Messum Crater

Finn decided to make a detour to go a place called Messum Crater. So got off from D2303, we head to Messum Crater.

From our guide books I couldn’t find any further information about this crater other than a name. The topo map on GPS didn’t show the obvious change of altitude which was how a crater was supposed to look like. Finn decided to give it a try any way. So we went. The roads were corrugated in some sections, one could drive anywhere because it’s all flat. We stayed on the road. The area is so dry that it will years for a small grass to grow. The plant in the pictures is called Welwitschia that can live a thousand years while in all these time only grow two leaves. Amazing.

We finally reached a point of a T junction and decided to turn back. The area was flat with some low hills far far away. We still didn’t know if we had reached Messum Crater (we were actually in the middle of it but didn’t realize it).

I took a leak and left the toilet paper on the ground. Finn saw it flying in the wind. He asked what is it? I said paper. He said you should not leave anything behind. I ran out of car and chased it. I could not catch it if it was not caught by a rock first. While chasing it I even imagined I ran so far into the desert till I was lost. After getting back into the car I told Finn that I thought it was OK to leave it here because it was a piece of paper, but after talking with him I realized it would take a long time for this paper to biodegraded in this absolutely no water environment. It won’t go bio deterioration without humidity. Last time when Finn and I walked a trail in upstate New York Finn told me the put an apple core under a rock instead of throwing on the ground even though it can be disintegrated easily. Finn has a lot experience in the wild.Read more