Klein Aus Vista to Hobas Campsite, Fish River Canyon- Thursday 3rd March

We were nearly blown away by the wind last night so not much sleep and hit the road at 730am for our 300kms drive to Fish River Canyon 

Had to watch out for 

As we traversed the mountain ranges and flats then crossed the start of the Fish River canyon which is very small in comparison to what we will see downstream at the canyon

Then a right and turn onto the dirt road fish river

 Seehiem was just down the road so we stopped at the hotel to have morning tea and  buy a couple of bags of ice for that night.

they had some friendly turkeys and Oryx on their property

Then back into Steph for the 80 kms drive to the next stop at lunch time- Canyon Roadhouse which houses a heap of old cars as well as car,servo and mechanical signs from old days.

Here's a Quiver Tree ( part of the Aloe family)growing out of an old car in the gardens

Only 20 kms to our camp site for the night with the usual fawlty towers check in rigmarole to set up tent and have a quick rest before we drove out to the canyon which is only 10kms away.

Fish River Canyon is 90 to 160 kms long in length,27kms maximum width and 540 metres maximum depth.

The oldest rocks of the region existed long before today's continents wear formed by the break up of the super continent Gondwana.The basement rocks are 200 million years old almost half the age of the earth.

Formation of the canyon itself started about 350 million years ago  but the fish River now runs in a bed that is 1500 million years old and is born from a tectonic event forming a trench. Gondwana started to break up 210 million years ago with Africe and South America separated  million years later. The continental edges rose during this rifting,causing the gradient of the Fish River to increase. The water now flowed faster,increasing its erosive owner enabling the creation of the lower canyon.

it is thus a unique combination of tectonic,volcanic,climatic and erosion all forces that created this geological highlight,one of the greatest sights in Namibia.

We Were the only ones about at this stage so drove out to one of the viewing points and set up to have a couple of vinos whilst taking in the amazing views

Headed back to the park about half past six and had a quiet dinner then bed- very hot night especially when unfortunately the wind died down.