The Waterkloof Trail is the longer of two day hikes starting from Naukluft Camp, a 25-minute drive southwest of Buellsport in the Namib Naukluft National Park. Before embarking on this 17km anticlockwise circuit, one should report at campsite reception for safety reasons and a rough hand drawn map of the circuit.

We hiked this loop in the morning and midday sun but were not bothered by high temperatures as the canyon provided shade on long sections of the trail. If you have the choice however, I’d start later in the day. I imagine the orange-reddish shades of the canyon glow beautifully in later afternoon sunlight.

The trailhead to this loop estimated to take 6-7 hours is marked with a sign and yellow footprint. That is the trail marker to follow but oftentimes difficult to spot or misleading, adding extra time and distance to this when going off trail.

For 50 minutes the Waterkloof Trail followed the Naukluft River upstream and into a narrow gorge. We passed by rock pools covered in algae and home to a great many frogs, a family of baboons easily racing up and down the vertical rock face, and spot marked ‘last water’. ‘Waterkloof’ in Afrikaans means water ravine but the dry riverbed we followed, with the exception of aforementioned rock pools, hadn’t seen water in a long time it seemed.

The trail turned away from the river and when the canyon opened out into a barren high plateau we came upon the fourth zebra skeleton for the day. I’m not used to seeing death – with the exception of slabs of red meat at the butcher’s and occasionally a dead mouse or hedgehog.

The sight made me uncomfortable. The skull, bleached out by the sun, was twisted into a grotesque smile. Or so it appeared because the proportions of the skull were so different to the head padded with flesh. I silently wondered whether their death was caused by lack of water, old age, or we were seeing the half devoured meal of a predator. The latter possibility was somewhat worrying as there are leopards and hyenas, though rare, recorded in the park.

After 2:30 hours we passed the halfway mark and continued on a steep ascent to a cairn marking the highest point on the ridge at 1825m. At this position, 500m higher in elevation than the trailhead, the 360° panorama highlighted the expanse of this barren ochre-coloured wasteland perfectly. Some places are made to stay the night, I thought, and on top of the plateau was such a place. I longed to watch the sun set on this endless sequence of ridges and valleys studded with shrubs that toward the horizon blended into a purple haze.

The steep descent on rocky underground on the Cliff Path was surprisingly less demanding on my ankles than the last stretch across the dry riverbed on the valley floor where the Waterkloof Trail finally rejoined the Naukluft River. Almost back at the campsite we passed more rock pools marked on the map. Anyone, unlike me too chicken to jump into translucent blue water, may enjoy a refreshing dip quite unexpected in this arid environment.