Karasburg to the Fish River Canyon – 3 May 2022

After some coffee and rusks from Die RooiKar Padstal we traveled to Karasburg, a small little town about 30 km from Kleinbegin.  and then to the Fish River Canyon,

Here we filled up with petrol. R18.50 PER LITRE VS South Africa’s R21.84c p/l. 

Huh? 

The friendly lady at the Engen garage sold us a sim card and had us connected to MTC in Namibia in 2min flat. About N$375 for 1.5Gb. 

1 N$ = R1. 

Grunau to Hobas

Our two weeks Namibian trip continues. Today we drive the (relatively small distance for Namibia) 138 km to Hobas where we will camp. That is 10km from the Fish River Canyon and our first big stop. The last 86 km from Grunau to Hobas is a gravel road. (an excellent gravel road) the scenery was spectacular. Big boulders everywhere. You literally stop every few km for a photo. 

We also visited an old abandoned building next to the road. We couldn’t go inside as it was full of wasps. There was an old Ford 1600 Sport in the veld close to the building. That brought back some memories. I owned one in the day. 

We arrived at Hobas where they couldn’t take cards for payment, Luckily we drew money in the morning. The swimming pool at Hobas was the coldest I ever felt. I had my feet for 5 min in the pool and they still didn’t adapt to the cold. We camped next to a father and son from the Netherlands that visited Africa for the first time. You could see how excited they were about their African trip. We truly live on a spectacular continent. 

This afternoon we are driving to the canyon. We really loved the campsite at Hobas. Some baboons running around as well. The staff is very friendly. 

The Fish River Canyon

I am sure 100s of thousands of photos have been taken here. But none of them will adequately describe the feeling of awe you get if you stand here and see this majestic wonder of the world in person. 

At 160km long it is the second-largest canyon in the world. It is up to 27km wide and is about 550m deep at places. There is also a labyrinth that you can walk on the Hobas side. There is a 86km 5-day walking trail in the canyon. I found a very informative article on The Stingy Nomads website if you want to walk the Fish River Canyon. (Follow them on Instagram as well.) 

Walking the canyon has now jumped to Nr 1 on our To-do list.