OUR STORY
The Brandberg Rest Camp, familiarly known as the BRC, is located in the village of UIS situated approximately 30 km from the foot of the Brandberg. Around 320 km from Windhoek and 180 km from Swakopmund en-route to the Etosha Game reserve when travelling from the coastal area. The Brandberg is the highest mountain in Namibia and is famous for the White Lady and other Bushman paintings as well as its diverse geology situated in the southern part of rural, unspoilt Damaraland. The Brandberg Rest Camp is a great place to catch your breath and to use as a base from which to explore Damaraland before travelling on to your next destination. Originally built as the Uis Tin Mine Recreation club from 2006 it has been the host to many travellers to this unique part of Namibia and features a half Olympic size pool to cool off from the Namibian desert heat. Managed by Mr Basil Calitz, one of the owners, the BRC has establish itself as a warm-hearted oasis in the near desert and has a growing family of BRC friends who can attest to the enjoyment and memories that a trip to the BRC will bring. See our photo gallery for memories shared by our visiting friends.
ACCOMMODATION
Accommodation is available in air conditioned 11 double en-suite poolside rooms, 5 air conditioned self-catering 6 bed chalets, four 2 bed safari tents or 20 camp sites. The 5 self-catering chalets can be configured into 5 double en-suite rooms adjoining 5 double rooms with a family kitchen, breakfast nook, a living room which can sleep 2 – 4 children and own bathroom facilities.
The wild beauty of Damaraland
The mountain is very popular for hikers doing 3 to 5 day hikes. Hiking and other guides are arranged on request. The Brandberg Area is popular for its unspoilt beauty, cultural villages visits, desert-dwelling elephant, herds of endemic Hartmann Mountain zebra and springbok roaming free in the wild. This part of Damaraland is also famous for its semi previous stones and crystals which can be bought directly from local small miners making a living by selling these minerals.
WHY BRANDBERG REST CAMP?
The Brandberg Mountain is 2 573 meters above sea level making it Namibia’s highest point. It derives its name from the glowing colours it reflects during sunsets. The main attraction is the White Lady, one of more than 45 000 rock painting in the area. A 1-hour hike will take you to what is widely agreed to be a bushman painting at least 2 000 years old. In 1955 it was described as a “white lady’’ by Henri Breuil, who made the connection to paintings he saw in Greece. Hellenistic influences have been excluded in its origin but the name stuck. The name is also misleading as the painting is that of a male hunter.
Paintings were an important part of ritual and religious behaviour, also used in healing and social management. Moreover, it played a crucial role in memorizing and communicating the entire cultural knowledge (the encyclopedic knowledge) from one generation to the next.
Pictures of humans deal with the ideals of ‘community, equality and mobility’ in which the model of a neutral person’, without status, rank, age and even sex, was emphasized (80% of human figures are painted this way). Less important, it seemed to differentiate between men and women but if this distinction turns up, men are rather linked to the material cultural goods. Women, by contrast, are shown in communication, linked to communal rites and ceremonies. A small number of pictures also show elements that may be understood as experiences from altered states of consciousness, such as trance experiences of shamans who were able to heal in this state of consciousness. Pictures of animals show the profound ecological knowledge and were painted to invoke or celebrate the intactness of a rich environment. In some pictures giraffes seem to indicate a link to rain. Non-natural beings, such as mixed human-animal figures or mixed animals, are rare, only the eared serpent is a recurrent motif.
