Monday 17 August 2015

Day 6: Fish River Canyon

We had a great breakfast, the lodge is pretty self sufficient in terms of produce and bake delicious breads, make homemade jams and we had fresh fruit.

We then set off for a day of sight seeing around the canyon.

I have an irrational fear when my kids – the big one and the 3 younger ones – are at the tops of cliffs and waterfalls. All 3 were provincial springboard divers and definitely not afraid of heights, neither am I, but the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when they go near the edge of anything high. Hence our previous trip to the canyon had me a touch on edge the whole day. Today was a whole lot more relaxing, no kids hanging over the edge and Gray, as he has matured, has become a whole lot more responsible too.

The day started off with us changing a tyre on Tony’s car – we have changed numerous tyres on Namibian roads over the years. 
At the canyon we started at the view point where hikers descend into the valley of the canyon. The hike is an 85km walk through the canyon along the Fish River. It is said to but the hottest hike in the world. We watched 2 groups of hikers start their hike on the very steep descent into the canyon.  

We then wandered around taking in the view and taking pics of various areas of the deep canyon and meandering river. On our way out Gray decided we need to take a 30km round trip to the furtherest vantage point, I queried as to whether it was worth it but he was right again – we came across one of the most spectacular views of this impressive canyon.

Luckily he installed 2 way radios in the cars – a couple of km along the road Tony radioed to say he had another puncture. The boys spent an hour changing, fixing and pumping tyres.

We stopped off at Canon Roadhouse on the way back. This is an eclectic motel, also part of the Gondwana group.  It is a veritable treasure house of motor memorabilia; old cars and trucks, signs, tools and paraphernalia adorn the place, inside and out.  It is well worth a visit if you are in the area.  After afternoon tea – beers and wine – we wondered off back to Canon Village, while Tony found some guys to help fix tyres.

Today we saw gemsbok, springbok, ostriches, klipspringers and a squirrel.

We had a few drinks in the pub, built around a natural rock outcrop.  Dinner was again delicious, springbok steak and lamb curry.









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