Step back in time and explore a life-altering destination where traces of humanity from eons ago can be witnessed first-hand.
LOCATED 100 KILOMETRES (km) from the sea, where the scenery shifts from the dry red sands of the Namib Desert to the lush waving grasslands of Damaraland, lies a valley that stretches across the sandstone plateau. It is within this valley that Twyfelfontein – Namibia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site – is situated.
Renowned for being home to one of the largest single groupings of ancient engraved images in Southern Africa, Twyfelfontein’s ancient rock engravings – or petroglyphs – comprise approximately 2,500 individual paintings and engravings. These historic images were created by the San or Bushmen people, who lived in South Africa centuries ago in different hunter-fisher-gatherer societies and depict various scenes, including hunting, animals, and geometric patterns.
Specifically, the remaining motifs comprise antelopes, zebras, giraffes, lions, ostriches, and even seals – showcasing the global interactions and travels the people of that era embarked upon. The site is one of the most coherent, extensive, and high-quality records of such ritualistic practices relating to communities from between 2,000 and 10,000 years ago, eloquently bringing to life the connection between the ritual and economic practices of the age.
The name Twyfelfontein roughly translates to ‘fountain of doubt’ in Afrikaans. It stems from topographer David Levin, who resided in the area with his family and cattle in the mid-20th century and had doubts about the capacity of the spring that ran through the valley, leading a local farmer to nickname him Twyfelfontein – a name which then stuck to the land.
The valley was declared a national monument in 1952 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. Today, it can only be visited with a designated local guide in order to ensure the protection and longevity of the culturally significant engravings, which provide a uniquely preserved looking glass that transports visitors back in time.
