Orange river

Finally we joined a group paddling down the Orange river with Felix Unite. The boats were fairly big and stable and took quite a load. We had waterproof buckets for our things fixed in the boat and even a cooler box with ice for our drinks. The river was relatively high which made it easier to get through the rapids. On the other hand the water just covered a number of rocks which – because of the brown colour of the water – we could only see when it was too late. Once we got stuck on a rock and had to get out of the boat to free it. The waves in the currents were surprisingly high, more than half a metre and we got splashed soaking wet a couple of times. But we never capsized. Steering through the rapids was not that easy, but our guides were of great help pointing into the right direction. We paddled through a marvellous landscape with rock faces rising steeply out of the water in places. There were a lot of fish eagles, herons and shags. The water was warm and pleasant to swim in. In one place our group visited an old mine and some people collected the bluish-greenish stones. In the evening they threw them into the fire where they glowed and then popped. We just camped at the riverside and our guides prepared a delicious meal on the fire. After the refill half way there was even ice cream as dessert!

In the Canyon

The next highlight of this tour was 2 days of rock climbing in a wonderful canyon. The sight of the canyon alone is worthwhile, but imagine this even with about 40 bolted routes! There are steep walls at both sides of the narrow path which seemed to be formed by piling one block of rock on top of the other. It reminded me of fairytale castles. We had route descriptions printed from the internet, but the numbering and grading of the routes was not always clear. We started with a 16 lay back and then slowly worked our way up to a 22 at the most. The rock is good sandstone in most places with some crumbly sections. Although it can get quite hot in the canyon the temperature in the shade was pleasant and there were always plenty of routes to climb in the shade. We climbed well, 10 routes on the first day and 8 on the second. At the bottom of the last route a scorpion came out of the grass, but it was very shy and disappeared quickly when it noticed us. We really enjoyed these 2 days. It is a pity that this area is so far away from Windhoek.

Fish River

On this tour Andreas and I went all the way down to the Southern border of Namibia, to the Orange River. Although we started on Good Friday morning the roads were almost empty and we arrived at Keetmanshoop, 500km from Windhoek, at lunchtime. As it was nearby we had a look at Giant’s playground, where huge boulders are piled up in amazing formations. Sometimes we could not believe the stone on top is not falling down. We also took some pictures of the quiver tree forest from the roadside. This is not actually a forest in the European meaning of the word, but rather an accumulation of a few trees several metres apart from each other. Next day we continued to the famous Fish River Canyon. Yes, it is impressive. We looked from the top down to the water 500m below. It is a rugged desert landscape with just a thin stripe of green along the river. And it was hot. Further south we visited Ai/Ais Hot Springs which is a camp with a 65 degrees hot spring – what a waste! I imagined how glad the Eskimos would be about such a source. This camp is at level with the Fish River and we took a refreshing bath. Finally we made our way to the Orange River which appeared as a green ribbon out of the desert, an astonishing contrast.