Thur. 16th May 2024
We’d better get used to early starts on this trip. It’s a 6:10 alarm today and we’ve even beaten the sunrise! We walk out on to our balcony and there are just the first traces of light on the horizon. By the time we’ve had breakfast and are ready to get off on our canyon trip, the sky has gone through shades of red and the sun is just above the horizon. We are introduced to Hugh & Helen who are joining us and to Fillemore (Filli) our driver for the day. We all pile into a Land Cruiser with open air seats and a canopy top.
We haven’t got far before we stop beside a solar-powered pump and a large tank. Filli explains that this is the main water feed for the lodge and that the bore hole goes down 180m! He also points out the twiggy shrubs that dot the landscape all around. This is apparently Euphorbia and it produces cytotoxins. Not only poisonous to humans but also to other vegetation and so it tends to clear the area of other plants. Even the smoke from burning Euphorbia is toxic – one reason we’ve been told to buy and not gather firewood for our braais.
We haven’t got much further along the plateau at the top of the canyon when we stop again, and Filli points out a zebra on the far side of a small gulch. I’m glad I took the decision to put the long lens on my camera and am able to get some good shots of him before he heads down into the gulch, only to come up again on the near side accompanied by his mate and a young zebra. Apparently, these are mountain zebra, only found in this part of Namibia and need the mountain terrain to keep their hooves trimmed. They also like to coat themselves in dust because the Euphorbia toxins in the soil help keep their parasites at bay.
Even more exciting than the zebra we (well Filli) then spots a pair of Klipspringer antelope and again, I’m able to get some great photos. Just as we start to think that this is going to be a natural history tour rather than a trip down to the bottom of the canyon, we start the first descent. There are 3 or 4 distinct levels within the canyon, with a wide plateau at each layer. There is a clear track down but for the descents and, particularly, ascents it is very rough with large undulations and some quite large rocks to get over. Janet & I are particularly interested in how Filli manages this bad terrain – where he changes down in to low-range 4WD, how he lets the gears do the work and how he see-saws gently on the steering wheel in the ascents to help the tyres find their grip. We’re encouraged to see that the Land Cruiser (and Filli) take it all in their stride.
The geology changes all of the time as we head down. The peaks of the surrounding hills are all flat – all eroded away until a layer of black limestone (black from carbon) is exposed. Under the limestone, the rocks are redder and (presumably) sedimentary in nature. More surprisingly, some of the scree slopes and exposed sand has a greenish tinge – from oxidised copper ore. But always, always there are the views of the hills behind us and the canyon stretching out in front.
After a couple of hours of driving, interspersed with stops at viewpoints for yet more photos (that probably fail to do justice to the grandeur of the canyon), Filli pulls to a halt and says it time for us to walk the final section down to the river – and bring our swimming cossies. Water flow through Fish River is much reduced since dams were built up river but there are a few pools of brownish looking water. Not the most conducive for a swim, but we are hot – and unlike in Aus, we don’t need to worry about crocodiles here! The water is somewhere between cool and cold, but definitely refreshing.
Whilst we’re having a dip, we’re joined by the six ‘young-uns’ who hiked down from the lodge. Unsurprisingly, they’re even hotter than we are – too much so and even those used to hiking in their Swiss home say that they’re going to get a lift back. Far too hot to walk all the way back up. Fortunately, another Land Cruiser has arrived and is complete with supplies for lunch. Not only is there a very welcome cold beer, but Filli and the others have got the braai going and are laying out quite a spread for us. We even get a tablecloth over the trestle-table and proper crockery. No slumming it here!
There is less stopping on the way back after lunch. There are, however, more opportunities to observe Filli handle the Land Cruiser up some pretty severe slopes. Far steeper than anything we’re going to have to manage (we hope). Importantly, we’re back in time for coffee and cake. Very well deserved (we think) – and it is chocolate cake after all.
Looking back, it was a great decision to go for the Canyon Drive – we definitely couldn’t have managed the hike and better to see the bottom of the canyon that to go round the rim looking at more viewpoints. When we were planning this trip, Janet questioned the need to come to Fish River Canyon, given that we saw it on our RTW trip. I think we’re both glad that I stuck to my guns.