The breathtakingly beautiful and ruggedly mountainous region of Damaraland is perhaps Namibia's most striking wilderness areas. It's home to diversity of desert-adapted wildlife such as elephant, rhino, zebra and lion, which manage to survive in this near-barren landscape.

Dominated by the towering peak of Namibia's highest mountain - the aptly named Brandberg (it means "burning mountain" in the Afrikaans vernacular that's widely spoken in this former South African protectorate), this region is also home to some of its most ancient cultural artefacts - the San rock engravings of Twyfelfontein. More than 2500 individual engravings - also known as petroglyphs - have been found here, dating back thousands of years, making this one of the most significant ancient rock art sites in the world.

The vast landscapes are awe-inspiring and filled with unusual rock formations and geological anomalies as well as some of the best examples of petrified forests in Africa which are millions of years old. This is also where you'll find the dramatic Spitzkoppe - a group of bare granite inselbergs that have been worn by the weather over countless millennia.

The wildlife and plants of the region have adapted perfectly to the arid climate of intense heat and lack of rainfall. The desert-adapted elephants have longer legs and larger soles on their feet to enable them to handle the rocky and sandy geography and can travel easily along dry river beds in search of subterranean water which they excavate.

You'll also find unusual plant life here such as the poisonous but photogenic Euphorbia vrosa and the ancient Welwitshia mirabilis.