Essecke: South Africa 3: Augrabies Falls National Park

Wednesday the 21 of October. Already in Switzerland we had decided to try to fit in couple of sporty hiking days during our holiday. First possibility to that came on Wednesday when we visited the Augrabies Falls National Park. It's part of the SANParks - South African National Parks. There are 19 of them in total including Kruger National Park and Addo Elephant National Park.

Before starting with our sporty activites we had breakfast at the guest house. The breakfast was set for all the guests on one big table. Of course, we didn't all eat at the same time because some like to sleep longer that the other. There were diffent kinds of cereal on the buffet and toast, of course. Also a fresh fruit salad, different yoghurts and home made marmelades were served. The raisin/grape jam was superb! There was even a small mixed plate of charcuterie and cheese on the buffet. Eggs could be ordered as wished and were accompanied by sausage, bacon, grilled tomato and a small salad. The quality was good and we got enough to eat. With our stomachs full we started the sunny and hot day.

The breakfast at the guest house

The buffet

The drive from the guest house to the falls was about one and half hours. The 55 383 hectares Augrabies Park is famous for its 56 meter high waterfall, which has given the name for the whole park. The name Augrabies comes from the Khoi people who called it "Aukoerebis" a place of great noise. The park is situated on the south and north sides of Orange River, very close to the Namibian border. If you are not into walking you can just visit the falls which are very close to the Information centre. For the hikers there are possibilietes from the 5 kilometer long Dassie Nature trail to a three day long Klipspringer hiking trail. Obviously there are also other activities available like 4x4 vehicle routes or game viewing. They also offer accommodation. To enter the park the standard fee per person for non-southafricans is 160 ZAR (10,6 EUR / 11,5 CHF)

We did the Dassie Nature Trail. I know that five kilometers sounds like nothing and we are used to making longer hikes but in the burning late morning sun it was more that enough for us. It was definitely worth the sweating because the landscape was beautiful and we did see some dassies, lizards and birds. For the walk it's very important to equip yourself with water, hat and sun cream.

The entrance to the Augrabies Falls Park

And here we go!

Stony landscape

Dassie

Even though it looked pretty dry there were some flowers.

I do think that the stones look funny. My most common comment was: "Oh Schatzi, look at those funny stones!" Which Hubby had to hear about thousand times :D

Another Dassie

A lizard sunbathing

Very hot and dry looking landscape

Another lizard

Hubby crossing a small stream

Beautiful landscape

This hill, called Moon rock, really looked extra funny.

Huge stone plates "peeling" off the Moon rock.

This plates vary from small, very thin ones to huge blocks.

After our hike it was already lunch time so we stopped to have some burgers at the restaurant next to the Information centre: obviously after so much sport we had to take care not to start loosing weight ;D After the food it was time to visit the actual falls.

I think the bird wanted some of our food as well.

Yummy burger: grilled chicken with cheese and pineapple

It was difficuld to take a picture where one could see the real size of the falls.

The gorge will go on for abot 18 kilometers.

The Falls

A rainbow

We had thought about visiting one of the many wine farms on our way back to the guest house, but we were tired and super sweaty so at the end we just drove directly back. That gave us some time to chill before heading out to have sundowners and dinner.

One of the dogs at the guest house.

The garden

A small river at the back of the garden

The dogs of the guest house followed us to the river and jumped right in.

This plant was huge, bigger than Hubby.

We had planned to go to Upington to have dinner and also to check out the town. We asked at the guest house, if they would have any good restaurant suggestions for us. She told us that there's a nice place at the Oranje River just 4 kilometers away called Oranjerus Resort. She was convincing so we decided to go for it...And it was absolutely gorgeous! The food was quite basic: pizzas, stakes etc. a good selection for families. The view and the sunset were fantastic. The place had this special kind of atmosphere and for us it was maybe the first evening that we realised that we are really down in South Africa.

The food was also very good. We both had prawns with a spicy peri-peri sauce as starter. I love hot/spicy food and these prawns were perfect for me. Hubby had a rump steak, baked potato and salad as a main course. I had peri-peri chiken liver which actually was a starter but I just had to have it. I love peri-peri chicken liver and when ever we are in South Africa that is one of the things I must eat. It didn't disappoint me this time either.