Spitzkoppe

Spitzkoppe is a group of bald granite peaks rising as much as 700 meters above the surrounding gravel plain in the Namib Desert of Namibia, formed from a granite intrusion that crystallized underground roughly 120 million years ago during a period of continental rifting associated with the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean. Over the tens of millions of years since, the softer overlying and surrounding rock eroded away, leaving the more resistant granite exposed as a striking inselberg, its smooth, rounded surfaces sculpted by exfoliation and by the abrasive action of windblown desert sand. Sometimes called the "Matterhorn of Namibia" for its sharp central peak, Spitzkoppe is regarded as one of the oldest and most dramatic granite inselbergs in southern Africa, and its surrounding rock shelters preserve ancient San rock art.