I was woken by the call of a Fish Eagle, best alarm clock ever.
After breakfast we headed to the police and immigration offices on the South African border. Panda was surprisingly chilled for a border crossing day. All in order ( not that I would ever doubt it, he has a file filled with all the correct document and then some 😉).
We drove our vehicles down to the Orange and both vehicles caught the pontoon across the river onto the Namibian side. After a painless arrival check in on the Namibian side, we checked out a ‘rock tree garden’ – rocks from various parts of Southern Africa were set atop metal poles.
We needed to set our clocks back an hour due to day light saving in Namibia. It makes a lot of sense at this time of the year. Gray joked that the whole border crossing, including the river crossing took us 3 minutes. We also received our first Namibian Dollars in cash at the border post. Currency is not an issue as the Namibian Dollar is based on the rand and the SA Rand and credit cards are accepted throughout the country.
The drive to Canon Village at Fish River was 180 km along flat, smooth and well maintained roads. We followed the confluence of the Orange River, with the Richtersveld mountains on our right and a more rocky type of mountain, interspersed with sand dunes, on the Namibian side.
We crossed over a very low flowing Fish River and saw it merge into the Orange River. Shortly after this we were on the opposite of the river where we had picnicked two days earlier. After 75km we exited the Transfrontier park and crossed over a dry Gamkab River.
Having left the park, the terrain changed, still mountainous but with flat areas along the banks of the Orange. The water was a dark blue and looked very inviting. There was also more evidence of civilisation; farming, more traffic and a few building structures.
The turn off to Fish River Canyon took us away from the river and into a proper desert region. We still had the stark desert mountains on our left but to our right was a flatland of sandy grey/ brown nothing.
We decided to visit Ai-Ais, an 11 km detour, as we time on our hands. The road in was again through a dark mountainous valley. Ai-Ais is a hot spring resort, at one stage apparently facilities had deteriorated quite badly but it has been renovated and improved. They have indoor & outdoor heated swimming pools, chalets and a camp site. It reminds me of Warmbaths. In addition to the resort it is also the finishing point of the Fish River Hiking trail, a tough 85km, 4 day slog in the heat - bloody mad - there were a number of limping hikers soaking in the pools. We had lunch in the restaurant and headed back onto the dirt road.
As we neared the canyon the terrain changed dramatically. In the distance were flat topped mountains with deep valleys.
Along the road today we saw a gemsbok, Duiker, klipspringers, kudu and ostriches. There are aloes and Quiver Trees in the Canyon area.
We arrived at Canon Village around 4. Panda did well – the lodge is Texas ranch merging with Bushman chic. The rooms are great and comfortable. Last time we were at Fish River Canyon we camped at Hobas, one our of less favorable experiences. It was packed with overlander campers; they were noisy, they left the bathrooms (when we could use one) filthy and we had a camp site on the edge in the dirt and dust. Pair this up with three kids who kept wanting to peer over the canyon edge and it was not my best experience. Clearly Gray felt the same way and booked up market for 2 nights. I must say a welcome relief from the sand of the last few days. Al and I are bok for roughing it for a few days, as long we can have some luxurious respite every now and then.
After booking in we spent the next couple of hours sorting out comms – new country, new SIM cards, data bundles, networks… It was so much easier back in the day when told all back home that you would be back in a month, to pay the bills, fight the home fires get on with life.
The chalets at Canon Village are set in a lager, surrounded by sandy colored boulder type mountains with 100m or so of ‘desert’ from our chalet to the main building and restaurant – the area is paved and littered with aloes, quiver trees and lantern lights. It is Arizona desert by day and fairyland at night. While crossing the area this evening to go to the restaurant we heard a noise and two wild Gemsbok galloped past us. They apparently come looking for water at the lodge.
Dinner was delicious; pea soup, oryx steak with pepper sauce and coconut pudding. The wine was good and the service friendly.
A tip for anyone staying at one of the Gondwana Group accommodations (Canon Village is one of them) – organise a Gondwana Card. You get 40% off all accomodation and meals.
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