Namib Desert Lodge's Main Building And The Chalets Are Spread Out Along The Foot Of The Fossilised Dunes

Namib Desert Lodge's main building and the chalets are spread out along the foot of the fossilised dunes of the ancient Namib. Oryx antelope and springbok make frequent appearances at the illuminated watering place.

Am Fuße der 'versteinerten' Dünen der Ur-Namib ziehen sich Haupthaus und Bungalows der Namib Desert Lodge entlang. Die beleuchtete Wasserstelle wird regelmäßig von Oryxantilopen und Springböcken besucht.

The ‘classic’ dolphin cruise, accompanied by dolphins, seals, pelicans, whales, fresh oysters, sparkling wine and much more.

Die klassische Delfin Bootstour, begleitet von Robben, Pelikanen, Walen, frischen Austern, Sekt und vielem mehr.

Witten:  Steinhausen  Castle

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The Steinhausen Castle is a medieval castle complex, built in the 13th century by the Lords of Witten as a court seat.

First documented in 1297, the castle was almost completely torn down in 1434 by knights from Dortmund, who had come across the river Ruhr with 700 foot servants, 50 riders and 12 wagons, and only rebuilt in a makeshift manner.

The Witten family died out without male heir. By marrying the heiress Jutta von Witten with knight Lutter Stael von Holstein zu Hardenstein, bailiff to Bochum and Wetter, the knight's seat "Steinhus" came to the Stael von Holstein family in 1464 and remained in their possession for almost three centuries.

Lutter's grandson Hardenberg Stael von Holstein, lord of Steinhausen and Dahlhausen, rebuilt the castle in 1529. Robert Stael von Holstein had the tower with a pointed roof and the stepped gable house erected in 1607, as evidenced by the Stael von Holstein coat of arms above the arched door and the inscription: "robbert stael von holstein thumler zu hildesheim built me".

Robert Werner Stael von Holstein, lord of Steinhausen, Dahlhausen and Martfeld, had the chapel built at Steinhausen castle in 1648, where the grave slabs of the family members can still be seen today. The last male offspring of the Stael family from Holstein zu Steinhausen - Wolfgang Robert Leopold, lord of Steinhausen, Martfeld and Lövenich - died in 1729.

His daughters Helena Margareta and Maria Helena, both canonesses to Asbeck, transferred in 1732 (as transaction inter vivos) Castle Steinhausen and the mines in the Ruhr Valley, that had been operated by the Stael von Holstein family since the 17th century, to baron Friedrich Christian von Elverfeldt zu Dahlhausen, grandson of Robert von Elverfeldt and his wife Anna Kunigunde Stael von Holstein zu Steinhausen.

Levin von Elverfeldt built the classicist Steinhausen castle in 1810. The landmark of the old tower on the gable house, the pointed tower, no longer rises above the river Ruhr today. The top was removed due to mining damages and rotten beams.

In the following centuries Steinhausen castle changed hands several times and was converted into a romantic manor at the end of the 19th century. Little reminded that this is a former hilltop mediaeval castle.

The historicist chapel stands on the northeast corner of the manor house. Basically from 1648, it underwent a fundamental redesign in 1904 according to the then prevailing taste of Art Nouveau.

Inside you can see old grave slabs from the 15th to 18th centuries, including the Hardenberg Stael grave stone from Holsteins. The chapel at Steinhausen was built on rocky ground under Robert Stael von Holstein in 1648.

The crypt under the chapel, with archaic cube capitals, was used as a private burial site for the Dünkelberg family until about 1920. The chapel has been lovingly restored and is now accessible again.

The chapel of Steinhausen castle probably had two bells, cast around 1200 and 1500 AD. On one of the bells was the coat of arms of Hardenberg and Stael von Holstein and the inscription "St. Antonius beg for us".

The bell can also come from the former Hardenstein Castle. The Antonius chapel of Hardenstein Castle is mentioned in a document in 1363. Heinrich von Hardenberg died in 1439, the last Hardenberger at Hardenstein Castle. By marriage, the castle came to Stael von Holstein in 1529.

The chapel is not consecrated, but a small altar, a noble cross, saints pictures and pews invite you to pray. Or at least to rethink and switch off. An even older, quieter place of rest lies under the chapel - the crypt, built in 1642.

Until the 1950s or 1960s, the Oberste-Frielinghaus family also had their bodies buried here. The coffins were then transferred, the grave slabs still hang in the chapel. The crypt is now empty and will soon be renovated. But it will remain a devout place of silence.

Today, Steinhausen Castle houses a beautiful restaurant with outdoor dining in Witten-Bommern above the river Ruhr. In the courtyard, a beer garden invites you to enjoy the sunshine between old walls. Weddings are also possible at Steinhausen Castle.

A stonemason can be found in the old stables today. The old gable house is used by the Local Heritage Society, which also strives to preserve the historic buildings and rebuild the old spire.

In the castle park, which invites you to look, marvel and linger, there is a worth seeing permanent exhibition of Shona sculptures from Zimbabwe. Most pieces can also be purchased. Highly recommended!

Zimbabwe's contemporary stone sculpture as the youngest art form in Africa has spawned an incredible number of talents in its sixty years of history. SHONA - ART is concerned with building an economic bridge between Europe and Africa.

All kinds of African animals can be found in and around the castle. You won't see giraffes, elephants and birds in this abundance anywhere in Germany. The stone sculptures from Africa are exhibited in the castle courtyard and in a gallery building (coach house).

Zimbabwe is that country between Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique, which is worldwide known for its abundance of animals and the Victoria Falls. The outside area can be visited, but, apart from the gallery, the buildings not.

Nevertheless, Steinhausen Castle with its restaurant and permanent exhibition is a popular destination in the Ruhr valley. Free parking is available on the street "Auf Steinhausen", uphill to Steinhausen Castle.

The narrow street ends directly at Steinhausen Castle. The gigantic metal animal sculptures are unmistakable: elephants, lions, giraffes, buffalos and other animals are watching all over the place.

Our girl enjoys the warm early summer evening outside.

Mettmann: Excavation site of the Neanderthal man

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The Mettmann district is world famous - even if hardly anyone in Africa or America knows the name of the region.

However, the name of the most prominent inhabitant is on everyone's lips: in 1856 the remains of the Neanderthals were found here. The district of Mettmann is the first place of discovery of a Neanderthal man worldwide.

The Neanderthals lived in Europe for 250,000 years, adapted to the harsh living conditions of the Ice Age. The discovery of their remains revealed that they actually existed: 40,000 years before our era, a group of people trudged across the plateau near the stream Düssel.

Her forehead is flat, her eye brows are with thick bulged. They wear furs on their bodies as protection against the icy wind. Their feet wander over stones and hard frozen earth. The ice age has Europe under control.

Since there were only a few edible plants in the cool environment, the small tribal groups probably walked behind the grazing animal herds of the Ice Age.

A cave has been washed out of the limestone cliffs of the stone plateau by the stream Düssel and smaller tributaries in millions of years. One of these early humans was buried in this cave about 20 meters above the Düssel. His 16 surviving bones can be seen today in the Neanderthal Museum.

The researchers owe the discovery of the skeleton to limestone mining, which began in the course of industrialization in the 19th century. Even today, the walls in the Neandertal occasionally shake when an explosion is carried out in the last remaining limestone factory.

Limestone became a coveted raw material in the middle of the 19th century. It is required for steel production in the iron industry and as a building material. In 1849, mining began on a large scale in the Neandertal.

The region owes its name to the theologian and hymn writer Joachim Neander, who held services in the 17th century in the then narrow and deep gorge and composed hymns. The Neandertal has long been known to connoisseurs for its rich diluvial deposits.

While working, miners encountered the skeletal parts in the cave. This cave was 3 m wide, 5 m long and 3 m high. The workers cleared the grotto and initially paid little attention to the bones found, because bones from extinct animals were found here very often.

For the workers, the bones looked like those of cave bears, so they threw them away. On the bones you can still clearly see the damage that the workers inflicted on the Neanderthal man with pickaxes.

The clearly visible chipping marks show that the bones were in the anatomical bandage. The left half of the hip and the joint head of the thigh were damaged when exposed. The remaining furrow flows smoothly from one bone to the other.

The fossil finds happened to be noticed by the co-owner of the Neanderthal quarry, Wilhelm Beckershoff, who was just there. His business partner Friedrich Wilhelm Pieper handed them over to the locally known natural scientist Dr. Johann Carl Fuhlrott. Fuhlrott looked at the pieces and quickly noticed that this skeleton had to belong to a diluvial prehistoric man.

Between 1997 and 2000, Ralf Schmitz and Jürgen Thissen carried out additional excavations in the Neandertal, in which 62 further bone fragments were found. Among them were six moreNeanderthal teeth, these may have belonged to the find from 1856.

Some bone fragments matched the 1856 skeleton. There have been so many bones since the excavation that at least one other adult and one sub-adult Neanderthal man is assumed.

The valley is no longer narrow and deep and the waterfalls, cliffs and magnificent caves have largely disappeared. Progress is more important than nature. When the area was placed under nature protection in 1921, the steep gorge had already became a wide, treeless valley.

Millions of tons of rock have been removed in the course of industrialization. The Feldhofer grottoes and Joachim Neander's favorite place no longer exist. Nothing reminds of the Neanderthal's habitat.

The explosions completely destroyed the picturesque rock canyon. For this, beech, hornbeam and canyon forests have conquered the region, which cover the hills and slopes and immerse the former quarries in lush green.

Landscape architects have staged the site as an archaeological garden that tells the eventful history of the valley. If you like, you can also have all of the points from the excavation site explained by an audio system.

There are now a few stone loungers at the site. And a few poles are set up. But the place is really informative thanks to the numerous information from the app or via headphones, for which there are numerous opportunities to plug in.

A lot of information can be heard on headphones, which you can borrow for the tour. If you want to hear all of this on your cell phone, you have been able to download a Neanderthal Museum app for some time now, which has exciting information on all points.

We were positively surprised by the numerous facts that are prepared in such a playful way. If you are traveling in the region, you should definitely stop by there. Warning: the excavation site closes earlier than the museum.

The Neanderthal Museum, opened in 1996, offers further information. The striking spiral building is only a few hundred meters from the site. A paved path leads as a timeline to the place of the historical site.

No admission was charged at the site during our visit!

Der Chobe Nationalpark ist bekannt dafür, dass man dort das ganze Jahr über ausgezeichnet Wildtiere beobachten kann. Der Park hat eine der größten Wildtierpopulationen des afrikanischen Kontinents und hat einen Umfang von circa 11.000 km². Der Park befindet sich entlang des Chobe Flusses, der Botswana von Namibia abgrenzt.

The Chobe National Park is known for its superb game viewing all year round and it has one of the largest populations of game on the African continent. The park comprises an area of approximately 11 000 km² and lies along the Chobe River, which borders Botswana and Namibia.