The Fish River Canyon (Afrikaans: Visrivier Canyon or Visrivier Kuil, ) is located in the south of Namibia. It is the largest canyon in Africa, and the second most visited tourist attraction in Namibia. It features a gigantic ravine, in total about long, up to 27 km wide and in places almost 550 meters deep.

The Fish River is the longest interior river in Namibia. It cuts deep into the plateau which today is dry, stony and sparsely covered with hardy drought-resistant plants. The river flows intermittently, usually flooding in late summer; the rest of the year it becomes a chain of long narrow pools. The hot springs resort of ǀAi-ǀAis is situated at the lower end of the Fish River Canyon.

Public view points can be visited near Hobas, a camp site 70 km north of ǀAi-ǀAis. This part of the canyon is part of the ǀAi-ǀAis/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park, while the remainder is privately owned.

Geology

thumb|left|Satellite image of the canyon

thumb|Fish River Canyon Bird's Eye View

The Fish River canyon consists of an upper canyon, where river erosion was inhibited by hard gneiss bedrocks, and a lower canyon formed after erosion had finally worn through the solid metamorphic rocks. Both parts have been declared a national monument in 1962.

Upstream, the river runs through horizontal dolomite strata; these metamorphic rocks form part of the canyon. About 650 million years ago (Mya), plate movement had formed a north-south graben, or lowered area, along which the ancient Fish River could flow and eventually erode a flat plain to create today's upper canyon. Glaciation at around 300 Mya, part of the Dyka glaciation during the Karoo Ice Age, further deepened the canyon. About 60 Mya, South America and Africa separated (due to continental drift) and Africa rose significantly; the consequentially increased gradient of the Fish River enabled it to erode the lower canyon into the hard gneisses, forming the current deeply twisting, meandering system of the lower canyon. With the separation of the continent Gondwana about 120 million years ago and the uplifting of the African continent the gradient of the Fish River increased - allowing it to erode even deeper into the rock. Today the deepest point of the canyon is 549 metres deep.

The Fish River Canyon Hiking Trail

  • Interactive Hiker's map
  • The Beauty of the Irrational - Documentary about racing through the canyon
  • The official 1968 Cape Town Vespa Club Fish River Canyon Expedition
  • Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia
  • Ai-Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier National Park
  • Canyon views
  • Upper Western part of the Canyon (Vogelstrausskluft)
  • Matador Trips - 27 of the deepest canyons you can explore
  • Namibia Travel - Fish River