As we leave Etosha we head into the Namibian dessert. The days plan was not your typical child orientated day but we hoped the boys would gain something from it…

By 9 in the morning our ac-less car is boiling hot! We stop at Outjo, the last bit of civilisation before heading off the main road.

Stocked up on ice, drinks and lunch we left the tar and headed towards the petrified forest. We try to explain to the boys that they are trees that have turned to stone. “They are older than the dinosaurs, they are fossils”. We drive for a couple of hours into the dry rocky landscape as its gets hotter and hotter. Baby Blue and Middle Man sleep but Lego boy refuses. Not surprisingly he is in a proper grump when we pull into the petrified forest.

We pay our guide and ask for the short tour hoping to avoid a meltdown from Lego Boy. It was very very very hot as we followed the guide around. There were rocks that looked exactly like tree trunks everywhere. They looked like had bark and growth rings, they even sounded like wood when you knocked on them.

Middle man was being an angel, showing interest and asking questions “where did the come from?”, “did dinosaurs eat them?”… Lego Boy sulked and stomped his way around…

I find this quite often when one plays up the other becomes extra good as if to make a point!

Back in the car we headed to see some rock carvings. I was looking forward to this and hoping Lego Boys mood would improve. It was another couple of hours drive and again Lego boy refused to sleep. Loaded up with water and fizzy drinks we again followed our guide. This time we climbed the banks of a valley, it appeared every rock with a flat surface had a carving or two. Some clearer than others, slowly Lego Boy came out of his grump (possibly due to the sugar in the fizzy drink) as we tried to identify the animals in the carvings. Despite the heat it was a pleasant walk and all of us enjoyed learning and talking about the carvings and the people that made them.

Our guide was so good and great with the kids; she reminded me a lot of one of my oldest friends an African version with the same smile and manner. She explained that she has a son (18 months) but due to her work he lived with her mum and she didn’t get to see him much. Maybe once every 2 months. I can’t not imagine how hard this must be for her, it reminded me to be thankful that I get to see my boys every day, grumps and all 🙂

We were still hours from our next site so back into the car we set off on more dirt roads, the landscape was vast and so dry (apparently it hasn’t rained here for 4 years.) I offered to drive (unlikely to have a police check out here… in fact we had only seen 1 other car all day)

Soon all the boys including husband were asleep. I drove past huge round rocks that reminded me of devils marbles in Australia, over wide dry river beds, up winding turns to the top of rocky hills with 360 visas and along straight roads disappearing into the distance. I did not pass another car for 4 hours.

After a quick change of drivers we drive into Uis and find brandberg rest camp. It was late, instead of camping as planned we upgraded to a family room. Enjoying the AC and a bed I fell to sleep impressed with how the boys had taken so much in from a day more aimed at adults.