The first months of 2025 have been singularly wet in Namibia. One of the driest country in the world, it has experienced heavy rains and widespread flooding. The consequences have been loss of life, evacuation of people and broken infrastructure, amongst others. In true Afro-optimism, the Afrikaners of Northern Cape highlighted the positive: “The desert will be full of flowering plants and green grass, it has not happened in years! Namibia is beautiful!”
Leaving our cocoon at The Olive Tree Guesthouse in Springbok, ready to ride the 120 kilometers to the Vioolsdrif border post on the Orange River. The Olive Tree owners, Elna and Carl Van Niekerk, have just returned from a road trip across the border to Namibia to see the spectacular lilies. The Sandhof lilies bloom in their millions for only 5 days every few years when there is enough rain and the rare event coincided with their 25th wedding anniversary this year. Their son and daughter are visiting from Stellenbosch, where they attend university, starting their week-long Term 1 break. Springbok, Northern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Flying north on the N7, at 1,000 meters of altitude, in perfect weather I daydream about the last months spent riding our bikes in South Africa. The diversity in culture and landscape is second to none. The self reliance, casual hospitality and chattiness of South Africans have made an impression. Strong perfume, monkey bars on windows, gates and fences, 70s and 80s music and broken glass bottles also! Northern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Namibia
Upon crossing the border into the Republic of Namibia I make a quick inventory of what I know about the country. First, it is in the company of Iceland, Australia and Mongolia has one of the least densely populated countries in the world. Second, its territory is mostly 2 deserts (Namib in the West and Kalahari in the East) split by an arid central plateau. Third, Germany colonised the region, until South Africa took over after WW1 and only relinquished control in 1990, when Namibia became independent. Also, Angelina Jolie gave birth to her daughter Shiloh here! 😉
After rising in the Lesotho Highlands, the Orange River flows to the Atlantic Ocean in a generally westerly direction for some 2 432 kilometers, the end portion forming the boundary between South Africa and Namibia. The low-lying region is the hottest spot in southern Africa but, luckily, in April the intense summer heat is behind us, the mercury won’t rise above 36 celsius. ||Karas Region, Republic of Namibia.
Like the Nile Valley in Egypt, the irrigation along the Orange River creates an oasis where there would normally be only sandstone. Namibia has 5 permanent rivers, the Orange River (could not be more South) and 4 more in the Far-North. ||Karas Region, Republic of Namibia.
The settlement of Aussenkehr is home to seasonal workers from northern Namibia coming for the grape harvest and boasts a supermaket, liquor store and cash machine. This is an obligatory stop for bicycle travellers, the next grocery store is in Bethanien, five days away, and water will need to come from a few farms and 4X4 drivers. Are you ready for this? ||Karas Region, Republic of Namibia.
Moonscape on D207. Most travellers coming this way would be on their way to Fish River Canyon. We entertain the idea of visiting Africa’s largest canyon until a bad schnitzel, ingested at an Orange River resort, hit my insides like a wrecking ball. We skip the natural wonder and aim for Bremen Tranquility Guest Farm, a cold beer for much needed carbonation, a soothing hot shower and a strarry night. ||Karas Region, Republic of Namibia.
It’s been a gradual climb from the Orange River. At 1,200 meters of altitude, before Klein Karas, we enter a kind of savanna and grass is plentiful. We get excited by the sight of a small sheep herd until we come across this big boy: a rock monitor lizard. ||Karas Region, Republic of Namibia.
Wild camping in southern Namibia is required. Most nights are spent between the road and “the fence”. Huge swathes of the territory is farmland delineated by seemingly endless barbed wire fences. This night is lucky, there is an elevated railroad running between the road and the fence, and we can hide behind it—hiding from nobody that is. It might have been a perfect night, if only we had believed the threat from a dark cloud traveling over our camp during dinner preparation, resulting in gooey spaghetti, wet sleeping pads and sand everywhere—including in the slimy pasta! ||Karas Region, Republic of Namibia.
At Canyon Farmyard we stop for the famous apple pie and a drink. The remote camp is a quintessential kooky desert outpost. Its owner hopes for rain during the upcoming week-end—even during a once-in-a-lifetime rainy season southern Namibia remains drought-striken. “If we don’t receive any rain in April we’ll have to wait until December” he says before gifting us homemade kudu biltong and a 5L water jug…some desert solidarity! ||Karas Region, Republic of Namibia.
One afternoon during the week-end the heavens break open. ||Karas Region, Republic of Namibia.
Rainy season 2025’s last spasms. ||Karas Region, Republic of Namibia.
Looking for a shower and a burger at Alte Kalkofen Lodge. The old limestone oven on the Simplon property was built in 1906 by George Kottker, a German Schutztruppe (colonial troop). The lime that was produced here was, amongst others, being used to build buildings in Kolmanskop, Luderitz, Keetmanshoop and other small towns in southern Namibia. ||Karas Region, Republic of Namibia.
Alte Kalkofen Lodge is well known for its fascinating collection of Lithops, also known as “Flowering Stones”. The succulent plant avoids being eaten by herbivores by mimicking small stones! ||Karas Region, Republic of Namibia.
Branching off on C14 from the B4 highway it is a surprise to find pavement to Bethanien, some 30 kilometers to the North. The local food shop is less of a life buoy than anticipated. Fortunately, Pierre had hitchhiked to Keetmanshoop, a substantial town and ||Karas region capital, to replenish our reserves of cell phone data, Namibian dollars and gourmet food while I washed our clothes and nursed a fever blister explosion at Alte Kalkofen’s campsite. The ride is austere enough, it is not neccessary to make it more spartan with a diet of crackers and peanut butter! ||Karas Region, Republic of Namibia.
Riding up the Konkiep Valley on C14. ||Karas Region, Republic of Namibia.
One more night “by the fence”. C14, ||Karas Region, Republic of Namibia.
Except for a handful of tarred roads (starting with the letter A or B) Namibia’s extensive road network is of unpaved tracks (starting with C, D, E or F) maintained by a fleet of graders. The road surface’s quality varies depending on the elapsed time since the last levelling of the ground happened, some kind of lottery. For us, it’s on road C27, at the junction with D707 at a farm called Spes Bona, that the going gets tougher. The track becomes divided in strips of loose sand running parallel to strips of deep corrugation. In anticipation of Namibia’s notoriously challenging road conditions we’ve been riding on Maxxis Minion DHF and DHR II 29”X2.6” since Cape Town, and can bulldozer through. Another luck of the draw is that, in April, the strong afternoon wind comes from the Northeast, effectively pushing us back the way we came! But look, the Namib Desert sand is covered in Bushman grass! Hardap Region, Republic of Namibia.
Camelthorn tree as umbrella. Even in the driest areas of Namibia like here, in the NamibRand Nature Reserve, underground rivers sustain imposing specimens of the acacia family. Good spot to fix the ONE puncture of the last 1,000 kilometers! Hardap Region, Republic of Namibia.
In the NamibRand Nature Reserve, a small harem of Burchell’s zebras is strolling and grazing in the cool morning air. The blooming desert is not good just for tourists. Hardap Region, Republic of Namibia.
This is not a Van Gogh painting but NamibRand Nature Reserve’s Kwesi dunes! Hardap Region, Republic of Namibia.
Eat, ride, eat, ride, eat, camp, repeat. Hardap Region, Republic of Namibia.
Twenty-five years ago I watched a psychological horror film with Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn and Vincent D’Onofrio called The Cell. In the movie, a social worker, played by Lopez, enters the mind of a serial killer aided by a new experimental technology, she literally walks inside his warped imagination. The set designs are phantasmagorical and I was surprised to learn that some of it was filmed in the Namib-Naukluft National Park of Namibia. At the time I thought it would be amazing to visit there one day. I later learned the images of the orange sand dunes, white cracked dirt and black dead trees were taken at Deadvlei, in the Sossusvlei region of the national park. I also learned that EVERYBODY goes to Deadvlei!
Sesriem is the small cluster of lodges, campsites and gas station pressed against the gate to the 60-kilometer paved—I’m not making this up—road to Sossusvlei. We set up camp at Sossus Oasis for 3 nights, time to drink cold beer, soak in the pool, wash our clothes, communicate with the outside world and visit the superhyped natural site. One morning, we lock the bikes to the bbq at campsite #13d and walk across the road to the gate. At 6:45am the sun is not up yet but a solid line of cars has formed for the 7 o’clock opening. We walk to the front of the line and ask at the first car—a typical white SUV with “Namibia 2Go” printed on the side—if we can share the ride. “Yeah, no problem! But we’re not stopping at Dune 45, we’re going directly to Big Daddy to beat the crowd”, the young Dutch driver answers. And off we go!
Big Daddy is the 300-meter high star dune overlooking Deadvlei salt pan. Hardap Region, Republic of Namibia.
A view from above Sossusvlei and Deadvlei. The salt and clay pans are both dead-end marshes of the westerly flowing ephemeral Tsauchab River, one current, the other historical. Time to run down the slip face! Hardap Region, Republic of Namibia.
Camelthorn trees thrived here until the topography shifted and underground water was diverted to Sossusvlei. The trees died some 900 years ago, left to toast in the intense sun, unable to decompose in the bone-dry environment. Deadvlei overdelivers. Hardap Region, Republic of Namibia.
For our ride out of Namib-Naukluft national park we get picked up by a bus full of cyclists on a 3-week cycling holiday. The group cycled the paved 60 kilometers to the parking lot inside the park, hiked around, had lunch in the shade and are being driven back to their camp. Tomorrow they will be in South Africa and in one week they will reach Cape Town. As for us, we load our bikes with enough food and water to survive a cataclysm and gladly go back to washboards and wind.
At the intersection of roads C14 and C19, the settlement of Solitaire—with its lodge, campsite, restaurant, bakery, general store and gas station is a mirage and an essential stop. Khomas Region, Republic of Namibia.
From Solitaire it is 230 kilometres to Walvis Bay and the next water tap. Joining our regular Yeti and Fidlock bottles are two 2L Platypus flexible bottles and four 4L MSR dromedary bags. It won’t be enough to sustain our gourmet lifestyle of french press coffee and oatmeal in the morning and spaghetti at night but this is the best we can do. And yes, sitting beside our solar panel, is a 6-pack of beer and a PlatyPreserve filled with a bottle of South African pinotage! Khomas Region, Republic of Namibia.
The gemsbok (Oryx gazella) is Namibia’s national animal. Khomas Region, Republic of Namibia.
Perfectly adapted to barren landscapes the oryx thrives in southern Africa’s deserts. Khomas Region, Republic of Namibia.
The nomadic grader operators of Namibia! Duos of road workers travel for weeks at a time, sleeping in rudimentary caravans with no power or cell reception. Khomas Region, Republic of Namibia.
For the second time on this trip we cross the Tropic of Capricorn! Khomas Region, Republic of Namibia.
The best option “by the fence” is this entrance to a deserted property. Time for some pasta and red wine! Khomas Region, Republic of Namibia.
Since entering Namibia we have been camping with these curious creatures, literally, they climb on the tent, on the bikes, inside the panniers, very nosy. The armoured katydids, or koringkriek in Afrikaans, are so abundant at this period of the year that we have accidentally ridden over a few. Crunch! “Shit! Sorry!” Khomas Region, Republic of Namibia.
Riding with very little traffic has been a gift in southern Namibia. Since Sesriem, and now in the middle of the Easter holiday, the pace has picked up to almost a frenzy. Namibia’s tourism relies heavily on 4X4 rental and, with the rainy season ending, the Europeans have arrived. Mixed-in are South Africans on long-week-end blooming-desert expeditions and Namibian city-dwellers enjoying a Sunday drive. The dust cloud engulfing us is bigger, but it is also multiplied opportunities to refill our water bottles! Khomas Region, Republic of Namibia.
After crossing the Kuiseb River—which held a bit of water—the C14 road enters the Namib-Naukluft National Park’s northern section. The Namib desert here is largely rock and stone, with the occasional inselberg. The most exciting part is that, as we ride straight West to the Atlantic ocean, the road goes from washboards and sand to a salt-paved road. Built near the Atlantic coast, inside the mist belt, Namibia has a few hundred kilometers of these hard-packed tracks, their surface a mixture of salt water, gypsum and sand that is compacted by machinery and baked in the sun. Erongo Region, Republic of Namibia.
Gourmet dinner for two! Erongo Region, Republic of Namibia.
Cold air from the offshore Benguela Current crashing up against hot air from the arid inland creates a mist belt along the Atlantic. It is a strange sensation to wake up in moist fog and get gradually colder as we lose altitude—the coast is near. Erongo Region, Republic of Namibia
Triumphant arrival at the entrance of Walvis Bay, Namibia’s second largest city after its capital, Windhoek. Our only stop in the city is at the Dunes Mall for some all-day breakfast at Mugg & Bean: eggs benedict and flat white coffee! Erongo Region, Republic of Namibia.
Riding on B2 road, linking Walvis Bay and Swapokmund, in the coastal fog is a bit unnerving and we wind up following the curvy streets in the coastal resort of Langstrand and continuing on a sandy 4X4 track running between the cold waters and the road. Erongo Region, Republic of Namibia.
Swakopmund, now a seaside resort city, was founded in 1892 as the main harbour for German South-West Africa. The German colonial architecture, palm trees and cold desert climate are disorienting and blowing our minds. At Namib Guesthouse, a thousand kilometers since Springbok, we have parked the bikes besides a fleet of rented white 4X4 trucks with roof-top tents. All visitors are dusting off sand from shoes and panniers, enjoying the best shower in Africa, overusing the fancy Jura coffee machine in the lounge—or maybe it’s just us—and taking a city-break. Ahhhhh!
