Fish River Canyon in southern Namibia is generally ranked the second largest canyon on earth after the Grand Canyon: about 160 km long, up to 27 km wide and 550 m deep. It was formed by a combination of tectonic collapse and river erosion over hundreds of millions of years, and the river itself now flows only after the summer rains.
Viewpoints
The main viewpoint is at Hobas, where a short track leads to the rim above the horseshoe bend that appears in every photograph. Several other viewpoints lie along the rim road, all reached on gravel. Sunrise and sunset give the depth; midday flattens it completely. There are no barriers, and the drop is immediate.
The hiking trail
Eighty-five kilometres from Hobas to Ai-Ais, four to five days, unsupported. It is one of the toughest trails in southern Africa: no marked path in places, boulder fields, deep sand, water carried or taken from pools, and no exit once you have descended. Permits are issued only between 1 May and 15 September, only to groups of three or more, and only with a medical certificate no older than forty days. Outside that window the heat and flash floods make it lethal.
Ai-Ais
At the southern end of the canyon, hot springs emerge at 60 degrees and feed a resort with pools, a campsite and chalets. For hikers it is the finish line; for everyone else it is a place to spend a night before driving on.
Luderitz and Kolmanskop
Two hundred kilometres west on the coast, Luderitz is a German colonial town of art nouveau houses on bare rock, battered by wind. Ten kilometres inland, Kolmanskop was a diamond town that grew rich after 1908, complete with a ballroom, an ice factory and the first X-ray station in southern Africa, and was abandoned in 1956. The desert has since filled the houses with sand to window height. Permits are sold at the gate and photography permits allow entry before opening.
The Sperrgebiet
The diamond area south of Luderitz was closed to all entry for a century and is now the Tsau Khaeb National Park, opening slowly and partly. Much of it remains restricted; do not attempt to enter without a licensed operator.
Practicalities
The south is empty even by Namibian standards. Fuel is at Seeheim, Bethanie, Aus and Keetmanshoop. The wild horses of the Namib can be seen at the Garub waterhole near Aus, and the Quiver Tree Forest near Keetmanshoop is a national monument of about 250 aloes.