Travel article: Fish River Canyon

Time for arid deserts and long endless tracks, we are off to Namibia!

A 10-hour drive is needed from Cape Town to reach this country so different from its South African neighbor.

The tracks are so flat and endless that we see the cars arrive at 5 kms. We cross one car maximum per hour, we are definitely in the middle of nowhere! Ostriches and impala escort us during the whole trip. It's magic.

Who says desert says huge distances between villages we have largely underestimated them ... We almost finished the road hitchhiking ... Indeed we had 60 km of gasoline left according to the gauge and the next village with a petrol station was reported at a 67 kms distance ... It was 45 long minutes of driving where we challenged the petrol gauge driving slowly and munching kilometer on kilometer! In the end, we reach the village with 7 kilometers left in the car! (hitchhiking in South Africa, no-thank you ...)

Border crossing was easy though long and it is at night that we arrive in Grunau (pronounced Grrrrrrrrununau). The city center consists of the post office, a school and a gas station. No 3G network of course but the WiFi signal is surprisingly strong.

We arrive on the private estate of Namibian owners and between the entrance gate and the house where we are staying: 6 kms of track, there is even a sign that indicates the way in their own garden! How many hectares their "garden" is ?!

The purpose of our visit to this part of Namibia: discover the Fish River Canyon.

Legend has it that this canyon was built to the rhythm of the advance of a snake that waved to flee a hunter explaining the laces form.

The canyon is the second largest in the world, it is huge, we see the different strata and geological formations. Geological formations which allowed to date them to more than 500 millions of years.

It's as if there is a canyon in a canyon. It is very dry, we are indeed in the desert. How beautiful ! Even the toilets have gives view on the canyon, you are never tired of contemplating the view.

However why this name Fish River Canyon? We do not see any fish or river ...

On the road we also discover a road-style 20s with rest of trucks, cars, ambulances, in the middle of nowhere. Fun though very strange.

A first step that promises, we are seduced. Let's go for more tracks driving!

Some recommendations:

# so far so good, the tracks are drivable with a small city car.

# we have rented a small car for 50 days at 11 euros per day (including border crossing fees) Good surprise, these fees are unique and do not take into account the number of borders crossed! We will therefore pay 175 Euros less than expected!

# to cross the border with a car 308 Namibian dollars.

# Night at White House in Grunau: 852 Namibian dollars (50 euros)

# The Fish River Canyon seduced us. Free entry, do not miss Main viewpoint and sunset viewpoint.

#It is forbidden to go down into the canyon unless you do the 5-day hike, which has to be booked months in advance.