A must-go is Damaraland, about three hours’ drive north. The topography here is completely different – a wild and rugged landscape, characterised by magnificent table-topped mountains, rock formations and bizarre vegetation. We spent a morning tracking the rare desert-adapted elephant. Their ability to survive in such an untamed environment still astounds me.
Twyfelfontein (or /Ui-//aes), a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007, is another incredible place to visit. Here, I saw a remarkable gallery of engravings featuring rhino, elephants, giraffe, oryx and zebra, carved into the massive rock faces of freestanding boulders. The rock art is estimated to be more than 2,000 years old.
From Damaraland, we drove to Etosha National Park, Namibia’s prime wildlife destination, for a couple of nights’ safari. The park contains large concentrations of game, especially in the harsh aridity of winter. Etosha’s main hub is the Etosha Pan, which originated 12 million years ago from a shallow lake fed by the Kunene River, which later changed course and began to flow to the Atlantic Ocean instead. Today, the pan classifies as a saline desert in its own right.