Augrabies
I have spent the past few days on a river trip just beyond Augrabies Falls, and I will include pictures later. For now though, I'll just include a journal entry I made this week:
August 8, 2005 Orange River:
Here I am on the Namibian side of the Orange River camping for the night. Not the way I expected to enter Namibia. You know, it might make an interesting Watson project to follow rivers that make borders between countries...
Even though I am in Namibia, you wouldn't know it from looking around. It just looks like a small river in the middle of a huge desert. I made the mistake of pitching my tent atop a hill and it is quite windy. I guess that's what you trade for a view. It's nice to be out of the city and into the remote wild.
The canyon is a loose, open canyon, but like so many it is without people. I wonder if, like the Anasazi, there were once people in this area, because it is such a ribbon of life in the midst of such a harsh climate. Outside of 100 meters or so from the river the temperature goes up and the life dwindles away. Although it has actually been rather chilly here, I guess it is the heart of winter.
I am excited to know more about this section of the Orange River and its history. In a funny way, I feel like I have finally begun my exploration and I am loving it. The owner of this company is working on a management proposal for the area, and I will be excited once we get back to read it, talk with him, and meet some of the other people involved in the process. It is no doubt quite complicated, given South Africa's complex and often troubled history. It's funny, I may have a sense of the management of an area before I even have seen the major gorge that I came for (the Augrabies National Park and falls). Of course, we'll see about all of this.
In the mean time, the sun is setting - another strange thing about being in the Southern Hemisphere this time of year, the days are super short again - and dinner is on.
August 8, 2005 Orange River:
Here I am on the Namibian side of the Orange River camping for the night. Not the way I expected to enter Namibia. You know, it might make an interesting Watson project to follow rivers that make borders between countries...
Even though I am in Namibia, you wouldn't know it from looking around. It just looks like a small river in the middle of a huge desert. I made the mistake of pitching my tent atop a hill and it is quite windy. I guess that's what you trade for a view. It's nice to be out of the city and into the remote wild.
The canyon is a loose, open canyon, but like so many it is without people. I wonder if, like the Anasazi, there were once people in this area, because it is such a ribbon of life in the midst of such a harsh climate. Outside of 100 meters or so from the river the temperature goes up and the life dwindles away. Although it has actually been rather chilly here, I guess it is the heart of winter.
I am excited to know more about this section of the Orange River and its history. In a funny way, I feel like I have finally begun my exploration and I am loving it. The owner of this company is working on a management proposal for the area, and I will be excited once we get back to read it, talk with him, and meet some of the other people involved in the process. It is no doubt quite complicated, given South Africa's complex and often troubled history. It's funny, I may have a sense of the management of an area before I even have seen the major gorge that I came for (the Augrabies National Park and falls). Of course, we'll see about all of this.
In the mean time, the sun is setting - another strange thing about being in the Southern Hemisphere this time of year, the days are super short again - and dinner is on.
posted by Scott Warren at 7:19 PM
2 Comments:
Reading the word "Augrabies" makes me think of the word "rabies", which makes me think of dogs. This post made me constantly think of dogs.
Does anyone else think it's weird that Scooter is updating a blog from the remote canyon regions of South Africa? I think he's faking this whole fellowship thing, pocketing the money, and living under an assumed name back in CO. Just my thoughts.
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