food for lunch and I developed some more photos for Milja's scrapbook. We then continued driving East towards our three destinations, and decided to go to the furthest one first, the fossil park, and work our way back through the others afterwards. What a good choice that was - the farm the fossils were on also had loads of quiver trees and the dolerite rock formations that formed the Giant's playground! Three birds with one stone (needless to say, we didn't bother with the others on the way back).
The fossil park, officially Mesosaurus Fossil Site & Quiver Tree Dolerite Park, has fossils in their found state and location (ie: "on-site"), which is a great way to view them. We were taken to a few different spots by the farm owner, to see the fossils still in the rock where they were discovered - there is a law meaning that he can't excavate them. The fossils are about 280 million years old, and one even had some bone from the animal. We also saw the grave of a German who died fighting the Namas in 1904 when the country was under German rule and known as "German South-West Africa".
After viewing the fossils, we taken along the track for another 2km to the farm's quiver trees. Milja and Matias rode on the back of the Landrover. The trees were everywhere and Heikki and I had a great time browsing around taking photos. The piles of dolerite looked fascinating just piled on top of eachother. The farm owner gave us a treat, too, by playing a tune with the rocks. Video below.
After driving back to the farmhouse on the back of the Landrover and having a chat with the owner, we left West again, back through Keetmanshoop and out the other side to a small town called Aus. It once had a prisoner of War camp during German reign of the country, and has a population of just 200 people. We were headed to Klein Aus Vista, a hotel a few kilometres out of town. The rooms are split into twos, grouped together like semidetached houses, and each room is like a mini house too. We rested, Milja and I did some reading for Milja's university sociology entrance exam, and after dark, went for dinner at the restaurant before falling asleep.
We were up early again. We had a few things planned for the day - visiting the Mesosaurus fossil park, the Giant's Playground and a Quiver tree forest. So we had a lovely buffet breakfast, which filled me up a treat, and got on our way.
First stop was a town called Keetmanshoop, where Minna and Heikki bought food for lunch and I developed some more photos for Milja's scrapbook. We then continued driving East towards our three destinations, and decided to go to the furthest one first, the fossil park, and work our way back through the others afterwards. What a good choice that was - the farm the fossils were on also had loads of quiver trees and the dolerite rock formations that formed the Giant's playground! Three birds with one stone (needless to say, we didn't bother with the others on the way back).
The fossil park, officially Mesosaurus Fossil Site & Quiver Tree Dolerite Park, has fossils in their found state and location (ie: "on-site"), which is a great way to view them. We were taken to a few different spots by the farm owner, to see the fossils still in the rock where they were discovered - there is a law meaning that he can't excavate them. The fossils are about 280 million years old, and one even had some bone from the animal. We also saw the grave of a German who died fighting the Namas in 1904 when the country was under German rule and known as "German South-West Africa".
After viewing the fossils, we taken along the track for another 2km to the farm's quiver trees. Milja and Matias rode on the back of the Landrover. The trees were everywhere and Heikki and I had a great time browsing around taking photos. The piles of dolerite looked fascinating just piled on top of eachother. The farm owner gave us a treat, too, by playing a tune with the rocks. Video below.
After driving back to the farmhouse on the back of the Landrover and having a chat with the owner, we left West again, back through Keetmanshoop and out the other side to a small town called Aus. It once had a prisoner of War camp during German reign of the country, and has a population of just 200 people. We were headed to Klein Aus Vista, a hotel a few kilometres out of town. The rooms are split into twos, grouped together like semidetached houses, and each room is like a mini house too. We rested, Milja and I did some reading for Milja's university sociology entrance exam, and after dark, went for dinner at the restaurant before falling asleep.
Dan | 
11:22 
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