Grand Canyon

In my continuing pursuit of canyons the world over I
have made it a point to stop at anything with the word
canyon in it. Including the Spur Steak
Ranch chain and their Windhoek outlet, the Grand
Canyon Spur. I went the first time because I really
wanted a good hamburger (it ended up OK) and the
second time because I noticed they had nachos on the
menu. I have a lifetime love affair with chips,
salsa, and cheese so I had to give them a try. I
ordered the spicy nachos, but they turned out more
like a lasagna with Frito-like chips instead of
noodles. But, I like lasagna too, so it was no big
deal.

In related news, I stopped by the office of the
director of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism
and had a nice meeting this morning. He expressed to
me many of the frustrations and realities that I have
seen on the ground, which was surprising. I was
expecting a load of bureaucratic BS, but he was pretty
darn fair (although sometimes I felt like he was a bit
powerless).

A summary:

There is no management plan for Fish River Canyon, nor
are they in the process of developing one.

In the director's mind there is too much emphasis on
tourism and not enough on environment and
conservation. How can you have tourism if you don't
have the wildlife and natural spots?

There is no formalized search and rescue
protocol/procedure. Furthermore, there is no training
for most of the MET employees, making any search that
they do potentially hazardous to the "rescuers."

They are thinking of developing a few more hiking
options to take some of the stress off of the one Fish
River hiking route. This is being done with the NGO
Raleigh International.

The director made his first trip ever to Fish River
Canyon just a few weeks ago (I think when the German
tourist went missing after an illegal day hike to the
bottom - he was never found).

All in all, they have a long way to go, but would do
well to engage in some serious planning and writing of
procedures, goals, and visions for the future of their
parks. As it looks right now it is a bit chaotic, and
seems like no one is really in control, or has an idea
how they want to park to operate now or in five years.