After our hot air balloon ride we headed south to camp one night near the Quivertree Forest and a Mesosaurus fossil site. The night camping was perfect as it was so clear you could see tons and tons of stars. After Rob cooked his famous pasta out of the back of the truck we pulled out some chairs and just marvelled at the sky. The next morning we took a quick walk thru the Quivertrees, which actually aren't trees at all but overgrown aloe plants. We learned about their adaptive structures used to deal with such a dry climate. They store so much water in their branches that they can live through a drought up to 4 years long.Then we went to see the Mesosaurus fossils which I was overly excited about. I always wanted to see dinosaur footprints and I had every expectation that they would look exactly like the ones you see in cartoons. The Mesosaurus lived approx 280 milliion years ago and looked a bit like a small crocodile. The longest one grew up to 3 feet long. The fossils are still in the rocks on a local man's farm and they continue to find new ones all the time. Definitely amazing to see! We crossed over into South Africa and timed things perfectly to capture the spring wild flowers which cover the hills of Namaqualand in spring. Unfortunately this year was not one of the best but it is still a beautiful display.
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