Broken windows and one of the biggest canyons in the world
Added on Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor
Broken windows and one of the biggest canyons in the world
Fish River Canyon is our key destination today – it’s one of the biggest canyons in the world and of course looks very similar to and often compared with the Grand Canyon in the USA. The Namibia roads are still wide and undulating, but perhaps a little more sandy. Many of the guys are thankful for the off road training at the Simon Pavey School in Wales. Putting the training into action everyday. Standing up, weighting the pegs when required, balancing throttle and body position to deal with sandy ruts and gravel corners – nothing too demanding yet – but certainly a taster of what’s to come during the rest of the journey.
All is good for the bikes; however one of the Nissan Pathfinder support vehicles driven by John shatters its rear window. Both of the 4×4′s are pulling a trailer with spare bikes, tyres and luggage. The problem is that the gravel is being thrown up onto the trailer and then rebounds back onto the Nissan. We cover the window with sheeting and secure it with gaffer tape. The other Nissan suffered the same fate within 2 hours – *******! A definite design flaw here but we don’t have the materials to make a stone catcher, and anyway, the damage has been done and we don’t foresee a new window this side of Zambia. It’s now dustier in the vehicles than on the bikes! And of course the air con is less effective – still, it is an adventure after all!
Fish River Canyon is just an amazing place to visit. A natural park reserve – full of wildlife, and with the most incredible canyon views. A great photo opportunity for all the riders and then we lunch at the famous Fish River Cañon Roadhouse – a restaurant that looks like it was copied from an American spaghetti western. Old US style trucks, cars and vehicle paraphernalia are littered around the place in various states of decay. Cactus and other exotic plants are growing in and out of their numerous openings. Surrounded by desert, we chill there for an hour or more before resetting the Garmin Zumos to the next custom track and heading off again.
A great advantage of the trip is the way we are using the Zumo’s – a key element to the way we run the tour. Each day is logged in the Zumo as a custom route for the morning and then the afternoon. We just have a morning briefing and then load up each route and follow it. The massive screen is so easy to read and is glove / touch sensitive. This means that our mix of riders can go at their chosen pace. Riders can leave at will – as long as they remember that their final destination has to be reached before dark – you really don’t want to be riding these parts in the dark – not in terms of security, more in terms of potholes and wildlife. Billy reckons that some of the deer we came across were more like ‘Bambi on steroids’. Standing 7 and 8 feet tall – these could really smudge your visor!
