The Deep Cleft of the Sesriem Canyon

We were excited to see another famous canyon.

Located approximately 4.5 kilometers from the Namib-Naufkluft National Park’s entrance gate, is Sesriem Canyon, the second most important tourist attraction in the area after Sossusvlei. It is eponymously named after “six leather straps” in Afrikaans. The settlers, who had to tie six (ses) leather straps (riems) together to create a rope long enough for a bucket to reach the water source down below, thought of this name.

Sesriem is a natural canyon carved by the Tsauchab River in the local sedimentary rock. It is about a kilometer long, 30 meters deep, and only two meters wide in some places. It has a portion that permanently contains water and is of course, popular with the animals.

We walked the trail that leads into the canyon and along the way, we saw evidence of the different layers of sedimentary rocks that my husband pointed out. Our easy hike was like a quick visual tour of the history and geology of the area as we explored its deep cleft.

There are trees that grow within the canyon and our guide said they are mostly laurel fig trees, which are supposedly unique. This is also home to a variety of animals. In fact, we could see the ledges inhabited by pigeons, crows, and starlings, whose raucous caws and loud chattering provided a soundtrack for our short adventure. When our guide mentioned lizards, I walked with more caution for fear of unexpectedly encountering one and falling off the steep rocks. Luckily, I only saw beetles. At night, spotted eagle owls could be seen here, as well as black-backed jackals.

During the rainy season, pools of water collect in the narrow, sheltered sections on the floor of the canyon. One can even swim in the larger pools, and the deeper ones host barbell fish species. We saw a small pool (surprisingly with water at this time of the year), large enough for 10 people. But there was no time to swim, even though all of us were tempted to jump into the water. We were all covered in sand from head to foot from our recent trek along the Sossusvlei sand dunes and we were all feeling rather itchy all over.

Hot air balloon tours are also available there, but we didn’t stay long enough to see anyone embarking on this fun flight. After our hike and picture-taking, we headed out to our next lodge.