Many countries in Africa have little potential for Cainozoic palaeontological research on account of the lack of sediments in them. Well over half of the continent has crystalline basement or Palaeozoic and Mesozoic sediments exposed at the surface. Namibia is no exception to this general rule, with most of the country being comprised of rocks of Mesozoic and older formations. However, in several African countries where conventional sedimentary basins of Cainozoic age do not exist, or are poorly exposed (fig 1) there are outcrops of calcareous rocks.