The notorious Brandberg was always going to be a highlight on this section of the trip. The Königstein is the highest peak in Namibia. Next to having the worlds highest scorpion density, the mountain also has no water on it this time of the year. So we had to carry about 4L per person. It can also reach up 50 degrees in the midday heat. In fact it is rumoured not to be possible to climb this time of the year.
Still we were keen to attempt it. Wanted to avoid the heat we opted to try it at night. We left camp 5:30pm to walk into a George on the southern section of the mountain and were immediately delayed heavily by having to scramble through some serious boulder fields. As we pushed for the first ridge Mike was hit by a serious migraine and we had no choice but to find shelter and spend the night in scorpion rich country. Having started out with 12L of water for 3, we only had about half left. So we had definitely hit our turnaround point. After an uneasy night of rest, we got up 4:30 to fight our way back through the boulder field to retreat back to the safety of the car before the blistering heat started at around 10am. Even though we had to retreat it was still a great hike with some amazing scenery.
And we will definitely be back to reattempt this beautiful mountain.
