This
morning the Brits wanted to go back to Sususflei for more sunrise pictures, so
we had Eric to ourselves. Our plan was
to hike into Seisriem Canyon, about an hour drive from our camp. We drove across Wilderness Safari’s private
reserve on bouncy tracks, then exited onto the main highway, an “improved” dirt
road (Marty and Toby know what improved means).
We bounced along for an hour through the desert, and got to do a bit of
game viewing, oryx, springbok, and ostrich.
We finally reached the end of the highway. The Sesriem Gate, here, is the main access point to the Namib-Naukluft National Park unless you fly in as we did. Sesriem is an oasis (ie. clean bathroom) that included a restaurant, the only gas station for probably 200 miles (I think Windhoek is the next closest), and a medical facility. I’m glad we have Global Rescue!
Sesriem Canyon is only a 5-minute drive from the “center” of Sesriem. The wind was howling here, almost blowing Jeri over. But as we descended into the canyon, we were protected from the winds, and it was quite pleasant. Sesriem natural canyon carved by the Tsauchab rivier in the local sedimentary rock, about 0.6 mile long and up to 100 feet deep. The name Sesriem is Afrikaans and means "six belts", given by settlers on the who had to attach together six belts (made of oryx hides) in order to reach buckets down into the canyon to scoop up water. The Sesriem Canyon is only 6.5 feet wide in some places, and has a portion that permanently contains water, which many animals use.
We weren’t quite sure why, but the drive back to camp was way shorter than the trip there.
The afternoon turned out to be R&R. The Brits were going 4-wheeling and needed Eric to join them. We had no interest (turned out to be a good decision, they apparently were riding so slowly, they drove Eric crazy)
At dinner, we had a visit from an owl at the watering hole. Photos in the dark were suboptimal, but not terrible.
Off tomorrow to Rhino Camp.
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