Fish River Canyon

The road trip to infinity

It is Easter weekend and 6 families with their corresponding children are on a road trip through Namibia. That makes 12 kids and 11 adults. The great thing about this is that all kids go to school together and play along very well.

We hit the road after school on Thursday and drive approx. 3 hours to Kalahari Anib Lodge just before Mariental. In our car it is quiet as Allegra and her best friend Anacamila are sleeping most of the way. The road is smooth, straight but not too interesting. Just in time for sunset we arrive at our lodge and the children are so excited to be together for the next 4 days.

Good Friday starts with a good breakfast outside and down south we go. And that means all the way …We decide to break up our drive of today and stop at the Quiver tree forest and the giants playground just before Keetmanshoop. Quiver trees are rare trees that for some reason only grow in this particular area. The plants are usually found growing singly but in some areas the plants grow in large groups, giving the effect of a forest. They look kind of bizarre but make beautiful pictures. I enjoy the time out of the car as the more south we go the warmer (and for me more comfortable) it gets. More or less across the street we have a look at the so called giant’s playground. Big stone boulders look like they have been put together randomly or giants have been playing and leaving their toys. The kids (and I) enjoy climbing up the rock formations. I am queen of the world and only then realizing how big that area is. As far as my eyes reach I see stone sculptures. Why here? Just accept it, enjoy it and we are off down south again.

Our compass stays continuously south for the whole day and we actually count the turns we take on one hand. I think we made 2 after lunch – that’s how straight the roads are. I dread this part of the trip as it reminds me of my way back from Lüderitz a while ago. But maybe it is the fact that I do not drive a Polo or I do not drive at all or the company that changes my set of mind. Though the road is still boringly straight, it comes unexpected when you reach a small crest and after that the same view awaits you again all over. A straight cut road through the wide open plans of nothing. You look into the open horizon. A road to infinity. Though I have to say it is relaxing for the eye and peaceful for the mind to see nothing. No litter – nobody. The bright yellow of the grass fills your soul with happiness and the rolling hills help to have that feeling of tranquillity.

The excitement of this part of the road are the birds that fly straight into your windscreen. Each car of us killed a couple of them I believe. 

So the second turn of the day leads us to an off road which brings us to Ai Ais – the place of the burning water. These hot springs have a hotel adjoined which is okay but not fantastic. (You could do much more here.) The food on the other hand is really bad or put in in other words – has the charm of a school cafeteria as has the dining room. The rooms in the main building remember of old Sowjet times. Maybe because it was built in the 70^th and they are only now trying to update it. But we are here for the hot springs – so off we go in our swimming costumes to the outdoor pool. Much too warm to actually swim but lounging around and playing with the kids is so much fun. Of course we have to try the inside pool as well which is slightly warmer. The actual spring water has 65 C so they are just cooling it down to body temperature.

We wake up in the morning and pretty soon the kids are in the pool again. Before lunch we make our way to Fish River Canyon Lodge just 1 hour drive where we will stay for 2 nights. The hotel has this beautiful setting with little houses built into the rocks so the boulders are integrated inside each cottage. Allegra and mine is a little higher up and I enjoy the late afternoon sun from a flat big stone next to the house after a yoga session. Life is good! I hardly see Allegra and everybody seems to enjoy themselves. 

Our lunch experience was rather interesting. We asked for the menu and were told we have the option between goulash soup and goulash soup. After investigating a bit we were able to order as well a toasted sandwich. Suddenly someone said he ordered French fries as well though we were told before we cannot have them even for the children. When they did not arrive after a while we asked and were told: “You just asked me if we could do French fries but you never ordered them. You have to order them.” Hmh! Every time a new waiter appears and the last one asks us very surprised why we are not having the Greek salad … to cut a long story short: it took us a while but we had food in our stomach! With some struggle but we were fed.

As mentioned before I did a yoga session with a friend, while others went to the pool or just chilled. 4 o’clock it was time to decorate the Easter eggs. We came well prepared. We decorated / coloured the hard boiled eggs after a Lithuanian tradition. First you draw a pattern with melted bee wax and then you dip them in egg colour. Beautiful and stunning outcome. As we already have turned our clocks back to winter time and the sun sets by around 17:30 we finished the last eggs in dawn and it is time for dinner. It is chaotic to feed 12 children at one table but I kind of like it.

In between I had managed to run to the pool which is a bit apart from the rest of the hotel and see the sun set over the open plains. If possible I will not miss a sunset as some of you might know … Take the time for beauty in life and what makes you feel good!

We finish the evening off with a round of Pictionary – always worth playing. J

It is Easter Sunday and after a nice breakfast it is Easter Egg Hunt time! The Easter bunny (in a shape of a good friend of mine) got up very early and transformed the front yard of the hotel into a paradise for small treasure hunters. Chocolate, eggs, bubbles, crayons and of course a sweet overkill of any kind is there to be found. The kids enjoy and it is a pleasure watching them. So for me it is the day of astonishing views. It started when I opened my window at 6 am and was amazed by the view out of my mountain chalet. And then of course we take a trip to Fish River Canyon – the purpose of this trip and these many kilometres. We drive to the main view point and I always think – like a first impression of a person or feeling an atmosphere of a restaurant you enter – the first moment you look at a landscape opening in front of your eyes and it blows your mind away. It is that moment that takes your breath away. You close your eyes and open them again and the sight or view is still amazing but you are already breathing again. Now you can let it sink in and you get quiet inside. This happened a couple of times for me on that trip. We take some more stops to see the canyon from other angles. We even manage to take a group picture – oh boy we are many.

Lunch we take at another Gondwana Hotel called Roadhouse which reminds of a restaurant in the States I think. Old cars and a lot of signs are put up for decoration. Some entertainment is going on at the toilets in form of a Pandora’s Box (a story that needs to be told another time). On the way back Allegra falls asleep so I put myself on my favourite spot. The flat rock at the side of our room and that gives me time to write on this little essay. I watch the other families on the grass in front of their houses “in the valley” running around and enjoy the background music of laughter and screaming. Before sunset we take a small hike up the hill across and enjoy a 360 C view of the panorama. Again astonishing. For sunset we meet at one of the families chalets and just have a drink. It always fascinates me how quick the sun sets here. The one moment the sun is up high and you just turn around – it is gone behind the horizon.

Now it is time to pack our bags for the last time and head home. Nobody is really up for it as it will be a minimum 8 hours drive. On a route we have already seen and which is not considered as one of the most spectacular ones on landscape. One thing though – it gets busy. On the off road bit we meet 3 cars in 30 minutes. But I enjoy the company of travelling with friends and the flat mountains I see now on my right coming closer to Windhoek are not only fascinating (as in Europe we do not have them only peaks) but they give me a strange kind of comfort. I know them well now. I am sad but how do they say:

Don’t be sad that it is over – be glad it happened!         

Here are some comments from the people traveling with us:

Anita: Desolate! Generous Easter bunny! Fun folk!

Ash: I fell harassed by this question!

Kamesha: The Easter egg hunt

Che: Eating the Easter eggs hot pool

Celina: Definitely the hot pool & waking up 4am & 5am all weekend – special treat for mummy

Barbara: The never ending roads always reach an end, although while driving you might think they won’t. Just like in life

Tomas: 12 children bother less than 2 - physics laws are not always true

Guille: I’ve specially liked playing with the kids on the grass and making fire at night

Africa: no comment yet

Mara: I’ve enjoyed sucking an ice cream on the way back home and wiping up myself my face and hands

Karla: The companionship and the warm spring fed pools and the amazing view from the top of the rocks at the lodge

Lance: It was a full moon, hot springs, Ellie’s sore mouth and if you see Patrick in your rear view mirror just pull over and let him pass

Ellen: The Easter egg hunt

Derek: diping the sausage in the hot pool while swimming and eating it. Chasing Anacamila on the grass during the monster game.

Oscar: Bird killers. Ice ice baby. Liked the NWR best

Adrienne: Nice trip, better company

Anacamila: (Refuses to give me an answer)

Patrick: Boring ! I love the Kokerboom ! I love to play poker!

Sarita: Lots of fun. Easy going family vacation. Special Easter. Happy to share Easter tradition.

Satya: Easter !

Maya: Elephants ! (hmh?)

Allegra: (First she was ignoring me) Playing