Ninety seconds on Fish River Canyon
Quiet for Africa's largest canyon: you can often share the rim above Hell's Bend with only a handful of other visitors, and at first light the walls turn from grey to copper to deep rust.
Ten kilometres of gravel lead from the Hobas office to the main viewpoint, where a shelter with picnic tables and information panels overlooks Hell's Bend. From there a path follows the edge north for about 2 km to Hiker's Viewpoint.
Ask for the viewpoint map when you pay at Hobas. Beyond the main viewpoint, a short dead-end road runs on to Sunset Point and Rockies Point. On the way back towards Hobas, the first turning on the right leads to the Sulphur Springs viewpoint and on to Eagle's Rock; look out for mountain zebra along that track.
You cannot walk down into the gorge on a day visit. The descent is open only to hikers doing the full trail, with a permit from Namibia Wildlife Resorts and a doctor's certificate.
Hobas, and further afield
A campsite, a park office and a gravel road to the rim make up everything here, and the reason to come is ten kilometres further on. The…
Where the B1 meets the road west to Lüderitz, this is the natural night stop on the drive south to the Fish River Canyon. A stone Rhenish…
Winter frost and occasional snow reach this village on the escarpment, which is not what the rest of the country does. A German internment…