1968 Namibia

We were very excited to be in Africa but Cape Town itself was quite English. Dave Cram had heard that in Namibia – then South West Africa – you could find precious stones in the sand and suggested a trip there. We set off in his VW Beetle with camping gear. First stop en route to the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park was the Augrabies Falls where the Orange River has carved a gorge through the granite. On the way north from there we saw some camels and I was laughed at because I took a photo. We shared our first campsite in the park with a camel which was disconcerting but the ranger said one night a lion had got in. We saw lots of game and took lots of pictures. We did naughty things like picnicking under a tree, driving off the track to get close up to a lion, chasing ostriches and hartebeasts to see how fast they can run – at least 40 mph. We then drove across the semi-desert to the Fish River Canyon. This is a slightly smaller and completely deserted version of the Grand Canyon.

We pitched out tents on the camp site which was just an area of desert which had had the larger stones removed and with a ladies and gents toilet and watched the sun setting over the canyon. Next day we walked down to the river with James on our back.

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