SOUTH WEST AFRICA

SOUTH WEST AFRICA / SUIDWES-AFRIKA - ZUIDWEST-AFRIKA.

Fish River Canyon / Visrivier Canyon.
First stamp in a set of 4, issued on 20.03.1981.
Face value: 5 cents of South-African rand.

Catalogues
- Scott No. 471.
- StampWorld No. 499.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 373.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 457.

The Fish River Canyon (Visrivier Canyon or Visriver Kuil in Afrikaans, Fischfluss Canyon in German), south of present-day Namibia, is the largest canyon in Africa. It features a gigantic ravine, in total about 100 miles (160 km) long, up to 27 km wide and in places almost 550 meters deep. The Fish River is the longest interior river in Namibia. It cuts deep into the plateau which is today dry, stony and sparsely covered with hardy drought-resistant plants. The river flows intermittently, usually flooding in late summer; the rest of the year it becomes a chain of long narrow pools.