Mesosaurus Fossils Tour pt 2

 

There's a bonus that comes with the Mesosaurus-Tour, and that is that the Steenkamps have a passion for what they do. It's one of those big farms of the south having a whole variety of attractions and points of interest.  Extra to the fossils they have their own 'Quiver Tree Forest having in excess of 5,000 of these trees on their farm, plus their own 'Giant's Playground'. They call it their Dolerite Park, and that's exactly what it is. You'll be quietly left to wander around at leisure. There's no rush. take your time, soak it all up and enjoy the tranquillity. I was walking along and looking around at the strange trees and strange rock shapes when Giel guided me over to an interesting looking stack of rocks. He picked up a small stone and by striking the rocks in a sequence began to play for me 'Frere Jacques".  During a recent visit to the farm also played for me  the South African National Anthem "Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika". What a treat. Perhaps he should consider doing 'The Wedding March'. Who knows - it's becoming fashionable these day to hold weddings in the sand dunes of the Namib. Why not in a Dolerite Rock / Quiver Tree Park?  I've seen a lot of weaver-bird-colonies in my time, but on this farm they have the largest one I've seen. I wondered as to how the tree could support it. ( During my most recent visit part of the nest had broken away and was laying on the floor. The weaver birds are still there and continuing their real estate development regardless).

 

Quiver Tree

Quiver Trees galore

Dolerite Park

 

More Fossils?  The below left photo was once thought to be that of an ancient form of plant leaf. However, further studies have proven it to a "pseudofossil" and is really the crackled surface of an ancient layer of petrified mud. You never stop learning about things when visiting this site.

 

Leaf Fossil?

Stacked

Enjoy the music

Social Weaver Colony

Schutztruppe Grave

The Battle of Spitzkoppe 13 November 1904:

The ground on which the farm Spitzkoppe lays has been witness to many and even cataclysmic events since that great lake in which the Mesosaurus swam dried out. Only a blink of time ago the humans came to this land and fought and killed each other.  One can see, standing in the Africa veld, far away from home, the graves of two young German Schutztruppe ( B. Lohfink  (Reiter) Born 25.09.1882 and  J. Splittgerber (unterofficer) Born 2.11.1877 killed during a skirmish with the Nama freedom fighters of the 1904  to 1907  Native Uprising.

Mesosaurus Tour pt 1 

Acknowledgements and further reading: G1, G2, G3, P1, W1, W2, W9

Of Interest: The oldest fossils found in Namibia are those of Stromatolites which are 830 to 760 million years old and can be found in the Otavi Mountain region.

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