Felixe United, Namibia (near the southern border with South Africa) to Fish River Canyon, Namibia

The cloudy skies didn’t put us off our early start today as it was still warm enough to be comfortable, and it was really calm. After a hearty breakfast (as all our meals have been, sigh),we loaded up on the bus to head up river with our canoes in tow. Now I use the term canoe rather loosely. These were plastic purpose-built canoes complete with two spots for water proof buckets to hold our extra clothes, glasses, etc. And the paddles were not canoe paddles, but rather double ended kayak paddles. But they were probably more forgiving than either true canoes or kayaks. After the canoes were unloaded we paired up, choose our kayaks, climbed in and set off, all without assistance. There was much joking about this activity being the forte of us Canadians, but neither of us had canoed for a VERY long time, and Nanci kayaked in Caye Caulker a few years ago but I never have so there wasn’t a lot of experience in our blue kayak.

But I’m proud to say that not only did we manage to keep the right side up, but we led the way for much of the way and set the pace down the 11-12 km of the Orange River down which we paddled. Competitive much! The valley had high cliffs in places and gentle rises to grape vineyards in other places. We stopped for a break on a lovely beach, and then continued on fairly quickly because our guide thought the wind was going to come up. A gentle breeze was all it took to make the paddling more difficult. Can only imagine how tough ocean kayaking must be. We passed over 3 sets of rapids, which while small still gave us a bit of a rush, having never experienced them in a canoe. Going over the last set we hit a rock and fortunately bounced off it safely and made the quick turn to the beach at the lodge where it all began. I blame the guide who didn’t pre-warn us about which route to take, and once in we didn’t have the ability to avoid it. In any case, no hard done, other than a few panicky moments on my part. Although we didn’t end up in the river, we did get soaked from the water running down the paddles. It was an absolutely fabulous morning. Again, one of my favourite experiences is on the water.

After changing into dry clothes and a casual picnic back our our beautiful lodge we piled onto our trusty truck and we were off. It was a long dusty, bumpy afternoon on washboard gravel roads. It is a really comfortable temperature at this time of year, their winter, and I was glad of that thinking about how this travel would be in the heat of summer.

The landscape changed quite a lot in the afternoon and although we didn’t see much in the way of towns we did pass a huge settlement of farm workers. They grow table grapes in this area, irrigated from the Orange River. There is not a lot with which to build in the middle of the dessert so the workers have constructed their homes with what materials they were able to find. Set in the middle of the dessert it seemed a rather sad existence, but I guess they are lucky to have jobs and a home, such as it is. They waved as we passed by them having their lunch.

Of course while we’re on the road we were constantly scanning the horizon for anything of interest and luckily we spotted a couple of pair of Kuda. And Sandilay pointed out a Quiver Tree and explained it was used to make quivers to carry tools and such as the limbs are hollow.

By late afternoon after many kilometres of “African massage” (washboarded and bumpy gravel roads), we came in sight of the amazing Fish River Canyon in the distance. We carried on to our Lodge, a real oasis in the middle of the desolate but truly interesting landscapes. The lodge consisted once again of little cabins but this time nestled among huge boulders, and beautifully landscaped grounds. It is rated as one of the best lodges in one of my tour books on Namibia. The rooms actually had walls built around the boulders, and other walls were made of stone, both of which were sealed with clear lacquer of some kind. For the first time the room included mosquito nets over the beds. We don’t enter malaria area for a few days so we’re not taking medication yet. It seems pretty cold at night for there to be mosquitos around but it was suggested we use the nets just in case and so happily complied. Even if there is no malaria, who wants a bunch of bites? I didn’t hear any of the tell-tale buzzing at any point

After just a quick chance to unpack a little and freshen up we piled back on the truck to go the 10 km to see the Fish River Canyon. This canyon is not like the Grand Canyon in the US with it’s dramatic vertical, deep walls, but it is really stunning. It measures 160 km long, is 28 km wide in places, and is up to 550m deep. It is a popular hike and a route along the river bed covers half the length of the canyon and takes 5 days. We arrived an hour before sunset and we walked around one side of the highest point to view the canyon with the tiny Fish River far below. There were no fences and one misstep would have been disastrous, but there were the usual, “just a little further back” jokes as we took pictures of each other. When we arrived back at the observation deck at the appointed hour to watch the sun go down, Innocent and Sandilay had laid out a lovely surprise, a wine and cheese feast with glass wine glasses and all. What a civilized way to watch the sun set over one of the largest canyons in Africa.

Dinner back at the lodge was fabulous buffet with a chance to try some of the local meat. I had Kuda Carpaccio for an appetizer, which was nicely smokey flavoured, and a small piece of Arxy (I think) steak for a main. As we were leaving the main building and heading back to our little cabin, we were delighted to find bins of hot water bottles by the door for us to use to take the chill off our bedding. (Which was beautiful and soft and comfie). What a treat.