Next morning, we opted to make a start for the Fish River Canyon early, rather than take two hours on a canoe trip.
We had a delicious cooked breakfast, bacon, sausages and beans and we washed up, loaded the bus and set out North again, this time towards the real desert.
As we drove over gravelled roads, our guide pointed out how people had made farms in the desert where there had been nothing before. We saw acres of date palms and tomatoes.
What he also explained was that workers came to these remote places with no facilities and set up what are really shanty towns as the option of commuting is not available. Water has to be carried from a distance.
We passed a large settlement where people had nothing more than shacks to live in.
Again, I felt privileged and lucky to be driving past in a modern well equipped vehicle.
The terrain became more desert-like and the road continued in its ‘gravel’ status, ie very bumpy.
Plots of ground have been fenced off by buyers and whole hills are demarcated such as Mount Elena that we passed by.
We stopped at a little outpost of Fish River Canyon and saw one of many Quiver trees we would see from now on. The San people used to hollow out the trunk and use them for quivers for their arrows, hence the name.
The lower branches tend to be torn off by Kudus and Springbok. The leaves of the tree are equipped to withstand long periods of drought.
It’s been three years since they had any significant rainfall here and we had to imagine that there were rivers here in rainy season, as there were only puddles at the bottom of the canyon, which we drove to next.
This is the second largest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon in the USA.
We spent some time marvelling at it and taking photos.
Inhabitants have been recorded here as far back as 70,000 years ago and some of the oldest Rock Art in the world can be found here.
We drove on to our next accommodation, in an outpost known as Seeheim. I use the word outpost advisedly, as it is in the middle of a junction that no longer exists. Train tracks run through this desolate place, but it has been many years since the sound of a locomotive has been heard. Now, you can listen to the creaking of the abandoned wind generator as it turns lazily in the breeze.
We sat on the porch and imagined Charles Bronson playing his lonesome tune from ‘Once Upon a time in America’ on the other side of the tracks.
There has been a hotel here since 1895 and it became an important stopover point when diamonds were discovered in Johannesburg. At one time a Brothel was started up, although it was tightly regulated, with concerns for the health of the five women engaged there.
Passengers from Luderitz on the coast headed for Johannesburg needed some entertainment while waiting for their connection onwards.
At one time, it was a lemonade factory, set up by the hotel owner’s sister after the Second World War.
It was rebuilt an indeterminate number of years ago, but it is fairly dilapidated, except for the bar and reception area which have an interesting array of long dead Ungulates.
The Rugby World cup between SA and NZ was televised in the large dining room and some of us stayed up after dinner to watch that.
After casting bets as to how many of us would survive the night, it being close to halloween, we said good night. On our way to our various rooms, we noticed a partial eclipse of the moon, which was full, another ominous sign….
AH SURE AZURE 