Namibia, The Petrified Forest

Leaving Etosha NP, the road headed deep into The Stoney Desert. Although not all of it is stoney such as this little depression filled with wind blown sand.

 A view of the desert.

 A ridge in the red glow of an early sun rise.

 A wilwitchia plant, the national flower and a unique plant that thrives in the desert. It has two leaves either side of a central tuber although over tie the leaves split. It can live to be over a thousand years and specimens have been dated to be over 1,500 years old.

 Another photo to show the size of the plant.

 A petrified tree trunk. These trees were washed here by a great flood from what is today central Africa and then covered in sand. Circulating ground water replaced the wood and created these stone replicas of the tree and are dated to between 260 - 280 million years.

 A close up of the stone although it looks remarkably like a tree trunk.

 Another section of a tree with Gabriel our local guide.

 More petrified trees.