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Published: October 8th 2012
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Fish River Canyon, Namibia, 6 September 2012
After leaving our campsite at 7.45am, after having to wait 45 minutes for the Park gates to open, we travelled over unsealed, well graded roads. Again we viewed amazing scenery along the way. The Namib Desert continued to impress us with its rocky mountains either side of the road.
We arrived at the Hobas Camp Site at about 4.00pm and set up our tents. At 5.00pm we then drove 10 kms to the Fish River Lookout for sunset. About 1 km from the lookout we heard a bang and we had another flat tyre. We arrived at the lookout cautiously. Instead of the truck dropping us off at this site then meeting us 2 kms along the canyon lip, we ended up walking along the top of the canyon and then walking back after sunset. The truck driver had changed his tyer by the time we got back.
Oh those colours on the sides of the canyon as the sun set – absolutely beautiful!
The Fish River Canyon is located in the south of Namibia. It is the second largest canyon in the world and the largest in Africa, as
well as the second most visited tourist attraction in Namibia. It features a gigantic ravine, in total about 100 miles long, up to 27 km wide and in places almost 550 metres deep.
The Fish River is the longest interior river in Namibia. It cuts deep into the plateau which is today dry, stony and sparsely covered with hardy drought-resistant plants. The river flows intermittently, usually flooding in late summer; the rest of the year it becomes a chain of long narrow pools. At the lower end of the Fish River Canyon, the hot springs resort of Ai-Ais is situated.
Public view points are near Hobas, a camp site 70 km north of Ai-Ais. This part of the canyon is part of the Ai-Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park. The other 90 km of this canyon are privately owned.
Upstream the river runs through horizontal dolomite strata. These strata formed part of the canyon about 650 million years ago when plate movement cracked the earth, the first process in the formation of the Fish River Canyon.
Lower down, a granite complex system is exposed to form a characteristic river bed that results in forms like Fingerspitze. In this area,
a fault runs north-south, which accounts for the gorge-like channel and the presence of hot sulphurous springs.
Southern Part (National Park): (Hobas Viewpoint) From Karasburg and B1, take C12 to C37 to the main Fish River Canyon Viewpoint. From Keetmanshoop, take B4 to C12, then to C37. (Ai-Ais) To go directly to Ai-Ais Hot Springs from B1, take C10 to Ai-Ais. The hiking trail, begins near Hobas on D601 and ends at Ai-Ais Hot Springs at the C10.
When we got back from the Canyon at 7.30pm and had a soup meal – hmm! Food has usually been pretty good. Over the 3 different sections of this whole trip, with 3 different tour guides, these 2 South Africans have not been near the fantastic high standard of the 1
st 2 guides. They were amazing. We requested eggs and bacon for breakfast and Champaign which we got the next morning (7 September) which was really nice. We also didn’t wake up until 7.30 with breakfast at 8.00am and departure at 9.00am.
The morning was warm and the sun was up before we woke. The campsite was dusty with a few baboons which didn’t cause any problems. However, when
we were having breakfast, all the scavenging black birds stirred up the dust looking for crumbs.
This point of the journey we noted we only had one more day to put up our tent and camping. We are now ready for a string of 4+ star hotel!!!!!!!
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