On our first day of riding, we set off on tar roads from the capital city of Windhoek on a short day's ride (4 hours) to our first destination, Spitzkoppe. What’s nice about this ride is that it gives you a few hours on tar to settle into the bike, adjust gear along the way and just as you get tired of tar it’s time for your first taste of Namibian gravel & dirt. I always find a surge of excitement when I hit that first dirt road. The dirt is where I find the most joy while on adventures as it typically takes you to places removed from the crowds. On this trip we’d face over 1500 kms of dirt (it’s a lot) and we were all anxious and excited to see how we’d manage with the varying road surfaces along the way.

We arrived at our campsite at Spitzkoppe,‘The Cove,’ just a few hours before sunset which gave us time to walk around and soak in our first full day in Namibia. The Cove is a little hidden area at Spitzkoppe that’s tucked in amongst massive granite walls on all sides. It’s a great spot to keep you protected from the harsh desert sun, the wind and also keeps it nice and private.

The following day we set off on big gravel roads through the wide open desert towards the coastal town of Henties Bay. This is where we got to enjoy our first mirages of the trip. They are real and there were times when I actually thought there was a lake up ahead that we should go check out. The mid-day sun got the best of us and we managed to find a little shack in the middle of the desert where we could enjoy the shade and browse some local gems at a trading stall which used an honesty system to purchase items. Our ride that day ended at the coastal town of Swakopmund where we feasted at a local German restaurant (there’s lots of them) and enjoyed our last night in a major town. The remainder of our trip would be far more remote, removed from civilization and this was exactly what we wanted from Namibia.

Before leaving the coast, we made a detour that Isidoro had found along the massive sand dunes just south of Swakopmund heading towards Dune 7, a very famous and iconic sand dune to see. It was incredible to ride along these dunes that have been here for millions of years. I’ve always seen photos and videos of dunes like this, but to finally experience how massive they have been quite special.

The walk up the dunes is quite a work out. They’re massive and obviously trudging on an incline through thick soft sand is gonna wear you out. For this time of day, I’d recommend just going barefoot like I did. We managed to hike up to the ridge of a dune that protects the Deadvlei, a dry lake bed with old trees still planted firmly in the dry soil. I stayed on the ridge for a few minutes to soak up the sunrise and views before enjoying the fun part of running down the dunes. After our time off the bikes we were eager to get moving back to camp for breakfast and get back on the bikes. Our next few days on the bikes heading south became even more remote than the days before and they were nice and short (140 kms +/-). This was great because it gave us more time in the morning to relax, stop longer for lunch, not feel pressured to be somewhere and we knew we had plenty of time during the day if we wanted to explore around. All throughout this trip our accommodation varied. I wanted to make sure that everyone got to experience a wide range of options. We camped 4 nights; 2 of those we were self sufficient and the other 2 nights were at campgrounds where they had showers, restaurants and obviously wifi. One of the most special nights of the trip, our last in Namibia, was in a remote part of the Richtersveld Park in a dry river bed canyon. There was absolutely no one around for miles and miles and we had the entire canyon to ourselves (and a few Jackels).

What made this location so special was that it’s rare (for the majority of us) to find yourself in a location such as this where you are completely on your own in the middle of nowhere. We made the most of that opportunity by burning the rest of our firewood, playing tunes and dancing around the fire like a bunch of wild kids. After our last night in Namibia, we took our time waking up, piled in the truck and took a short drive down to the Orange River (the border between South Africa and Namibia). At camp there were no showers and the giant Orange River gave us the perfect spot to cool off and clean up before heading into South Africa.  The last two riding days would be back home in South Africa. I assumed we’d just be on boring tar roads the whole way to Cape Town but I was wrong. Yes there was a lot of tar but we weaved our way through big massive mountains and it was nice to just cruise. At some point along the way we all got hungry and Steve had found a nearby restaurant that looked to be right on the coast. Our route there was another detour and it was an epic one. It took us all along the coast line, up sandy hills and through a few nature reserves where we had to keep dodging tortoises crossing the road.