Getting to Fish River Canyon
7h 42m from Windhoek on the B1, then the C12 / C37, 650 km, of which 160 km is gravel. Every price below buys the whole vehicle rather than a seat, and is fixed before you book — the return is priced beside it, because the two directions are rarely the same number.
the Hobas park gate shuts at sunset — and sunset here moves by more than an hour across the year. A drive that is comfortable in December is a locked gate in June, which is why we work the departure back from the gate rather than from the clock. How we compute it.
What it costs to get here
Priced from each place a trip realistically starts. Nearest first.
From Windhoek to Fish River Canyon
650 km · 7h 42m · 160 km gravel
the B1, then the C12 / C37, via Rehoboth, Mariental and Keetmanshoop
N$10,050
per vehicle
Price this tripComing back is N$5,950 — a car returning to Windhoek usually finds another fare, and one sent out here usually drives home empty.
From Hosea Kutako (WDH) to Fish River Canyon
695 km · 8h 9m · 160 km gravel
the B6, B1, then the C12 / C37, via Windhoek, Rehoboth, Mariental and 1 more
N$10,650
per vehicle
Price this tripComing back is N$6,300 — a car returning to Hosea Kutako (WDH) usually finds another fare, and one sent out here usually drives home empty.
From Swakopmund to Fish River Canyon
1006 km · 11h 15m · 160 km gravel
the B2, B1, then the C12 / C37, via Usakos, Karibib, Okahandja and 4 more
N$15,300
per vehicle
Price this tripComing back is N$11,700 — a car returning to Swakopmund usually finds another fare, and one sent out here usually drives home empty.
From Walvis Bay to Fish River Canyon
1039 km · 11h 35m · 160 km gravel
the C34, B2, B1, then the C12 / C37, via Swakopmund, Usakos, Karibib and 5 more
N$15,750
per vehicle
Price this tripComing back is N$12,000 — a car returning to Walvis Bay usually finds another fare, and one sent out here usually drives home empty.
Staying at a lodge near Fish River Canyon?
Most people are going to a property rather than to the town, and the last stretch is often gravel that no map app times properly. The prices above are to Fish River Canyon itself. Send us the lodge and we price the door, not the nearest signpost — we would rather ask than publish a guess at somebody else’s driveway.
Where people go next
Each of these is a drive we have measured, with the roads, the surface and the time on it.
There is gravel on the way in. Whether to drive it yourself is a real question here, and the honest answer depends on the excess on your hire agreement rather than on the road.