back in Nam

These should give you a clue as to why I've been so quite the last few weeks...

The second largest canyon in the world, the Fish River Canyon started forming when two pre-Gondwanan continental plates collided and pushed up a range of mountains. Millions of years later, when South America began to pull away from Africa, a rift valley was created, into which, again many millions of years later, flowed the Fish River, which gradually erroded the canyon we see today. Since 1968 a vespa scooter has been seen at the bottom of the canyon - you can read about how it got there here at http://www.gomag.co.za/hiking/story/14

For 20 month in the 1920's, Kolmanskop was the richest community in Africa. Built in the desert it was a booming centre of diamond mining activity which serviced the needs of expatriate miners and their families, sporting a gymnasium and concert hall, casino, bowling alley, hospital, school, butchery, bakery, and power station. It also boasted the first x-ray machine in Southern Africa - not only for broken bones but to catch miners who spiced up their sandwiches with the precious rocks. Almost everything was imported to Kolmanskop, including fresh water from Cape Town and caviare from Russia. When the diamonds, which has been picked up by the handful off the ground, started to run out the residents packed their belongings and moved on, leaving the desert sands to move into their lavish homes. Some more photos and info at http://www.griotphoto.org/kolmannskuppe.htm

Around 55 million years old, the Namib is the oldest desert in the world. Almost completely devoid of surface water, save for a few non-perennial rivers that are trapped and swallowed by the sands long before they reach the sea. Sossusvlei is one of these rivers that occasonally floods into its valley between the high red dunes, providing a means for the tenacious fauna and flora that live there to survive. For more infor go to http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/at/at1315_full.html