Fish River Canyon Panoramic View (Video Footage)
Interesting Facts
What is the Fish River Canyon?
A canyon is a deep gorge between cliffs, often carved by a river.
The “Fish River” Canyon, as its name implies, gets its name from the “Fish River”.
The Fish River is the longest interior river in Namibia (650 km in length).
Where is it located?
The Fish River Canyon is located in the south of Namibia, close to the border of South Africa.
How old is the Fish River Canyon?
The canyon is over 500 million years old, with part of the strata formed as far back as 650 million years ago.
How did it form?
The Fish River Canyon not only formed through water and wind erosion, but also due to the collapse of the valley floor (with tectonic plate movements).
How large is it?
The Fish River Canyon is the second largest natural canyon in the world (just behind the Grand Canyon in the United States), and the largest one in Africa.
Length, width and depth?
The Fish River Canyon is approximately 160 km long and up to 27 km wide.
It has a depth of up to 500-550 m in some places.
Activities
The area has become a very popular hiking destination over the years, which includes the well-known Fish River Hiking Trail.
The trail is a 4-day activity covering 86 km in total. Hiking trips are available from May to September.
Other activities include the Löwenfish Hiking Trail, scenic flights over the canyon, horse riding trails, scenic drives and game viewing in the Ai-Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park.
Fish River Canyon Accommodation in the Area
- Fish River Lodge. The only facility on the rim of the Fish River Canyon.
Breathtaking views, carefully designed lodge and offering a wide variety of activities.
- Ai Ais Hotsprings Spa. This is where I stayed at whilst in the region. 
Great hotel and Spa with a swimming pool that gets its water directly from the hot springs. The place is known as the “southern jewel” of Namibia.
The Fish River Canyon accommodation now also offers self-catering facilities and a camping ground.
- Canyon Adventures Guest Farm. Situated at the confluence of the Löwen and Fish River Canyons, the ranch offers the possibility to swim in river pools and to admire bizarre petroglyphs.
- Sandfontein Lodge. Privately owned and extending across the Sandfontein Nature and Game Reserve (over 76,000 hectares of land).
Highly exclusive accommodation venue (only 4 bungalows and 1 suite) with great wildlife viewing opportunities and exceptional outdoor pursuits.
Tags: canyon, Fish River, Fish River Canyon, Namibia
