The Canyon

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You Can Take The Urbanite Out Of The City...

This is it - our first real day of doing proper stuff on the trip and we're both really excited. It's really cold in the mornings, as in Britain winter cold-morning cold. Bracing stuff.

The gear that we've thoughtfully acquired for our quest is donned and we mount up on the 4x4 with our guide and driver for our foray into Fish-out-of-water River Canyon (know to the locals as just Fish River Canyon).

It's a bumpy ride, and not much of a road. We get our first glimpses of springbok and ostrich and as we round the first bend and stop for some shots before descending into the canyon proper we can see some kudu off in the distance, tromping back from a quick drink at the river, no doubt.

Our final arrival at the canyon is where we'll have some lunch and our guide takes us down to the river banks. There a baboon up on the canyon wall and he's not happy to see us at all and is quite vocal about it. Some counter-chest-beating silences his simian bellowing. It's kind of closed off at both ends - there's not really anywhere for us to get lost - so he leaves us to it and we have the canyon to ourselves. For some reason I can hear the phrase 'just let them stretch their legs and have a good old run around' rings in my ears.

The canyon itself is incredibly quiet until you start to listen carefully - then you can hear the wind in the reeds, the flowing of the river, the occasional bubble as a fish grabs a fly and swoop as swallows (of African air-speed velocity) beat their wings making sharp turns.

We are well and truly out of our element, but we don't care. It's really beautifal and photos just don't do it justice. The feeling of having our own canyon for a morning is amazing.

The surreality is rounded off by our return for lunch where a table is set for us with wine and barbeque. Job well done!

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Photos

Fish-out-of-water River Canyon
It's even more beautiful than it looks.

Into The Canyon
Ray Mears' got nothing on me.

Glamour Shot
Here, you can see Susan wearing 'Desert Casual', for the sandy lady.