Fish River Canyon in southwestern Namibia

By Roxanne Reid
The Fish River Canyon isn’t, as tourism marketers would have you believe, the second largest in the world after the Grand Canyon in Arizona. There are many in the Himalayas alone that are longer, wider, deeper than both of these. But the Fish River Canyon in southwestern Namibia is still one of the country’s most visited attractions – and rightly so. 

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Starting in the Naukluft mountains and ending at Ai-Ais, it’s an impressive 160km long, 27km across at its widest point and 549m deep. We were lucky to visit the canyon in the company of guide Frans Eiseb from Canyon Lodge, who seemed to have a whole encyclopaedia inside his head. 

We entered the /Ai/Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park at the Hobas campsite, where you have to pay for a permit. Along the 10km drive to the viewpoints out over the canyon we saw springbok, gemsbok, ground squirrel and ostrich. Other creatures that live here include that amazing rock jumper, the klipspringer, as well as mountain zebra, steenbok, blackbacked jackal, bat-eared fox and the endemic Nama padloper tortoise.

From the main viewpoint

Frans turned off before the main viewpoint on to a track that hugged the eastern cliff above the canyon. He pointed out the Spiegelberg, purplish-blue in the distance. During the Nama uprising in the early 20th century, the Germans used this peak as a heliograph station to signal across the plains. The pinnacle was first climbed in April 1966 in 50-degree heat.

Entrance to the park at Hobas campsite

We stopped at three viewpoints where we could soak up the different outlooks in peace and silence, the whole canyon to ourselves. It was a splendid way to see these eroded metamorphic rocks, to appreciate an example of nature so much bigger and older than man. 

Guide Frans Eiseb at one of the less busy viewpoints along the eastern cliff

The area looks stark and barren, awash in loose rocks. Rainfall around here is a stingy 10–50mm a year, but some brave plants like euphorbias and the red-leaved Aloe gariepensis still grow in these arid conditions. Frans explained that their survival is thanks to the cold coastal wind that blows in from the ocean overnight after the hot sun has set. This forms dew that’s just enough to sustain the plants.

The viewing platform at Hell's Bend

A rather splendid platform has been erected at the main viewing point above Hell’s Bend since we last visited 20 years ago. A coach-load of tourists were scuttling over the area when we arrived, making us doubly grateful that Frans had already given us a chance to experience the canyon in calm stillness. Once their coach left, silence fell like a hot, heavy blanket.

The moon rises over the Ai-Ais campsite, where the Fish River Canyon hiking trail ends; the resort has rooms too

Two active ways to see the Fish River Canyon

1. If you’re seriously fit and not afraid of a challenge, you can do the 85km, 4-5 day hiking trail through the canyon. It starts at the main viewpoint, 10km from Hobas campsite, and ends at Ai-Ais resort to the south. Because of extreme summer temperatures and the danger of flash floods, the trail is only open between 1 May and 30 September. Bookings through Namibian Wildlife Resorts in Cape Town tel 021-4223761, or Windhoek tel +264 (0)61-2857000.
2. If you’d prefer to enjoy the scenery without lugging heavy gear, go canyon mule trekking for 2-3 days north of the main viewpoint. Mules carry all your luggage and equipment. An added bonus is that your tour guide will explain the area’s plants, animals and geology to you and tell stories around the campfire at night. Bookings through the Gondwana Collection, tel +264 (0)61-427200, email reservations@gondwana-collection.com. ​

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