Fish River Canyon

Fish River Canyon
Photo Credit: Mark

Namibia contains high degrees of sultry, exotic landscapes which no doubt inspire those lucky enough to visit in person. From burnt orange sand to pink sunsets, to the tiger's eye marbling of browns and yellows, the landscape is at the very least, mind blowing. I even include the flat stretches of nothingness. One place of our particular favorites so far is the Fish River Canyon. Even though it takes second in size to the Grand Canyon and second in popularity to Etosha National Park, the canyon is a mouth gaping, intimidating sight to behold. Not only is the place full of color and texture but as the second largest canyon in the world, it draws tourists from all corners of the earth. Lucky for us, we came from our lodge around the corner, not more than 15 minutes away. Well, it would have been only fifteen minutes had it not been for taking a wrong turn. One hour later, we paid our entrance fee and despite the downpour and ground shaking thunder, we headed to the official view point. 

Predictably, Mark busted out his giant tripod and immediately set to his photo taking. I stared helplessly out at the massive spread and the kids gave the canyon a cursory glance before walking along the fence shouting declaratives of conquering the world. I couldn't process the whole experience right away and I figured out why: we were all alone! I flash backed to my visit to the Grand Canyon 15 years ago. The rim was stuffed with people who were milling around, taking photos and trading off like we did in the pre-selfie stick days. I remembered one family climbing over the fence with their small children to get a better picture, and my heart stopping mid beat. One misstep and... 

But now, I let myself breathe, enjoying my insignificance and loneliness. Then thunder began its warning call again, steadily creeping closer. As this was one of Mark's lifelong dreams to photograph, we used every available second at hand, and hopped into the car to Hiker's View not three minutes away. Obviously, it was worth it to see the big green signs pointing straight down to the trailhead where the majority of people do their 80km, 5-6 day hike in a 500 million year old canyon. But rain won out and we made it back to the car drenched and elated. Our drive back to the main entrance was only slightly more than eventful, when lightening touched down about 50 feet in front of our car. Momentarily stunned by the light, we saw smoke quickly dissipate from the rocky ground as fast as it came. It was a good sign to head back to the lodge where we would spend the entire night blanketed in lightening shows and welcome cool breezes.

View of the trailhead: Hiker's View.

Hiker's View

Margo giving orders at the Round Table.

Break in the sky before the downpour commenced.

Lightening and pouring down rain glittering the sky.
Photo credit: Mark

This went on all night.
Photo credit: Mark

Hiking outside Gondwana Canyon Village

Turns out that when Namibians tell you the hike will last approximately three hours, they mean: three hours. From our experience, hikes in the U.S. are frequently overestimated, so we lured the kids on a New Year's Day hike thinking we'd be back in time for breakfast. We left at 6:00am, fresh after sun rise. Everyone was up anyway, and we wanted to avoid the unavoidable hot temperatures, as we'd be in nearly 100% direct sunlight. The goal was to reach a naturally occurring arch formation so with sunscreen, hats, and water, off we went. It only took the kids about an hour to start complaining about hunger, so with my secret weapon I offered up apples. Apparently no one was hungry enough to eat those, and on we went. Up past the quiver trees, we followed the path of the springbok which led us close enough to see a herd of zebras. One of the hotel staff would later try to convince us we only saw deer, or possibly oryx even after we described these mysterious black and white striped, horse-like phenomenons. He was a peculiar guy.

With zebra sighting excitement wearing thin, we crossed over a high pass thinking sights of this arch would soon happen. Instead we saw more valleys, rock piles, and a few lizards. It was incredibly disheartening because by now we had reached hours 2.5.  Everything was hot, dusty, brown, and far away. I turned into Mean Mommy, Margo and Deets turned into, well, realistic 4 and 6 year olds and Mark tried to hold us together with his deleterious joke telling. We pushed on, hiking through valley and back up another butte towards a sliver of shade, coaching/threatening the kids to get a move on when I saw it: the arch, hidden snugly in the middle of the rock that seemed impenetrable from our point of view. I heard an angel choir, smelled the fresh cool air (that likely created this arch thousands of years ago) rip past us, and touched the rocks sweetly chilled from the desert night. Everyone's bad attitude dissipated, especially with knowing our hike back to Canyon Village would be no more than 10 minutes hike down and 20 minutes across a sandy stretch of land. We missed breakfast, but no one cared. The only thing more desired than food, was to drink cold sparkling water by the pool and take a nap. All of which was easily accomplished, with plenty of time to visit the famous Fish River Canyon in the afternoon, get caught in a massive (but refreshing) downpour, and take in the impressive lightening that cracked the skies into a million pieces. 

Mountain Zebra

No where to hide.

Current mood: this rock.

Victory.

Photo credit: Margo

From the front side. Mission completed.

Road trip to Southern Namibia

No Schlink car trip can ever start off without my preoccupation with stockpiling essentials like snacks, water, and sunscreen. Mark worries about much less important things like printing out proof of insurance, the spare tire and securely fastening down the duffel bags. What kind of priorities are those, am I right? Once satisfied, I had enough apples, dried fruit, and biltong to go with the waffles, soft pretzels, cheese, crackers, and several gallons of water, and celebratory stock of gin, tonic and limes- off we went, headed south through Namibia. The kids were giddy with 6am excitement, unable to go back to sleep- ignorant of the long hours ahead. I desperately wanted to nod off, but as the first leg co-pilot, I knew my allegiances should remain awake with Mark. For our first burst of excitement, we drove past the Tropic of Capricorn, completing a lifelong dream photoshoot at the southernmost latitude point that receives sunlight directly overhead. 

The best part of driving in southern Namibia is that the landscape is consistently unique. Not having been particularly far north, east, or west I can't speak to them yet. But the south is definitely cool and unpredictable. One minute we would drive past rolling mountains,  another past rocky steppe, or farm land, and another through canyons. Sometimes all four seemed to happen at once and although Namibia is drought ridden, there's still a mess Pantone colors swathing the landscape. It's pretty great.  The only thing that is less great, is the endless, straight road (though the B1 highway is well paved and marked) which will make any driver sleepy.  

A few hours later we approached our next pit stop of Keetmanshoop, and decided on a detour to the Quiver Tree Forest/Rest Camp. Owned by a German family with what seemed like 43 sheep dogs, this private property contains an impressive spread of quiver trees which are part of the aloe family. The owner estimated that some of these trees are over 300 years old. It's impressive they don't whither in the hot sun, which at our time of arrival, reached 40C (104F). Beet faced and only "slightly" sweating, we explored the rocky and hilly terrain chasing lizards. After chugging the once cold turned tepid bubble water, we visited the Giant's Playground: a place filled with very old, very big rock piles. Essentially, they are 160-180 million year old igneous rocks spread over 180,000 square kilometers. Essentially, it's pretty cool. And hot at the same time.

I love how Google has its mind made up with the most efficient way to arrive, but then promptly changes to divert via dirt roads. Yet, I still believed as we bid goodbye to the B1. Perhaps it saved 3-5 minutes, perhaps not. What the new route did do was take us to through suspiciously green, and soldier straight vineyards and palm tree farms. It was a pleasant surprise, even if we were only 90% certain of the correct way. Finally, with an eminent arrival to the Gondwana Canyon Village, we enjoyed spartan yet massive rock columns, and buttes, along with a sneak preview of the Fish River Canyon. Everything mind you, was dotted with oryx, gembock, and ostriches.  Once we checked in and pretended not to notice it was 42C, we had no choice but to cool off by swimming and taking a sunset hike before eating dinner under the stars.  Dinners here start and end late. So much that, the kids wanted to skip dessert, falling into bed at 9:30, with us not far behind at 9:31. We all had enough bursts of excitement for the day.

23°26′13.5″

Quiver tree forest! 

Photo credit: Deets.

Mistakingly taking a selfie with a quiver tree photobomb.

Hiking around the Canyon Village.

View from the shade in which I was hiding.

View from the porch of our "chalet."

View of the village from above.