The Fish River Canyon (north)
The bottom of the canyon
At the far eastern end the maybe most spectacular part of Vogelstrausskluft is situated:
The Fish River Canyon. Over a distance of 50km the river runs along the farmborder,
hidden deep in a narrow valley.
With a length of 660km the Fishriver is the longest river inside Namibia. It has its source is a few kilometers north of Maltahöhe in the eastern part of the Naukluft and meets the Orange river on the South African border south of Ai-Ais. Like most Namibian rivers the Fishriver carries only little water, not least because of the Hardap Dam close to Mariental that banks up the river and supplies the capital Windhoek with water. Beginning near Seeheim the river broke through the range of the Koubis Mountains and thereby formed the worlds second largest canyon with an overall length of more than 200km and a depth of up to 550m.
Because the size of the canyon cannot be explained by erosion alone, it's assumed that 500 million years ago movements in the earths crust opened a crack in a north-south direction. The Fishriver then moved its bed into this valley and, during the last 50 million years when it still carried more water, dug deeper into the ground. That would explain the age of some washed out rock layers at the bottom of the canyon: They are estimated to be 1.8 billion years old.
The most spectacular southern part around the hotsprings of Ai-Ais already in 1965 was transformed into a nature reserve. It contains the deepest parts, which can be explored on a famous but very strenuous hiking trail. The Vogelstrausskluft section is nearly bordering on the nature reserve - it's only about 30km to its northern edge - and covers the upper part of the Canyon. It contains several views and some accesspoints, of which one is passable with a 4x4 vehicle. Guided hikes as well as small trips are possible. Due to the protection against wind and the strong solar radiation, the temperatures in all parts of the canyon rise to over 60°C in the summer (November-March). Therefore accessing during this time is not possible.
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With a length of 660km the Fishriver is the longest river inside Namibia. It has its source is a few kilometers north of Maltahöhe in the eastern part of the Naukluft and meets the Orange river on the South African border south of Ai-Ais. Like most Namibian rivers the Fishriver carries only little water, not least because of the Hardap Dam close to Mariental that banks up the river and supplies the capital Windhoek with water. Beginning near Seeheim the river broke through the range of the Koubis Mountains and thereby formed the worlds second largest canyon with an overall length of more than 200km and a depth of up to 550m.
Because the size of the canyon cannot be explained by erosion alone, it's assumed that 500 million years ago movements in the earths crust opened a crack in a north-south direction. The Fishriver then moved its bed into this valley and, during the last 50 million years when it still carried more water, dug deeper into the ground. That would explain the age of some washed out rock layers at the bottom of the canyon: They are estimated to be 1.8 billion years old.
The most spectacular southern part around the hotsprings of Ai-Ais already in 1965 was transformed into a nature reserve. It contains the deepest parts, which can be explored on a famous but very strenuous hiking trail. The Vogelstrausskluft section is nearly bordering on the nature reserve - it's only about 30km to its northern edge - and covers the upper part of the Canyon. It contains several views and some accesspoints, of which one is passable with a 4x4 vehicle. Guided hikes as well as small trips are possible. Due to the protection against wind and the strong solar radiation, the temperatures in all parts of the canyon rise to over 60°C in the summer (November-March). Therefore accessing during this time is not possible.
>> more images
<< back to overview
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