The Brandberg, reaching as high as 2,606 metres, is Namibia's highest mountain, and the third in Africa. It is a single mass of granite, which crept up more than 120 million years ago from the earth's crust, being pushed out of a volcanic pipe.

The Brandberg acquired its name as the 'fire mountain' from its appearance at sunset, where the mountain is likened to a burning mass. Isolated from the clasps of the surrounding desert, the Brandberg has developed its own eco-system. It is home to the new type of insect called the Mantophasmatodea - a mixed breed of praying mantis and stick insect - and the indigenous Brandberg acacia plant.

Rock paintings and engravings are common to the Brandberg area, where there are close 45 thousand paintings located across one thousand sites. The most significant of these is the illustrious 'White Lady' - a 40cm long figure with straight, light coloured hair. Dr. Reinhard Maack, a German surveyor, discovered the illustration in 1918 and the area where the painting is located is now called Maack's shelter. Although the 2000-year-old "White Lady" was originally thought to be of a woman, some feel that it more accurately depicts a medicine man patterned in body paint.

The Brandberg is host to some of the finest and unique quartz, the most significant of these being the rock crystal (pure colourless variety, popular for its inclusions), amethyst (exclusively purple variety) and smoky quartz (ranges from brown to grey, with some banded forms) varieties. The Brandberg is also popular for its amethyst quartz varieties, which are pure quartz crystals with purple shading.

Such crystals are not only famed for their remarkable colouration, but also for their spectacular inclusions (external or internal to the crystal). Common inclusions to Brandberg quartz include hematite, rutile, tourmaline and water (known as the enhydro quartz), which, coupled with the Brandberg quartz's sheer clarity, allows for uniquely attractive specimens.

 

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