:: Carnet de Voyage ::David

// Nikon D7200 | -27.61945: 17.71424 | alt. 693m

Mike was welcomed by a massive thunderstorm for his first day in Namibia 🙂 Something we hope won’t happen many times, the volume of water falling down is really impressive and it floods many roads in no time. As long as we don’t have the van, it’s one of the main issue.

For his first day, we stayed at the Urban camp, nice and quiet, they have good food and fresh beer from the tap, cannot beat that after a long flight from Canada 🙂

Next day is the beginning of our adventures in Namibia, taking the long road to Fish River canyon. Farah, couchsurfing the country is joining us for a few days. 600kms to go on a straight road, it feels like crossing Canada. Temperature went to 27 celcius, but even when the thermometer says it’s cold outside, it still feels really hot inside the car :O

Refuel and groceries at Keetmanshoop (you have to refuel at any major city to make it to the next one), then 150kms of dirt road in very good condition to reach Fish River canyon, just in time to see the main lookout for sunset.
That being said, you don’t see much of the canyon when the sun goes down, since it’s all back lit.

Next day we agreed to wake up before sunrise to see the nice light over the canyon. From the main lookout, you can walk south to the last viewpoint offering a much better view of the entire place, a beautiful sight ! I’ve already seen the grand canyon in the Usa, but this one is still very impressive, and you get a better sense of scale.

Quick stop at the campground, shower and swimming pool (very common in campgrounds here) then bad road to Ais-Ais, at the south end of the canyon. After a few hours in the desert, losing altitude, we made it to the fish river, and what a surprise, we found a refreshing oasis with plants and trees all over the place ! We spotted a family of baboons on the cliffs while walking barefoot in the river.
A good moment to chill out, and it was already time to head back for sunset over the canyon.
This time, we went north of the main lookout, which is the beginning of the 5 days hiking trail, going all the way to Ais Ais via the fish river (guide and permit required to get inside the canyon…..). Way better lookout for sunset !

You need a permit to visit the canyon, which is valid for 24hrs, and since our camp is within the park, we have to pay another permit for the second night. So to save some cash, we decided to leave and sleep out in the wild. But a local bus stopped next us, and told us it is forbidden to bush camp.
So here is the deal breaker, everything is empty and fenced, and you cannot bushcamp anywhere, so you rely on campground (between 10 to 20 usd /n/p…… That quickly makes things expensive.

No choice that night, I had to drive all the way to Keetmanshoop to find a cheap campground. First time we drive at night, we won’t do it again, because you never know what’s gonna jump at your bumper in this country !