Ant and Jules in Namibia: Hiking 'The Fish'

The Fish River Canyon in southern Namibia is the world’s second largest canyon after Arizona’s Grand Canyon. The canyon started to form about 500 million years ago, with the Fish River beginning to cut its way through the bottom of the valleys a mere 50 million years ago. The Fish River is the only river in Namibia that usually has pools of water in its middle during the dry season and because of this has been home to settlers since the early Stone Age. More recently the Ai-Ais area was used as a base by the Germans in their war against the Nama in the early 1900s.

View of the canyon from Hiker's Point

The best way to experience the canyon is to undertake the 90km hike from Hobas to Ai-Ais. The hike is unguided and self sufficient. It takes four or five days to complete and once you are in there is no easy way out. As well as the terrain, temperatures can be gruelling and it has been described in the press as ‘the world’s hottest hike’. For this reason the canyon is closed to hikers during the hottest part of the year.

We undertook the hike with a fellow volunteer, Chris, who arrived in Namibia at the same time as us. After a night at Hobas campsite we did a final bag check ensuring we had all we needed: sleeping bag, dry rations, stove, water purifying drops, medical kit and a change of clothes.

Final bag check

The intrepid hikers at the start of the trail

We set off from Hiker’s Point on the 90 minute decent into the canyon which was very steep in places. Once into the canyon it didn’t become any easier and it was a taxing 16km of loose sand to Sulphur Springs, the stop for our first night. We made it to the springs just before dark. There are no designated camping spots in the canyon and it is just a matter of finding a comfortable area of sand to bed down in your sleeping bag under the stars. Having been warned about snakes and other creepy crawlies we were sure to lay out our beds just before getting into them so that no slithery friends could sneak in without us seeing them.

The decent into the canyon

Julia and Chris negotiating the sand

The good thing about making it to Sulphur Springs was that we could enjoy a hot bath in the morning (which happened to be my birthday). The springs are thermal and pump out of the ground at 57 degrees Celsius. They contain fluorides, chlorides and sulphates and according to legend have healing properties. They were certainly good for my aching muscles.

Bathing in the thermal springs on my birthday

The second day followed the river closely although the terrain varied considerably from sand to boulders to gravel trails which made for a much more interesting hike than we had anticipated. We were happy to pass the 40km point and achieve our goal for the day of reaching half way. Our camping spot was right by the river and after dinner we spent the evening star gazing. With zero light pollution it was amazing how many stars we could see and we were surprised to see at least a dozen shooting stars.

Reaching 40km on day two

Our riverside camping spot

The next leg took us over some interesting passes with great views of the canyon. The terrain became gradually easier and the canyon gradually shallower. At about 75km we set up camp, enjoyed a swim in the river and (another) delicious pasta dinner prepared by Julia. This meant we had an easy last day and by lunchtime on the forth day we reached Ai-Ais Springs where a much deserved Windhoek Lager was enjoyed. Just a few hundred metres from the finish a snake slithered across my path just a foot or so in front of me – just to prove that they really are down there!