Brandberg

NAMIBIA SAFARIS AND THE BRANDBERG AREA:

Brandberg is widely known for its enormous dome-shaped plateau in the company of eroded mountains, hills and koppies (tiny hills). Most of these hills, found in the Brandberg area, are made from granite boulders that used to be magma chambers. These magma chambers were formed billions of years ago from the explosive volcanic activity under the earth’s surface... One of the main mineral elements that make up granite is called ‘Feldspar’, often a pinkish colour – evoking a magnificent illustration of a ‘red mountain’ as the sun rises or sets.

The name ‘Brandberg’ is derived from both the Afrikaans and the German languages; in both cases it means ‘Fire Mountain’ (the colour of the granite peaks when the sun sets!). The Damara people named the Brandberg Mountain ‘Daures’ which means ‘burning mountain’ and the Herero people named it ‘Omukaruvaro’ which means ‘mountains of gods’. In both cases the descriptions show off the magnitude of this massive mountain.

The Brandberg Mountain is located in Damaraland in the north-western part of the Namib Desert and covers 650 km2. The highest point is called ‘Königstein’ which is a German meaning ‘Kings Stone’ and stands at an amazing 2573 m above sea level. The Brandberg Mountain is a popular hiking mountain range - the landscape is fairly challenging, the sights and the views are also astounding! There are a number of different routes to summit this mountain, the easiest and fastest route being the Ga’aseb path - otherwise you can summit through the Hyngurob and Tsisab river Valleys. The nearest settlement to this Brandberg area is Uis which is located 30 km from the Brandberg Mountain.

The most famous part of the Brandberg Mountain is the ‘White Lady’ rock art painting, found on the face of a rock in the Tsisab Ravine. The place also contains in excess of 1000 rock shelters with approximately 45 000 rock art paintings on the mountain range… Visiting the ‘White Lady’ and the other rock art painting areas on a Namibian safari can prove to be an African highlight as there is something very magical about this area and the surrounding terrain.

Have a look at our Namibia safaris that pass through the Brandberg area below and find more Namibian attractions that you might want to visit on your Namibia safari.

• Etosha National Park
• Namib-Naukluft
• Mudumo National Park
• Caprivi Strip
• Fish River Canyon
• Kalahari Namibia
• Skeleton Coast
• Susuwe Triangle
• Waterberg Plateau Park
• Ruacana Falls and Epupa Falls
• Sossusvlei
• Swakopmund
• Damaraland
• Spitzkoppe
• Mahango National Park
• Twyfelfontein
• Windhoek
• Namibia Wildlife Resorts
• Namibia Animals