Block faulting, alkaline volcanic rocks, evaporites and wedge‐shaped deposits of feldspathic arenite point to intracontinental rifting at the onset of the Pan African Damara orogenic cycle. Spreading followed an aulacogen stage and resulted in the development of a narrow Red Sea‐like ocean that was flanked by deep‐water fan deposits and contained basic volcanic rocks with composition of MOR basalt. Reversal of spreading led to plate collision, subduction of the Kalahari craton below the Congo craton and the formation of paired metamorphic belts.