Tips for hiking the Fish River Canyon

So what did I learn from hiking the wrong fish? Well, how to do it better next time💪. They say that experience is the best educator. And the Fish did school me. Here are my crib notes for before and during the 🐟 specific to my experience. Everybody will have different advice based on their story, but after you read the ‘wrong‘ and ‘right‘ fish hike, you will understand what led me to these tips.

Before the Fish

Choosing when to go and where to stay

This should be your first question. When will I go? If you ask me I will tell you to book the hike as early as possible in the season. I have 2 reasons for that. Weather and water.

Weather

When we planned our trip the number 1 thing that sources said to bring was a –5 degree sleeping bag. I got one on loan. It was bulky and heavy. But I feel super sorry for myself when I have to sleep in the cold and therefore would not compromise on that. The sleeping bag took a lot of space, and in the end, it was so warm that I sleep on top of it for the first 3 nights. This was during May. So in my experience, May does not need an arctic sleeping bag.

Therefore, go in May, take a normal sleeping bag and save some weight and space. Unless of course, you have one of those super expensive, heavy duty compact and light  -5 sleeping bags. Then, by all means, go during winter. When I go again, I will choose May just so that I do not have to worry about sleeping temperatures.

H2O

We had plenty of water during our May hike. I believe that we had water because we went early in the season. The Fish river basin lies in the summer rainfall area, and therefore theoretically there should be enough water during the beginning of autumn as opposed to going during winter.

There are therefore 2 reasons in my opinion, why one should book the hike during May, the start of the hiking season. 🍁🌞 & 💧.

Whenever you decide to book…

Whenever you decide to go, book your accommodation for the night before and after in advance. This area is very popular with tourists and we misjudged the availability of a place to lay our heads. We did not book early enough and therefore our whole party could not overnight at the same place and we were scattered throughout the Namib on the night before the hike. Here you can find all the booking info.

The least hassle will be to sleep at Ai-Ais, leave your car there and take the shuttle that goes to Hobas in the morning. There will be no juggling of vehicles back and forth, but you will not get the same early start that you could have gotten starting from Hobas. Another idea would be to go down into the canyon on the night before the hike starts, and not sleeping at either Hobas or Ai-Ais. I have heard of people who have done it this way. They went down into the canyon, camped at the bottom and then had a full 5 days to do the hike. That is also a good solution if you don’t mind packing an extra night and mornings worth of food.

Preparation for the hike

Exercise can help, but being fit does not make it a walk in the park

It is true that even unfit people can do the hike. But that does not automatically make it an easy hike. The hike is an endurance game with the terrain being the hurdle. You will ‘brake’ all the way down. Will have to climb up and over and around boulders. You will sink into ankle deep sand and have rocks poke at you from under your shoes. It is challenging in a way that you cannot necessarily prepare for physically. Although it does help if you are fit. To help with the braking, doing eccentric exercises will help prepare for that, although there is no real way to simulate the actual descent. That was the hardest part for me.

There is no substitute for experience

Getting a map beforehand and, if possible, talking to someone who has already done the hike would be greatly beneficial. Even better if they go along. When I told my hiking story to a seasoned hiker, they were flabbergasted that we did the hike without having someone with who has done it before. I don’t believe that it is necessary to have someone with that has done the hike before. We all lived to tell the tale, but I do think it would have helped a lot.

Don’t be aimless

Study the map beforehand and decide on realistic goals on where to aim for each day. The first 2 days we just walked with no plan. We thought that we were much further than we actually were and were very deflated when at the end of the second day we saw the 10 km marker. That first 10k was the most difficult. I would recommend getting through as much as possible of that on the first day. Being able to do that will greatly depend on how early a start you get. Early birds will get those worms.

Strong arms

This next tip will most likely not be a good one for ladies who say that they can do everything a man can do. I would not have made it without the men in the group. No jokes. For one thing, I don’t have the strength that they have. I would never have been able to do some of the river crossings without them. They were able to lift our backpack high enough to not get them wet. If I had to take my own bag across I would probably have lost my bag to a river.  In my opinion, don’t go without a man or two, or train those arms in the overhead position😉💪. But that is just me with my stick bug arms. (This tip will be void in the dry season though)

To tent or not to tent

Then there is the ‘to bring a tent, or not to bring a tent’ debate. I say bring it. Have someone share it with you, then one can carry the tent, the other the poles (But don’t forget to take back your tent parts in the end like me, I was back in SA before I saw I forgot the backbone of my tent with my tentmate), For me, it was a great comfort at the end of the day. You had a ‘place of your own’ and the privacy to get a wet wipe clean-up and to get dressed. It also ensures that your bed is sand and bug-free. But if you have no tent you will also be fine. Then you will have a ‘starry starry night’ each night.

Gas anyone?

If you have enough space, I would recommend taking an extra gas canister. The last morning the wind was so strong that my gas got finished before my water boiled. I, therefore, had to forgo on my coffee and oats. It was a bit of a let-down having to start my day without my full brekkie and coffee. A well, that was not the end of the world. An extra canister would have been nice though.

Starting the adventure

I would advise getting as early a start as is possible. We only started after lunch and therefore only had 4 days to do the 5-day hike. To get the earliest start, sleep at Hobas.

I would say that the first 10 km were the toughest and would suggest doing as much of that on the first day so that the rest of the hike can be at a more leisurely pace. That there be no urgency to walk as much as possible and therefore not being able to enjoy where you are. Be in the moment. But if you have to worry about doing 20 or 30 kilometres, you miss out on the moment.

Start each day as early as possible in order to make use of the coolness. As the day progresses, if possible, try walking on the side of the canyon that is shaded. On our first day, we set out in the full sun. I watched the shadowy bank of the river with longing because there was no way at that point to go to the other side. And to think that our camp was on the shadowy side that morning! This was supposedly also the side where we would have come across the Vespas. Yes, you can get sort of lost walking in a canyon.

Eat a big breakfast. I found that I had no desire to make lunch and only ate my fruity snacks and cheese when we stopped. And I was not hungry at lunchtime because of my hearty breakfast. Each morning I had 2 instant oats packs, 2 rusks, 2 granola bars and coffee. I will take fewer snacks next time. I had a lot of fruit sticks, Provitas and cheese left at the end. But I guess the snack thing will differ from person to person.

For drinking, I had two bottles in my pack. One with just water and one with Game. Drinking only water will not benefit you as you will not replace the electrolytes that you lost walking and sweating in the sun. Keep filling your bottles as you go along as there are some spots where there is no water and you do not want to be caught there without something to drink. Each night I drank a rehydration drink. I read somewhere that it helps you not ‘feel like a prune’ I never felt ‘dry’, so either it worked or I just had enough to drink during the day.

Another drinking-related thing that I picked up from hiker friends was that the water bladders were a schlep to fill up and that the pipe thingies got filled up with sand and sediment and then had to be cleaned regularly which was an extra schlep. And if you are hot and your feet hurt, you dont need extra drama.

You should do these 2 things the most during the day: drink and take care of your feet. Each time that we stopped, I took my shoes and socks off. Feet get sweaty and the friction can cause blisters. Blisters are not something that you want on a 90km hike. So, I dried my socks and feet every chance that I got. Shook the sand out of my shoes and baby powdered my feet and shoes.

It worked brilliantly. In some spots. Unfortunately, I did get blisters. On my toes. Ironically where I tried to prevent blisters with preventative taping. I did not bargain on the heat and swelling of my feet. The edges of the tape caused friction. Friction lead to blisters at the edges of the tape. And ta-da! Blisters on toes the size of toes. No jokes. What a bummer! Luckily those were the only blister that I got. But they were painful all the same.

Muscle soreness or DOMS was a constant canyon companion and I only got this tip a year after the hike from a seasoned Fish hiker. If I remember correctly, she did the hike 9 times. While my jaw dropped to the floor I asked her how she survived all those descents.. I was so flipping sore after the decent which turned out to be a full body workout, that I had a tough time with ‘delayed onset of muscles soreness’ for the rest of the hike. I moved like an old women.

The muscle soreness is the thing I remember the most when I think about the hike. She then told me that she always takes anti-inflammatory meds and muscle relaxants with. I never thought of that. Ook maar lekker stupid. I am definitely going to try that next time. Too bad that I have not met her before the hike as she was a wealth of information. At least now I can lean on my own experience and call her up for advice next time I do the hike.

Yes, I am open to a next time. It took me a while to get there, but I look forward to it all the same.

So that was my tips which were formed from my own experience. If you have any of your own please post them in the comments so that perspective hikers can have smooth sailing

Booking the hike

This is the last detail. Go check out the post on the booking process to see where and how to book. There are also some additional forms that you need to fill out and take with, but you can see what is needed here.

PS, Go read my ‘fishy‘ stories, I might as well have called them ‘ the good, the bad and the ugly‘. These two stories will give you perspective on my tips. And as a final word, if you want to keep these tips for future reference, hover and Pin!

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