An Africa Day Trip to the Dinosaur Footprints

Memorial Day week-end in the US was the Africa Day long week-end in Africa. Africa Day is celebrated sort of like Labor Day or Memorial Day in the United States. There are a few events, but most people just think of it as a long holiday weekend. On Africa Day week-end, we took a trip up a few hundred kilometers north to Otjihaenamaparero farm . The farm is about 200 kilometers up on the paved highway, and then a long, bumpy drive on a gravel road for 80 or so kilometers. This farm is famous in Namibia for having several long dinosaur footprint tracks. The footprints are supposedly those of a Ceratosaurus (a horn billed dinosaur). The tracks are about two inches deep into sandstone, and you can follow the footprints for over 100 feet. The owner of the farm gave us a detailed history of the geology of the area, which was quite interesting. What was strange about the whole thing, is that the tracks were out in the open, with white paint drawn around the tracks so that it would be easy to find. You can see evidence where someone had tried to steal one of the tracks by cutting it out of the sandstone – but they didn’t succeed. Maxine, who as younger kid was very interested in dinosaurs, was quite thrilled to see these footprints. Our camping sport was about ¼ miles away from the footprints, so we got to go over several times to take a look at them. It was a very beautiful spot. Alice also had an especially good time because we brought Tadiwa, her friend of UNAM village, along. All the girls also had fun playing in a creek and in the interesting rock formations, tending the fire, and telling stories late at night in the tents. Another excellent weekend in Namibia.