Journey to Fish River Canyon

We got up in the very early morning with the pre-dawn sky just beginning to redden. I packed away my tent in the dark as it lightly rained. It had gently rained during the night and woke me up several times wondering if i needed roll down the outer waterproof cover. It was rolled down for me by English Brian at one point when it began to remain more heavily but I rolled it back up again as I wanted to stay as cool as possible. I felt very tired after I got up as I have had so many early mornings over past nights. We had breakfast as the sky reddened further with the sunrise over distant mountains and the lake. We boarded the truck and headed out for Fish River Canyon, the second biggest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon. We arrived and walked to the first viewing point. The view of the canyon with the shadows of the early morning sun was mesmerising. The Fish river valley which was almost dry wound its way through an enormous, deep canyon for kilometres into the distance. The layered canyon sides were dry and devoid of trees or shrubs and shone in various shades of desert yellows and browns. We then walked along the top of the canyon for about a mile with wondrous views of the canyon at different angles until we reached a final viewing point and information centre at the far end. I stopped along the walk for a while to connect with this natural wonder and feel its austere, grand and ancient atmosphere. All too soon it was time to re-board the truck and head onwards. We drove along the enormous winding gorge for many miles as it fed into an enormous pale yellow desert plain lined by rows mountain ranges. This was nature on an epic scale. We drove up into mountains composed of reddish brown loose rocks which looked unearthly like a Martian landscape. We carried on along arid roads with rock layered mountains of many shapes and colours. We passed a small conical mountain composed of grey green rock. Then we passed over into a vast plain which gave one a sense of infinite space. We travelled along the white desert road towards a huge red mountain range with impossibly folded rocks. Then we passed a long ridge with large tubes of rock looking like a giant's church organ. We descended into contrasting bright green vineyards and past a a shanty town with an incongruous supermarket where we shopped for food for the cook group. Apparently, three zebra crossed the road there. This was a fascinating area of the country with the complex and diverse geology I have ever seen in one place.
We drove on to our campsite, Felix Campsite, which was a very nice irrigated grassy campground with a lovely bar and large pool which had beautiful views over the Orange river below and mountain gorge ridges behind. We rested in the 41 degree afternoon heat, cooling in the pool and resting in the bar with a glass of red wine. I watched some sport on the TV with a fish eagle circling over the river nearby. I showered and joined my fellow travellers for our evening meal. The sky darkened with the moon waxing to the first quarter. The stars shone brightly in the clear sky with the arc of the milky way showing clearly. I went to the camp bar with Lauren where we felt protective towards our fellow traveller, Kristin, who had been struggling with the persistent attentions of one of the locals who ran the bar. We did manage to rescue Krisitn from her predicament and return to our tents. There was a lovely cooling breeze in the evening which really helped me get off to sleep with the myriad stats twinkling through the netting of my inner tent.Read more