Another long drive, to the second largest canyon in the world (after Grand Canyon). Fish River Lodge is perched at the edge of the canyon. The grand, dramatic view greets the guests through floor to ceiling glass windows, as they walk into the reception area. This Lodge is the only one in the park itself, and thus has an exclusive concession for hiking in the canyon. Each of the rooms is a separate structure, set at the edge of the canyon, fully exposed to the fearsome winds that often rip through (on check in, guests are handed earplugs). We really appreciated that each unit was angled to maximize privacy. We felt as though we had the whole canyon to ourselves as we sat down to a glass of South African Pinot Noir on our deck to watch the sun set over the canyon.
We had never done “slackpacking” before, and had no real expectations for the 3 nights of camping in the Fish River Canyon (also organized by the Fish River Lodge), other than good scenery and exercise. As we descended into the canyon, rock hopping over huge boulders, we were treated to some phenomenal views and really interesting, incredible rock formations. The real treat, however, was when we walked into camp (set up by our crew, consisting of the chef, assistant chef, and a mechanic/jack-of-all-trades). Our sleeping tent was tall enough to stand in, and had 2 cots with real sheets and blankets. A bathroom tent, with a sit down toilet, as well as shower tent with a plastic reservoir of hot water suddenly made the whole experience feel extremely luxurious. Candles in paper bags weighted down with gravel lit the path from our tent to the dinner table, set under the stars, next to a bonfire. To boot, a three course meal was served on real china, with “all inclusive” gin and tonic, beer and wine. We hiked about 15km per day or so daily, and after passing the lunch spot and watering hole (swim!) that is used for a half-day 4×4 tour from the lodge, we never saw anyone else in the canyon.
This experience prompted discussions (we have had these before) about the term “luxury”. It seemed to us that this term is used in at least two different ways; most commonly for those things advertised in glossy airline magazines such as expensive watches, clothing, hotels. We don’t think that most of these things would bring joy to us in the way they must to those who buy them. We have used the term luxury to describe what we imagine is an analogous feeling, right here on this camping trip, and at some other times such as when we watched whales breaching in the Pacific Ocean from our (ex!) back yard in Yachats, drinking a tasty bottle of wine. Both share the term “luxury”, but because the experiences seem so different to us, we thought it right to divide luxury into “Type A” (glossy) and “Type B” (Yachats). We are still discussing what exactly these two types have in common (pleasure?) and what separates them (maybe public v private?), but we decided that this camping trip is a really good example of luxury type B.
Our guide, Lukas, used to track black rhinos for a living. He pointed out the tracks of the various animals that come down to the pools of water (fish river flows only in rainy season; it was mostly rocky and sandy riverbed with occasional pools of water on our hike), which made for an interesting picture of life in the canyon. He intimated that zebras were often sighted at a particular spot, and through the next few days, kept mentioning zebra scat, track, etc as if the canyon is teeming with zebras. Though we did see the remains of a long deceased zebra, we did not see even one on our hike, and it became a running joke that Lukas is spinning a fairy tale of sorts re: the diversity of life in the canyon. To our amazement, though, on our drive out of the canyon, we saw a family of mountain zebras (mom, dad, baby), as well as ostriches, kudus and klipspringers.
