Fish River Canyon · 20 km east of the canyon on the C37

Canyon Village

Gondwana Canyon Park, Namibia

Forty-two stone-and-thatch cottages set in a horseshoe beneath a sweeping rock face, dressed in the colours and stories of the Nama people. Bed and breakfast, 16 km from Hobas and the main canyon viewpoints.

The stay

A Nama village at the foot of the rocks

Canyon Village is laid out like a Nama settlement: a horseshoe of cottages curving around a grove of young quiver trees, with a great sweep of rock rising behind. The cottages are stone and thatch with Cape-Dutch gables and a veranda each, and from the right angle the whole place looks like a set from a western.

The big thatched central building, draped in bougainvillaea, holds reception, the lounge, the bar and a buffet restaurant. It doubles as a small museum of the south. Dozens of murals tell the story of the missions, the ox-wagons and the horse carts of the old days, a centuries-old ox-wagon stands in the dining room, and an old horse cart sits among the boulders in the bar. Staff wear traditional Nama dress.

It is the largest of the three Gondwana lodges here and the best placed for the canyon itself: Hobas, the park gate and main viewpoint, is 16 km away, so self-drivers can be at the rim for first light in under twenty minutes.

Canyon Village's horseshoe of cottages below the sweeping rock face

Thatched main building with restaurant and bar

Where you will sleep

Accommodation at Canyon Village

Forty-two rooms in stone-and-thatch cottages, two rooms to a cottage: thirty-eight twins and four triples.

Twin room at Canyon Village

Inside a twin room

Stone-and-thatch cottages at Canyon Village

Cottage veranda at Canyon Village

Canyon Village's horseshoe of cottages below the sweeping rock face

Thatched main building with restaurant and bar

Twin Room

Thirty-eight of the forty-two rooms are twins, each spacious, with two single beds under mosquito nets and an en-suite bathroom with shower.
Air-conditioning and heating, a tea and coffee station, a safe, a hairdryer, an umbrella and a veranda looking over the gardens and the rocks.
Three pairs have an inter-leading door, handy for families or friends travelling together, and three rooms are adapted for guests with limited mobility.

Rates are bed and breakfast.

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Triple room at Canyon Village

Cottage veranda at Canyon Village

Stone-and-thatch cottages at Canyon Village

Twin room at Canyon Village

Canyon Village's horseshoe of cottages below the sweeping rock face

Thatched main building with restaurant and bar

Triple Room

Four open-plan rooms take a third person on a third single bed, for friends or a small family.
The same fittings as the twins: en-suite shower, air-conditioning and heating, mosquito nets, tea and coffee station, safe, hairdryer and a veranda.

With just four of them, ask early. Under 5s stay free and 6 to 13 year olds pay half the bed-and-breakfast rate.

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What to do

Why stay at Canyon Village?

Distance to the rim decides how good your canyon photographs are. The light is best in the first hour after sunrise, and at 16 km from Hobas this is the closest of the Gondwana lodges to the main viewpoints. If you are driving yourself, you can be there before the tour vehicles.

Gondwana’s guided drives and walks leave from Canyon Lodge, a short drive away, so you get yourself there for them. The morning or afternoon canyon drive includes park fees, refreshments and a snack. The free trail between the two lodges, over a plateau and past Archway Rock, starts here.

Canyon Village is the most budget-friendly of the three Gondwana lodges in the Canyon Park. Canyon Lodge has stone chalets among the boulders, Canyon Roadhouse its vintage cars and fuel station, and Ai-Ais the hot springs at the southern end of the canyon.

Before you book

Check-in is from 14:00, check-out by 10:00
Rates are bed and breakfast; dinner is a buffet in the main building
All rooms have showers only
Guided activities depart from Canyon Lodge; you arrange your own transport there
Three rooms are adapted for limited mobility — ask for one when you book
Children up to 5 stay free; ages 6–13 pay 50%
On site: a cold-water pool, bar and lounge, Wi-Fi, laundry and secure parking; fuel is at Canyon Roadhouse up the road
Visa and Mastercard are accepted

Activities

Morning or afternoon canyon drive, about 3 hours to the two main lookout points — park fees, refreshments and a light snack included
Sunset nature drive, about 3 hours in the Gondwana Canyon Park — it does not go to the canyon
Sunrise hike: coffee and rusks at a viewpoint, then about an hour’s walk back
Morning walk, semi-guided, about 3 hours into the Canyon Park
Escorted sunset walk, free, about an hour up the ‘local’ mountain
Self-guided hiking to Canyon Lodge over a plateau and past Archway Rock, 2–3 hours, free
4x4 //Garas self-drive, 47 km of marked tracks with a trail map — be out before sunset

Getting there

Just off the C37, about 20 km east of the Fish River Canyon, in the Karas Region
16 km from Hobas, the canyon’s main gate and viewpoint
Transfers from the Karios airstrip for fly-in guests
GPS: 27°39′08.0″S, 17°46′23.9″E (−27.65222, 17.7733) — open in Google Maps

Rugged landscape of the Gondwana Canyon Park

Stone-and-thatch cottages at Canyon Village

Photos

Canyon Village in pictures

Choose a gallery, then tap any photo to see it larger. Use the arrows to move through them. There are more on the full photo gallery page.

Video

Canyon Village on film

A look around the village and the rock-and-quiver-tree country near the Fish River Canyon.

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