Fish River Canyon

Day five began early — around six, six-fifteen — since breakfast was moved up to 6:30 ahead of a 7:30 start for our hike into the Fish River Canyon. We met our guide around that time and still caught the sunrise from the Meeting Point before piling into a jeep for a fifteen-to-twenty-minute ride to the trailhead.

The hike itself was genuinely demanding — we'd been told it rated six out of ten for fitness, but I'd argue it deserves more credit than that. It involves descending from the plateau all the way down toward the Fish River, the very river that lends the canyon its name. Eight kilometres in total, four down and four back, but it eats up most of the day: we set off around eight in the morning and didn't reach the bottom until around one. Roughly halfway down, you pass a viewpoint known as the Window of Hope — a gap between two rock faces that frames the canyon floor below, the destination still distant but suddenly visible. It earns its name.

There is no defined path. Just loose rock, boulders, and your own judgement — with the guide's help — to find a route through. For a good portion of the descent, you're using your hands as much as your feet.

At the bottom, we stopped on a rocky ledge high above the river, the Fish River winding below us in a landscape that felt genuinely remote. The lodge provides a meal as part of the paid experience, and we ate there, above the canyon, before making our way back up. The return proved just as tough as the descent. We were back at the lodge somewhere mid-to-late afternoon, leaving what remained of the day to recover.

The lodge pool looks directly onto the canyon — cold, as expected in Namibian winter, but difficult to resist after a hike like that. Dinner at seven was, once again, refined and excellent.