Wildlife
Damaraland, the desert elephants and the rock engravings of Twyfelfontein
In the dry north-west of Namibia, elephants live where there seems to be nothing for an elephant to eat or drink, and on a hillside at Twyfelfontein people carved the animals they knew into the rock. Damaraland is the country of both.
By Walter Pellow2 November 20265 min read
Damaraland is the name, still in everyday use, for a stretch of north-western Namibia in the Kunene region: a land of rock, hills and gravel plains, crossed by riverbeds that are dry for most of the year. It is not obvious elephant country. It is, however, where elephants live.
Elephants without water
The desert-adapted elephants of north-western Namibia are elephants that have learned to live in a place where water is scarce and food is spread thin, and they have done it by keeping to the rivers. The riverbeds of the region, among them the Ugab and the Aba Huab, carry water above ground for only a few days a year, but water lies beneath the sand, and trees and bushes grow along the banks. The elephants follow those green lines across the desert.
What they do to survive is worth knowing before you go looking for them. They dig into the dry riverbeds with their feet and trunks to reach the water below the surface. They can go for days without drinking, and they will travel a long way, out of their usual range if they must, to reach water and food. They are often described as smaller-bodied than other elephants, with legs that look proportionally longer and feet that look larger.
How many there are is a harder question. Estimates differ widely depending on who is counting and over what area: one conservation group counts a few dozen in the southern part of the range, while broader estimates for the whole of the north-west run to a few hundred. Either way, they are not many, and they share the land with people who farm here. Villagers in the region report elephants damaging water tanks, kraals and gardens, especially in drought, so living alongside them is a real conservation question.
Finding them takes time and local knowledge, because they move along the rivers rather than staying in one place. They are never guaranteed, and it is worth going with that in mind.
The engravings of Twyfelfontein
The other reason to come is older. At Twyfelfontein, people carved thousands of images into the sandstone: giraffe above all, but also rhino, elephant, ostrich, oryx and lion, and the footprints of animals and people. The British Museum puts the number at more than two thousand engravings; other estimates are higher. In 2007 Twyfelfontein became Namibia's first World Heritage Site.
The name is a modern one. A farmer who settled here named the place in 1948, after a friend teased him that the spring would not be enough to live on: Twyfelfontein means doubtful spring in Afrikaans. The older Damara and Nama name, ǀUi-ǁAis, is usually translated as the jumping waterhole. Either way, it is the spring that explains the engravings. In a land this dry, a reliable source of water drew people and animals for a very long time, and the carvings are the record they left.
What is striking is how clearly the animals are drawn. One famous lion has a long tail ending in a lion's paw print. These are the marks of people who knew the animals well.
Tours that go there
Three tours in the catalogue include Damaraland among their places. None of them lists the desert elephants by name, so treat a sighting as a matter of luck and season rather than something on the itinerary.
Explore Worldwide's Upgraded - Highlights of Namibia is thirteen nights. Its places include Windhoek, Mariental, the Southern Kalahari, Sossusvlei, Namib-Naukluft National Park, Swakopmund, Walvis Bay, Damaraland, the Cape Cross Seal Reserve, Twyfelfontein, Khorixas and Etosha National Park.
Just You's Namibia - Tribes and Natural Wonders is thirteen nights too, with Windhoek, Sossusvlei, Swakopmund, Damaraland, Twyfelfontein, Etosha National Park and Okahandja among its places.
Explore's eleven-night Namibia Lodge Safari includes Damaraland and the Brandberg Mountain among its places, with Windhoek, the Namib Desert, Sossusvlei, Swakopmund and the Cape Cross Seal Colony, but it does not list Twyfelfontein. If the engravings are the reason you are going, one of the other two is the safer choice.
Whichever you choose, give Damaraland time. It is a place that looks empty from the road and fills up the longer you look at it.
By Walter Pellow, the name Atlas & Passage’s editorial team writes under. Prices and dates in the trips below come from the operators and can change.
