Twyfelfontein rock engravings, Namibia

 For a long time I have wanted to see the rock art in Namibia, and I finally got my chance when I went to Twyfelfontein.

It is a UNESCO World Heritage site - Twyfelfontein or /Ui-//aes . This UNESCO page says "Twyfelfontein or /Ui-//aes has one of the largest concentrations of petroglyphs, i.e. rock engravings in Africa. Most of these well-preserved engravings represent rhinoceros, but also includes six painted elephant, ostrich and giraffe, as well as drawings of human and animal footprints in rock shelters with motifs of human figures in red ochre. The objects excavated from two sections, date from the Late Stone Age. The site forms a coherent, extensive and high-quality record of ritual practices relating to hunter-gatherer communities in this part of southern Africa over at least 2,000 years, and eloquently illustrates the links between the ritual and economic practices of hunter-gatherers."

At 2000 years old, they are much younger than the rock art found in Sulawesi, Indonesia, where the paintings have recently been revised to over 50,000 years old. In Australia the rock art is of a similar age, 30,000-50,000 years old.

There is a small permanent spring in the area, and the surveyor who made a report mentioning the engravings in 1921 named the site as Uais - /Ui-//aes= place among rocks or jumping waterhole in Khoekhoegowab, the language of the local Damara people. Later, the land came into the use of farmer David Levin, whose concern over the survival of the spring led ultimately to its being referred to as Twyfelfontein -‘doubtful spring’ in Afrikaans.

I visited at the end of June, which is the dry season. The yellow grass contrasted well against the red sandstone rocks and the blue sky. 

There are over 2000 engravings, so we only saw a very small number. The first rock we came to, at first glance I thought this was part of the art, but it is actually just the weathered "skin" of the rock face -

Next to it is a very detailed collection of engravings. Each engraving has a meaning.

The giraffes were the easiest to spot. Apart from giraffes there are rhinoceroses, zebra, gemsbok antelope and ostriches.

Large human footprints can be seen on these rocks -

Giraffes are very common in Twyfelfontein rock art. They are generally shown without hooves, with legs tapering away into long thin lines. The represents the sensation of rising into the air, as the shaman would feel in a trance. If there are five protrusions on the head this shows the shaman has changed into a giraffe, as it represents the five toes.

There are also sea creatures such as this seal or sea lion. There are also penguins. This shows that the people used to go to the sea. This is also the case in Malaysia where the Gua Tambun rock art depicts what many people think is a dugong.

This panel shows the famous "Lion Man" -

The Lion Man engraving shows five toes on each paw. This deliberate combination of animal and human features shows that this is a shaman who has transformed into a lion. It has a long tail with a rectangular kink and a pugmark (animal footprint) at its tip. It also appears to be eating an antelope -

A close up with my camera shows more texture of the rock -

The white markings on the rock are caused by the rock dassie, or rock hyrax.

* *

See more on this British Museum page.  

Underground London - Strand "Roman" bath

There is a hidden bathhouse just off The Strand, in London. Located in Strand Lane, it is known as the Roman bathhouse, although it isn't actually Roman.

To get there from The Strand, you walk past the old entrance to the Piccadilly railway, 

then follow this sign

The entrance is through the gate on the right -

According to the National Trust, prior to use as a bath, it was the remains of a cistern built in 1612 to feed a fountain in the gardens of the old Somerset House, then a royal palace. After a long period of neglect and decay the baths were brought back into use in the 1770s as a public cold plunge bath.

"The bath chamber is covered by a full brick and stone vault and contains the bath and a 1920s settling tank built at the eastern end. The bath is made of shallow, wide Tudor bricks, with some patched repairs made from frogged bricks dating after 1750. The brickwork of the walls and vaults hasn’t been officially dated, but most probably dates from the 18th century."

The bath is not normally open to the public, but from 22 May to 2 July 2025, it is housing an audio-visual presentation entitled The River's Stomach (Songs of Empire). I actually found this very weird and won't go into details here. But that is the reason there are plastic "Roman eels" in the bath!

See more on the National Trust page and also on IanVisits and his more recent blog which features the art presentation.

Pope's Grotto, Twickenham, London

Pope's Grotto near Twickenham in London has been on my "to do list" for years, but as it has very limited open days I was never able to visit. Then in January 2025 I saw tickets advertised for the year so immediately bought one for 5 April.

Alexander Pope was one of England's most famous poets of his day. Born in 1688, he was a Catholic, and at the time there was religious repression. He also suffered from poor health and physical disabilities. To get away from the religious problems, Pope moved to Twickenham in 1719 and built a villa by the Thames on land he leased - Catholics weren't allowed to own land. He created a landscaped garden and dug a tunnel under the road to connect the house and garden. In 1720 Pope created the famous grotto, inspired by the styles of ancient Greece and Rome.

He was also inspired by the landscaped gardens of other mansions along the Thames, especially those with grottos decorated with shells, stones and crystals. In 1739 Pope visited a spa in Bristol. He liked the sparkling mineral rocks along the Avon Gorge and decided to adorn his grotto with minerals from all over the world. 

The villa was later demolished. A new building was erected in the 1940 and is now a school. English Heritage listed the site in 1952, the remaining traces of the gardens in 1987 and Pope's Grotto Preservation Trust set up in 2014. Since then conservation and preservation work has taken place.

The grotto is located in the Radnor School complex. Across the road is the Alexander Pope Hotel and several roads have "grotto" in their name.
Radnor School and  below the blue signboard is a plaque on the wall by the pavement mentioning the studs -

View of the Thames from inside the school grounds -

The grotto is located through the door shown above. Inside are a few information boards before the main entrance -

Inside on the left and right are 2 chambers with statues. The one on the left -

The entire walls and ceilings are covered with rocks and stones and minerals -

A wall decoration -

And on the ceiling -

The tunnel -

There are alcoves with benches in the tunnel -

This single piece of stal might have come from Wookey Hole, according to 

Old brickwork remains in place behind the walls -

- - -

I have been to Marble Hill grotto which is nearby, and also by the Thames. This grotto has references to Alexander Pope and his grotto.

- - - 

Pope's Grotto references :

Pope's Grotto Preservation Trust , with a plan

A video on BBC from 2019

A detailed report on the Londonphile

Ianvisits 2024 report

Countrylife 2023