Heetmanshoop, Namibia

We stopped for a few nights in Heetmanshoop. Johan Heetman, a trader in Barman,  donated a large amount of money to a missionary named Dr Hugo Hahn in 1860 in the hope that he would convert the native Nama people to Christianity. It is a quaint town with some character.

 The modern art deco stye church built in 1926.

 Another view of the clock tower.

 A quiver tree. The wood is very light and porous and when it rains it soaks up the water to store it for sometimes years until it rains again. The very centre of the tree has a soft hollow core with a stronger rim. It is like a scaffolding pole and by blocking one end, it makes a useful quiver to hold arrows.

 The old church, not the one that Dr Hugo Hahn built as that was washed away in a flash flood. This one was built in 1890. It now houses the local museum.

A detail of the church tower.

Inside it has an unusual feature as the pulpit for sermons in central and behind the altar.

 But otherwise is is a typical protestant church with a gallery above the entrance.

 Some of the exhibits outside.

 Then a drive int the desert brought us to the Mesosaurus Camp, one of the top twenty camps in Namibia but I was here to see the fossils.

These fossils are found all over the farm and identical ones are found in Brazil. It proves that the two continents were once joined together some 280m years ago before they drifted apart.

 And yet more quiver trees.

 Two nests of the communal weaver bird. They live in giant nests, up to a hundred pairs with each pair having their own entrance. They are often joined by the pygmy falcon who also lives in the nests and protects it from snakes and lizards.

 A close up of the nest.

 The odd rock formations here are strangely shaped as if they were put together by man, hence the name, The Giants Playground. These particular ones can be hit with a stone and they sound just like a xylophone and tunes can be played on them. Note the white marks where the stones are hit.

 Another quiver tree.

 And yet more quiver trees.

 More blocks.

And aways be careful when taking down your tent as scorpions hide underneath searching for prey. The coin is the size of a ten pence piece for comparison.