Six Stoned Sisters: A Mission - Pt. 1

When I left the North for the Desert last week I was on a Mission.

Shown above is the uncompleted Northwest corner of the house - I call it 'Ishtar's Point' (don't ask why) - and it's my intention to clad the sides with beautiful stones ... create a 'Celebration Of Rock' ...

... and on top I want to place a distinctive, large rock, something like this:


I'd seen this rock on my last journey South and mentioned it in a post on Büllsport.

The Rock, together with two others, was standing on a farm and, it seems, had once served as a fence-post for a cattle enclosure, or 'Kraal'.

I had a suitable vehicle and it was my Mission to find the rocks again and persuade the Farmer to sell them to me.


500km down the road from Home, I turned West onto the gravel road at Rehoboth, heading for Büllsport on the edge of the Namib Desert - it was the first time I'd travelled this road.


I passed the small Mining Village of Klein Aub. The village itself is about a kilometre off the 'main' road.

It says something about our society that, in most villages and towns around Namibia, the most prominent signs are those advertising liquor.

This was the only sign I noticed in passing - a 'Bottle Store' is a store where booze is sold.


My first encounter with the beautiful rocks of this area was at this farm entrance close to Büllsport - I was a bit upset that that the farmer had mistreated the best of the rocks by painting 'Welcome' on it.

I wonder if I could have rescued it, loaded it by myself ... I mean, what could happen if I got caught stealing a painted rock?

... but, on the other hand, this farm may be a source for rocks on a future expedition ...


I arrived at Büllsport late in the afternoon and decided to camp there - the rocks I was after were still somewhere further down the road South.

I wasn't prepared for camping - I had no food or camping equipment except for a small mosquito tent, a blow-up mattress, my duvet and Dream-Pillow.

There wasn't much in the Büllsport Farm Store so I settled for a 5-litre bottle of water and a tin of Sweetcorn - I'm not fussy about food ...

The Camp Sites are in the Naukluft Mountains, about 5km from the Guest Farm itself and I was escorted there by a guy on his Quadbike.


A view of the Camp Site nestled in the Naukluft Mountains.

There was a Young Couple and their Baby camping at the adjoining site - you can see the top of their Overland Vehicle above the roof of the ablution block.

In the top left hand corner of the pic is a Cave on the mountainside, a small black speck ...


I learned more about this Cave and the amazing historical and archaeological significance of this area from a brochure detailing the surrounding Hiking Trails.

It goes without saying that this knowledge immediately triggered my imagination and put me into Ghost-seeking mode.


A closer view of the Shelter our ancestors had lived in in the days before Anything - before cars and planes, the Internet and cellphones ...


My humble portable Cave - it's made from a mosquito-net type fabric which allows me to see the stars all night but, it's no good in rainy weather.

I hacked-open the tin of Sweetcorn with a useless pocket-knife and drank it down, quelling the grumbling of my stomach.


As the sun set I sat on some rocks contemplating the lives of the Ancient Ones.

Were they aware as we are today, as individuals with identities, as in "I am"? Or, were they aware in a more animal, survival-centred way?

Were there amongst them some who gazed upon the mountains, plains and stars and wondered ...?

... or were they content to just Be?


By this time I was exhausted and fell into bed. Two black birds perched momentarily on the beam of the camp's shelter and in the background Jupiter and Venus followed the setting sun, hand-in-hand like Lovers.

It was a moonless night, the sky was crystal-clear and I could see Forever.

The Milky Way stretched bright across the sky, Orion was above me - but, most beautiful of all was the Southern Cross, rising slowly behind my head.

I fell asleep and awoke sometime during the night - Scorpio hung above me now.

The air was still, silence prevailed.

The Babe in the next camp stirred restlessly ....

... and 50,000 years ago I heard an infant's cry pierce the night from the Cave on the Mountain ...



Six Stoned Sisters: A Mission - Pt. 2

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