A canyon is formed when a river slowly cuts down through rock over a very long time. The Fish River started cutting into the land around 500 million years ago, though the canyon we see today mainly formed in the last few million years. That means the canyon was already ancient before the dinosaurs even existed.
Standing at the rim and looking down, everything looks tiny — including the river far below. The walls of the canyon are made of different layers of rock, each layer a different colour, showing different periods of Earth's history stacked on top of each other like the pages of a very old book.
The canyon is home to lots of wildlife. Baboons scramble along the rocky ledges, klipspringers (small antelopes) leap between boulders with amazing balance, and leopards have been spotted in the more remote sections. The river at the bottom provides a ribbon of green life in the surrounding dry landscape.
At the southern end of the canyon there is a place called Ai-Ais, meaning 'fire water' in the Nama language, where natural hot springs bubble up from underground. The warm mineral water has been a welcome resting spot for travellers for thousands of years.