A trek through Fish River Canyon in Namibia, Africa

This is a trek Helen and I did in early May 2005 before we starting this Blog. I was recently tidying up some old files and came across the photos and my pocket diary so I thought it would be useful for me to put it together here. The Fish River is the longest river in Namibia (about 800 km) and reaches its confluence with the Orange River in South Africa about 100 km east of the Atlantic Ocean.
We enjoyed the trek and had some special times scrambling the route and crossing the river through rapids and deep sections coming out intact if not warn out. The route is about 80 km with the short-cuts and can take between 4 and 7 days depending on the conditions in the canyon. There are NO facilities in the canyon and once you're down there, its up to you to get out; there is no rescue team waiting to airlift you! Water can be a big issue if the river is low or you have to dig for water or indeed, as we experienced, the river has a moderate flow. Having said that, with the limited number of people allowed in at any one time, you are guaranteed a unique experience of Africa. Obviously over 9 years have passed since we did the trek but I hope, with the aid of my pocket diary, I have recalled things correctly particularly the photos.


We left Rundu in the Kavango Region, our base for two years in Namibia, and drove the familiar route to the capital, Windhoek, where we stayed a couple of days to get supplies and meet the rest of our trekking team. There we left the others and made our way down to the start of the trek. On route from Windhoek we stopped at a municipal campsite at Brukkaros (1586 m), an old volcanic crater which is west of the main Windhoek road and north of Keetmanshoop. We arrived in the dark and drove slowly up a 4WD track to eventually find a shelter. We had time to make ourselves a watery pasta dish before turning in by nine o'clock. It was a surprisingly cold night with a strong wind buffeting the tent; luckily rocks held our temporary home in place!

Breakfast at Brukkaros as the morning sun warms us up but still with a wind. We did find some loos about 50 m down the hillside and marked with a white pole.

This is our first view of Fish River east of Brukkaros. We were pleased to see water flowing.  Notice the blue African sky, the temperature was 28 C in the shade. 

We drove to a campsite at Hobis near the start of the trek and met up with our group in the evening. We’d arranged for our Pajero 4WD to be taken to the end of the walk.
In the morning we started early to descend into the canyon over rocks and scree. There were iron hand rails at the beginning of the initial steep drop. The descent was slow with no certain path most of the way. The heat made it difficult and so it took us about several hours to reach the river. On reflection, the best plan would have been to start later, after the midday sun, taking a brie (barbeque!) to have the first evening on the canyon floor.

Our first sight of the canyon floor taken at about 8 am from the start of the hike near the main view point marked on our map. We had to drop down 600 m to the canyon floor and then follow the river moving to the left in the photo.

There were no way-markers. It is easy to see how someone died trying to climb out from the floor on this route because there are no springs and it is easy to take the wrong turn whilst ascending through the complex topography of the canyon walls and gullies.  Near the bottom, the gradient lessened and we got a great view of the canyon rim above us.

The initial descent looking back to the top of the rim of the canyon. Our walking poles proved useful on this stretch, a sense of balance also helped! 

We met up briefly with others from our group at the bottom but Helen was not feeling well after she'd fallen and broken her new walking pole so we decided to take it easy for the rest of the day. I thought a leisurely filtration of two litres of river water would be in order but it was not to be as the suspended solids in the water clogged the filter after a couple of pumps. I'd used the ceramic filter on several treks and always found it effective, even with murky water it was easy to clean the frit and continue to pump. This was a different matter so we decided to collect four litres and allow it to settle overnight before trying again, otherwise the next few days would be drinking juice flavoured, iodine treated diluted mud! From our sandy beach we could see that the river had been several metres higher during the recent rains and therefore impossible to trek but maybe canoe. Whilst resting here we saw our first Pale Winged Starlings flitting between the rocks opposite.

Our way forward from the descent and looking towards one of many bends in the river

In the afternoon we decided to walk on through a mixture of sand and boulders which the river had carved up during the main December-March rains. There was little vegetation but the canyon walls showed a spectrum of colour as the sun began to set. A flattish sandy spot enabled us to make camp just in time for some rain and thunder. Although we had a limited choice, we put the tent as high as we could on reasonable flat ground. Thankfully, the rain didn’t last long. We’d camped by five pm with a rice-biltong (beef jerky) supper and in bed by six thirty as we were both pretty bushed and out of water.

A sandy patch amongst the rocks for a first nights camp. As you can see the sun is getting lower at about four thirty.

We were off by six thirty in the morning as sunrise was early and Helen was feeling much better. We decided to take our time, not that we had much choice in the matter. Needless to say, our little experiment trying to clarify a colloidal mud by settling, didn't work and so it was now down to iodine treatment. Progress was hard work with the boulder fields and the best route was not always obvious. We soon met a few hikers but there were none from our descent group so we guessed we were on our own. We sent a message on with them to let the others know we were fine.
 Route finding at this stage wasn't difficult as we just had to follow the river, or so it seemed. In fact choosing the “right” side of the river proved a challenge, and also finding a crossing point wasn't always straight forward as I'll explain later. We had to wade around the first bend after our camp-spot. We managed to find a branch from a bush that I whittled into a walking pole for Helen and that lasted for the remainder of the trek. Even though the temperature was high, there was no shortish of water with the river so close.

Our first break as the sun begins to reflect from the canyon walls. The rucksacks contain food for about seven days with plenty in hand.

We continued on walking hoping to reach "Palm (Sulphur) Springs" by nightfall and a chance to soak ourselves in the mineral waters. However, they proved a mirage so we settled to fall to a halt at five thirty, finding a great spot with plenty of firewood (I gather lighting fires is no longer allowed in the canyon), make camp, supper and refill our water bottles as we were both drinking a lot. Not long after turning in for the night we heard noises outside the tent and on checking found it was only long grass blowing against the sides and not a prowling leopard. Nightfall was very fast and the darkness very dramatic against the brilliance of the stars.
Oh, almost forgot this is what happened to a scooter attempt of the canyon!

Curious sight!  Some comical relief in the afternoon; we just couldn't believe it.

Near our second camp site after "Wild Fig Bend" with the dolerite dykes opposite.

We awoke early and broke camp to make for "Palm Springs" for breakfast, at least that was the plan. In the event we didn't reach the springs until  eleven thirty, both of us in need of breakfast and a relaxing immersion in the hot springs.

Our late breakfast and bathing place at "Palm Springs".

What an amazing sight looking south from "Palm Springs" as the river takes a bend to the west and our first crossing point, or should I say immersion point.

At the spring we met a group of South Africans, including a father and son. The father had done the trek six times before but it was his sons first time in Fish River. They asked if we'd seen anyone in the morning as they were waiting on some other members of their group to catch up. We weren't able to help them on that but sat chatting to be amazed that they were carrying beer and spirits for the evenings meals. I guess that's the advantage of a large group in that you can carry more luxuries as long as you stay together. They also told us that the worst was probably over and that the going gets easier although they advised us to make sure we find the "short-cut" as this takes several days off the journey. This was reinforced by a story of someone they knew who'd miss the short-cut and spent three extra days in the canyon.
After resting in the shade, we decided to head-off into the heat of the day (it was about twelve thirty when we left the spring) and just around the bend in the photo above we decided to make our first river crossing onto easier ground. This proved difficult with the river boulders and fast current and ended with Helen in the water, rucksack and all. At least she was able to cool down and it wasn't long before we were on the opposite bank drying her sleeping bag draped over a boulder. I guess we saw this as the most important thing to do as the nights were cold. Luckily, this didn't take long and we were on our way again, thankful to find some shade. The other group we'd met earlier didn't cross the river but waved and continued on.
A little later we realised we'd have to cross the river again because of the steepness of the rock faces. So again, boots off and sandals on to probe our way between the rocks avoiding deep spots. We were careful to keep our rucksacks unbelted in case we needed to slip out of them if we went under the water. These crossing took time, probably over an hour from start to finish as they involved finding a route and changing footwear. After this we made camp in an idyllic sandy spot with plenty of brushwood and views of "Mountain Chat Ridges" and a glimpse of some wild horses on the opposite sand flats.

Early morning view of the ridges ("Mountain Chat Ridges", I think) from our third camp spot.

   Again we left at first light for what proved to be our most difficult day in the canyon, mainly because we did three river crossings. You might be wondering why we did this when each crossing clearly added time and energy to the trek. The main reason is that when the river turns right on its way down stream, it tends to cut a passage into the bank, and if this is rock, the rock face can be steep and difficult to cross without ropes or safety gear. So on anticipation of this we found a convenient crossing before the river looped around but after an hour or so, we were faced with a steep rock face dipping into deep water as the river again made a turn. The river channel itself was relatively narrow and the water was deep, certainly too deep for our rucksacks. Our options were to go back and find a crossing spot or try crawling over the rock face. In the event, I managed to get the rucksacks over by dragging them and then we scrambled over as best we could.

A view backwards of our difficult scramble with rucksacks

We were both annoyed at ourselves for not reading the terrain better and for making the first crossing of the day, which probably wasn't necessary, or so we convinced ourselves!  Anyway, from here on the going was difficult and we soon found ourselves facing another steep section on our side as the river did another major bend at "Klipspringer Ridge" ("Table Mountain"). We also saw a few Rock Dassie and footprints of what looked like a leopard and cubs. Before eating our lunch I tried the crossing and found, much to our relief, that it was an easy wade, even with rucksacks as the bottom was mostly sand. As we ate lunch, I recorded in my notebook the view and how we watched, what looked like, Sand Martins dashing for insects near the water.

Our lunch time view on the fourth day of our trek. This was our first easy crossing on a sand-bed.

After crossing we walked into the afternoon sun across a gravel plain and another crossing over rapids but we managed to keep dry. Soon after this we met the South African group and after chatting, we decided to camp near them on a sandy plain after the next crossing near "Rock Pinnacle". This proved an interesting night as the wind increased and we woke up covered in sand. We had heard of parties being tied down in the canyon with sand storms as they sheltered behind rocks but we were alright as the wind dropped with the rising sun.
The next morning we stayed with our new South African friends until the first short-cut. This involved more river crossings between boulders and deep pools.

A morning river crossing ("Vasbyt bend" I think) with "Rock Pinnacle" in the background.

After this I added a few notes to my diary and had breakfast before following the river shore around another loop in the river to find our first short-cut over a sandy area with a small rocky rise which was relatively easy going.

Looking back northwards after our first short-cut

Next was another river crossing, shown above, made easy with a sandy bed underfoot and as you've guessed, another stretch of meandering a loop before spotting the longer and more critical short-cut.

Our next river crossing to the second short-cut. at "Kooigoro Heights". Can you spot where route starts on the opposite bank?

Here we had another break and said farewell to our friends as they had to rush on as one of their party was unwell and they wanted to finish as soon as possible. 

A closer view - there is a person stood at the bottom of the pass.

We rested and then continued over a ridge to meet the river again for a sandy river crossing to a steep sandbank with "Four Finger Rock" looming above us. This was the last short-cut of the day over rocky terrain to come down to the river at a spot near "German Soldiers Grave".

View looking back on our route (looking north) at the saddle of our third short-cut for the day before descending to make our fifth camp.

The grave of Von Trotha who died in 1905 in a conflict with the native Nama people. You can see Helen trotting off in the distance to find a campsite on the other side of the river with a view of  "Four Finger Rock".

A view in the morning from our campsite back to "Four Finger Rock" that we passed below the day before.

In my diary I recorded that it was a cold night and that the tent was wet when we woke at about six. Our first river crossing after camp was deep so we stripped down to swimming custom and shorts for me. We came across one of the South African trekkers who was unsure where his party was but I recalled the leader telling me they were going to take the "Sandy Beach" short-cut. So we stayed together over "Bandage Pass" and met two of the group returning to rescue their friend. We parted again, for the last time I think as they were heading to the end at Ai-Ais and we had decided to enjoy another night in the canyon before leaving in the morning. We had told hikers we'd met earlier on the trip that we would not be on schedule and that we had plenty of food with us so there was no need for rescue! Thankfully, when we did reach Ai-Ais the rangers were happy to see us and not concerned.

View from the crest of "Sandy Beach" route looking northwards back to the river. Not much evidence of sand or a beach!

A view forward taken at the same time looking for a route to the river but we can't see the river so have to use our best judgement as the map is of little use. Here I used my compass for the first time on the trip.

So after the "Bandage Pass" and the "Sandy Beach" short-cuts and nearing lunch time, we crossed the river onto "Flat Plains", the final short-cut of the route. By three in the afternoon we had camped and enjoying relaxing by the riverside. We knew we had one crossing left and about one hours walk to reach a bed and welcome shower.

Our last campsite  near "Last Rest" where we saw a group of Franklins nearby.

The last morning was easy and we were soon enjoying the hot-springs at Ai-Ais ready for the long trip back to Rundu and the normality of work!