The Roter Kamm!

Mortymoose

Mortymoose

Honorary Master
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In the Namibian desert...
I am super feckin' excited, just got asked if I want to accompany a friend to the Roter Kamm tomorrow on a day trip...

I have wanted to go here for at least twenty years....

Gonna get picked up early tomorrow morn..... Shall take pics.... and give a report...

1200px-Roter_Kamm_Bird's_Eye_View.jpg

for those that follow the braai thread, I am taking the Baby Weber with.... gonna take an EPIC pic.... :whistle::D
 
I have just returned from my most amazing desert expedition, 14 hours after leaving, 2morrow I shall post a few snaps of an incredible journey....

Suffice to say, I have stood on the edge of the Fish River canyon, I have watched the ships sailing out of Table Bay, I even ventured to the Valley of a thousand hills..... But today, I witnessed the Face of Africa.......... Blessed I am to live where I do......
 
Mortymoose said:
I have just returned from my most amazing desert expedition, 14 hours after leaving, 2morrow I shall post a few snaps of an incredible journey....

Suffice to say, I have stood on the edge of the Fish River canyon, I have watched the ships sailing out of Table Bay, I even ventured to the Valley of a thousand hills..... But today, I witnessed the Face of Africa.......... Blessed I am to live where I do......
Click to expand...
Hope the little Weber got some action, can't wait for the pics.
 
Busy transferring my photographs over to PC and will upload a few later...

Here is a Wiki entry on the crater I was in around this time yesterday...

Roter Kamm (German: Red Ridge) is a meteorite crater, located within the Namibian section of the Namib Desert approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Oranjemund in the ǁKaras Region. It is 2.5 km in diameter and is 130 metres (430 ft) deep. The age is estimated to be between 4 and 5 million years placing it in the Pliocene.[1] The crater is exposed at the surface, but its original floor is covered by sand deposits at least 100 metres (330 ft) thick.

The meteorite hit a layer of precambrian granitic gneiss that is part of the Namaqua Metamorphic Complex, overlaid with some younger sedimentary rocks. No parts of the meteorite have been found, suggesting that it completely evaporated upon impact.[2] The meteor that hit it was approximately the size of an SUV.[3]
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After a 3 hour trek through the desert who reached the impact Crater and climbed the summit. I was impressed and imagined what it must look like if all the 120m of sand was removed from the inside.

I stitched multiple shots together to get the image.

The Roter Kamm.jpg

I have a number of other stunning pics I took during the trip and will post them later when I get a chance.
 
All Along the boundary of the Sperrgebiet one would find signs like this, most have been removed as collectors items but a few still remain in the interior of the prohibited area...

Old Sperrgebiet sign (Large).jpg
 
mbayshark said:
Hope the little Weber got some action, can't wait for the pics.
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I.am.Sam said:
post the braai pics ...
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Sorry lads! There was no time to ignite, on three occasions the track we were following disappeared into the sands and we landed up bundu bashing trying to pick up the tracks again.....

In fact we only got back to the pub in town well after darkness had fallen.....
 
Mortymoose said:
Sorry lads! There was no time to ignite, on three occasions the track we were following disappeared into the sands and we landed up bundu bashing trying to pick up the tracks again.....

In fact we only got back to the pub in town well after darkness had fallen.....
Click to expand...

All I hear is excuses, so where are the braai pics :p
 
This is the view from Africa Rock, 1000m above sea level in the Aurus Mountains. Stitched 4 snaps together as best I could and to the left one can see the crater on down on the desert floor. Due to the fact that all of this is in a highly restricted area everything is in a pristine condition, virtually untouched by man .....

The View From Africa Rock (Large).jpg

When I stood at the edge of the cliff, the roar of the updraft tearing up the face was crazy.
 
My host pointed out the two types of shells in this picture..... one being a piece of modern ostrich shell and the other, with the circular marks on it , ancient shell, the stone in the middle is a stone tool...

Shells and Tools.jpg

The beauty of the place is that due to the fact that nobody could access the area for the last century everything is where it was left, nothing taken out of the area....
 
At a spot known as the Rooilepel depression we walked around a bit, My host showed me this and told me that it was a petrified worm (not a scared worm) . I noticed quite a few of them around. He was very strict on keeping everything how we found it and on our walkabout you had to go in single file as not to walk on other fragile spots at this particular place.

A Petrified Worm.jpg
 
Ome of the reasons my mate had to go on this trip is to check on the watering holes he built awhile back for the wildlife in the park,the old pumps have now been replaced by solar pumps and were sponsored by the German gov. Due to the vastness of the park and the lack of tracks to drive on we were only able to check out borehole 4. There are five such pumps along the eastern border of the park.

image.jpg

We found that the inflow pipe into the drinking trough had become blocked with kalk and used wire to unblock it.... When we open the float box we found a ton of gecko hiding in the damp interior....

The trough reminds me of a large watering bowl.
 
The repaired Water Hole, what a stark contrast to the surrounding landscape. The flow of water from the hole is strong and the water sweet....

Sadly the wildlife cannot live on water alone and due to the drought the vegetation is scarce. We encountered only four Gemsboks, Four Ostriches, three klipspringers , five birds who's name escape me now and a solitary locust. We also happened apon two skeletons of gemsboks.

Water Hole repaired (Medium).jpg

My mate explained to me that he has seen photographs of these now rock plains where there were herds of 400 gemsboks at a time... In the late 60's the drought was so bad, bordering farmers were allowed to move livestock ten kilometers inside the restricted area, but in those days they never realized how fragile the ecology actually was and the animals destroyed just about any chance of the grass recovering in that particular area......
 
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