Day 6 / 7

Day 6 (Acacia day 3) – Namibia – Fish River Canyon
After breakfast and breaking camp we headed over to the Namibian border to say goodbye to South Africa and get our entry stamps into Namibia.

We had a quick stop to top up the diesel and get a few snack and beverages; we were off to Fish River Canyon. This is the world’s second largest canyon after the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately getting there involves 4 hours or so over gravel roads through very bleak, desolate areas. It’s all rocks and sand, rarely a tree in sight here and mainly low scrub brush. The roads make the whole truck shake and rumble like a moving earthquake or a rollercoaster. It takes some getting used to but is not too bad or at least you get used to it. Holding the laptop, trying to type and see what I am typing is a challenge!

We went to our campsite at Hobas near the Fish River Canyon and setup camp. On the way we saw our first game of any real sort – some ostriches and kudus. We had a few hours so we chilled out at the pool, read a book and just chillaxed. Then we left the3 guides to cook (they cooked us a traditional style dinner in a cast iron pot over the coals) and drove over to the canyon for sunset. We hiked around the rim and then watched the sunset. It was really awesome, a great place with fantastic views. This whole area is very dry and rocky, pretty stark contrast to the lush fields of the wine region.

One thing about this campsite is that it has baboons. They are not very sociable and are really sneaky. They really only come around for the food and tend to stay away otherwise.

Day 7 (Acacia day 4 - Long drive day) – Sesriem
Today was a fairly early morning (7am) but it was our first long drive day. So with a fair bit of interpidation, we set out for the drive to Sesriem. We drove and drove but managed to break up the time by having a bit of a sing-a-long… with every cheesy song we could manage. You know the sort – Britney Spears, ABBA, Spice Girls… pretty funny times.

On our drive we did see our first significant game – some springbok and antelope. The Springbok is the national symbol of South Africa, as well as the name / symbol of the national rugby team. They are small type of antelope with horns, tan with a white underbelly.
Sesriem is a pretty bleak place, not a lot of vegetation and completely sandy. There are ground squirrels and loads of birds. Our general scenario is to get to our campsite around 5/6ish and setup tents. The kitchen crew for the day will set the kitchen and begin cooking. We usually have a bit of down time (especially useful if the campsite has a pool… or bar…). After dinner, we all clean our own dishes but the cleaning crew will handle the dishes from cooking. We have a generally early start up and out by 7 but sometimes earlier if we are going somewhere for sunrise… like tomorrow.