Revisiting our trip to Namibia, and trying out some new video software. For some reason the day we drove from Cape Cross to Uis has stuck with me. The geology was wonderful, as was the solitude - we passed just one car on this 6 hour journey. It's 4:41, enjoy.

Script:

Day 9 in our travels in Namibia: This is the day we drove from Cape Cross to a town called Uis

We started on the barren Skeleton Coast, drove inland through rising elevation and low hills, and eventually came to the Brandberg, a circular mountain made of granite.

It never really rains on the Skeleton Coast - it is, however, frequently foggy.

Instead of being made out of gravel, the roads here are made out of salt.

Because of the lack of rain, not much grows on the Skeleton Coast, near the shore, nothing at all. As you go further inland, small lichen are the first things you see growing. As you move inland, the land gets more rain. And you start to see grasses and then larger animals: like springbok antelope, oryx, and even ostrich.

We had lunch in the hills near the old West Brandberg mine. These hills used to be the sea floor, and became compressed and twisted as southern Africa and central Africa ran into each other. The layers of sediment -- now almost vertical -- are all that's left of that ancient ocean.

Nearby was Tofelkop, which reminded me of the mesas in southern Utah.The welchitchia plant has only two leaves and they spread out on the ground. Some can live a thousand years.

And soon we came into view of the Brandberg. The same forces that brought Africa together, left large formations of magma that slowly and eventually cooled into granite. And that's what the Brandberg is - a large granite mountain formed miles below the surface. Time has worn away all above it now, and it stands silently in the distance.

That evening the sun set on the Skeleton Coast. We watched that sunset from Uis as it sunk behind the Brandberg -- a fitting end to a wonderful day.