Fish River Canyon Trail
Being avid hikers there was no chance of us passing through Namibia and not hiking the unique Fish River Canyon hiking trail. Because it's a somewhat rugged trail, it is a requirement by the Parks Board authorities for hikers to provide doctors certificates confirming their fitness prior to commencing the trail.
The Fish River Canyon is the second largest canyon in the world, only being surpassed by the famous Grand Canyon in Colorado. It is approximately 180kms long and stretches south from Seeheim down to the Orange river which forms the border between Namibia and South Africa. The trail itself, follows nearly 90kms of this incredible wonder of nature, starting from the view site at Hobas and finishing at the hot springs spa resort of Ai-Ais.
Our plan was to complete the hiking trail over 5 days and 4 nights. The day before commencing our hike we were fortunate in meeting with a great group of 17 hikers from Cape Town who were starting the trail the same morning as us. Their leader, Desmond had completed the trail on 8 previous occasions and a few others in their group had also completed the trail, so we were very happy to feed off their experience and get some tips on the trail which they gladly passed on to us. The next morning they gave us a lift in their bus from the Hobas campsite to the start of the trail at the Hobas view site.
We descended into the canyon ahead of our new found friends and for the first 2 days of the trail we saw no other hikers. On the third day our paths crossed again with Desmond and his hiking group and we enjoyed their company for most of the trail from that point on until we got to the finish early in the afternoon on the 5th day as per our original plan.
What an incredible trail. I can now understand why so many hikers go back for more. It is definitely a unique experience!
The Fish River Canyon is the second largest canyon in the world, only being surpassed by the famous Grand Canyon in Colorado. It is approximately 180kms long and stretches south from Seeheim down to the Orange river which forms the border between Namibia and South Africa. The trail itself, follows nearly 90kms of this incredible wonder of nature, starting from the view site at Hobas and finishing at the hot springs spa resort of Ai-Ais.
Our plan was to complete the hiking trail over 5 days and 4 nights. The day before commencing our hike we were fortunate in meeting with a great group of 17 hikers from Cape Town who were starting the trail the same morning as us. Their leader, Desmond had completed the trail on 8 previous occasions and a few others in their group had also completed the trail, so we were very happy to feed off their experience and get some tips on the trail which they gladly passed on to us. The next morning they gave us a lift in their bus from the Hobas campsite to the start of the trail at the Hobas view site.
We descended into the canyon ahead of our new found friends and for the first 2 days of the trail we saw no other hikers. On the third day our paths crossed again with Desmond and his hiking group and we enjoyed their company for most of the trail from that point on until we got to the finish early in the afternoon on the 5th day as per our original plan.
What an incredible trail. I can now understand why so many hikers go back for more. It is definitely a unique experience!