No Fixed Abode: Africa’s Grand Canyon

Sat 18 Jun 2016 - Fish River Canyon View Points

The receptionist at the Canyon Roadhouse had advised that early morning was the best time to visit the canyon so we duly got up early, had a full breakfast and were on our way by 0800. We drove the 35km over similar desert roads to yesterday until we came to the entrance gate where, as usual, we had to fill in a register and hand over some dosh. Another 10km later we were at the main viewing station at the edge of the canyon.

The canyon itself is very, very similar to the Grand Canyon in appearance but it is merely huge rather than immense being a mere 160 km long, up to 27 km wide and in places almost 550 meters deep. Like its Grand relative there is a canyon in a canyon but here the original broad canyon was formed by the land mass shearing vertically along two tectonic faults and sinking below the surrounding area. This lower valley became the obvious place for the Fish River to get to work for the next few million years and erode the deeper central canyon that exists today. The two stages are clearly visible with the river snaking back and forth leaving large uneroded plateaus.

After spending a while simply looking and then reading the information boards we made our way, partly by car and partly on foot, to another point that is the start of the 5 day walking trail that finishes in Ai-Ais, where we were yesterday. Admission to the canyon is limited to 30 people a day, which is a shame as there looked to be great scope for day hikes to the rim of the lower canyon - indeed some very noisy youngsters had ignored the sign and descended the path to do just that.

We spent another long while admiring the views from here then slowly drove our way back along the very rocky 4x4 trail and along the rim in the other direction until it became too much for our little Corolla so we parked up and walked to a spur that gave us another view. Impressive as it was there are only so many ways of viewing a canyon before it looks the same so we returned to the car and set off for tonight’s stop passing some Oryx (Gemsbok) and an unidentified antelope by the side of the road - who needs game reserves.

As with the last two days the roads were all dead straight gravel roads so with no steering or gear changing to worry about and the scenery one endless stream of desert wilderness it became a major event when every hour or so we passed another car. The other occupants clearly felt the same way as for a few brief seconds we all waved enthusiastically to each other before being swallowed up in the vast plumes of dust both vehicles left in their wake.

At one point we did pass a large plantation of grapevines (not sure if they were for wine or not) with a few buildings dotted amongst them, presumably for the workers, all nestled beneath a dam that was providing the water. This place was absolutely in the middle of nowhere but, actually, most places in Namibia are in the middle of nowhere. This country really is one vast empty wilderness. 75km later we came to our first T junction and to our utter amazement we joined a tarmac road. Wow, it felt good to be speeding over a smooth surface not leaving a trail of dust behind and we made good progress.

Addresses out here are pretty pointless so we resorted to copying the google maps directions and making ample use of the resettable odometer in the car to give us an idea of where the next turning was. Fortunately most of the tourist places are shown on large brown signs many kms out so as long as we could get in the vicinity we could follow them and, true to form, the Alte Kalkoefen Lodge was no exception. Bidding a sad farewell to the lovely tarmac road we turned onto another dirt track and within a few kms found the gated entrance to our home for the next three nights.

The Alte Kalkoefen is a strange but funky place. It comprises of several newly built chalets in a line overlooking the bare countryside behind a central reception, dining area and the owners’ home. Apparently it used to be a lime baking establishment, the original kiln is still standing, and is themed around rusty metal and stone but done in a quite tasteful way to give a rustic yet classy feel. We were met by our hosts. Frikkie and Hilde, passed two delicious iced rooibos tea drinks then shown to our chalet. We swiftly unpacked our dusty luggage - the boot does not seal very well on this car and much of the dust plume seems to end up inside - then flung open the doors to let the lovely warm dry air in.

As the sun set leaving a bright full moon in it’s place Yvonne knocked up a lovely dinner, our first home cooked meal since leaving Gecko Creek, and we opened one of the delicious Cederberg wines we’d bought and settled in for a quiet - well silent really - night.