Fish River Canyon

Useful Information

Location:	Southern Namibia. (27.5891365, 17.6144137)
Open:	during daylight hours, no restrictions. [2026]
Fee:	free. [2026]
Classification:	Gorge
Light:	n/a
Dimension:	L=160 km, VR=550 m, W=27 km.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
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History

Description

Fish River Canyon is one of the great canyons of Earth, often said to be the second-largest canyon after the Grand Canyon in the U.S.A. We always doubt such superlatives, but it gives an impression of the size of this canyon. The canyon is 160 km long, and has 550 m high slopes. The width of the valley differs greatly, but in the central part its around 1 km. Although it is a well-known tourist destination which is frequented by many tours to Namibia, the number of visitors is quite low. Unfortunately it is located in the far south of the country in a remote desert and a visit requires several days of driving from the capital, its 650 km mostly on dirt roads from Windhoek. Additionally, it is not easy to visit the canyon on a trail. Tours are possible only under various restriction during the cold season, individual tours are strictly prohibited and most likely lethal. In the canyon there are temperatures around 50 °C during the day in summer. The Fish River springs in the Naukluft mountains and drains the whole southern part of Namibia, but as this area is more or less arid, there is normally no water in the riverbed.

The canyon is visited on the eastern rim, there is a road (D601) off C37 which leads to three lookouts. The main lookout is Fish River Canyon Viewpoint which are the coordinated we have given. To the north at the end of the road is Hiker’s Viewpoint, to the south Sunset viewpoint. There is also a single lane road about 20 km long along the eastern rim to the south. We have no information if it is actually accessible, but on the other hand we are pretty sure it require a 4WD.

The sedimentary rocks of the canyon wall were deposited 650 Ma ago in the Nama Sea. About 350 Ma ago tectonic forces created a huge graben structure, the plate was pulled apart, cracks opened, pieces of crust sank down, the Fish River used this depression as its new bed. At first the top layers of quartzite were quite hard and the slope towards the sea was gentle. As a result the river created huge meanders, which were quite shallow. The area was uplifted, the slope became steeper and the water had more energy, deepening the valley, which already had the large meanders.