The small Sesriem Canyon is located near the main entrance to the Namib-Naukluft National Park. It’s a gorge just under 3 kilometers long, where the Tsauchab River has cut into the rock to a depth of 30 meters. A walk in the canyon is a recommendable experience.
The Namib-Naukluft National Park is world-famous especially because of the dunes of Sossusvlei and the dead trees of Deadvlei (check out my travel tip here).
But also the canyon is worth a visit; the impressive gorge is the second main attraction of the national park. It was formed 30 million years ago when the river Tsauchab carried rocks and sand here.
During heavy rain, the pools at the end of the gorge are filled with water.
By the way: Sesriem means “six straps” in the Afrikaans language. The name comes from the first settlers: they cut six straps from the skins of oryx antelopes and tied them together to be able to draw water here when all other water sources had dried up.
Today, the canyon is mostly dried up. But when it has rained, the rock reflects fascinatingly in the residual water.
Best time to visit the Sesriem Canyons
Typically, excursions start at the crack of dawn. For this excursion, however, getting up early is not worth it: I recommend visiting the canyon around noon when the sun shines down to the dried riverbed.
As a starting point for a visit, the lodges in and around Sossusvlei are suitable. We stayed at Little Kulala (check out our review) and we were thrilled!
