Namaqualand, the Orange River mouth and |Ai-|Ais
Ridden by the founder in 2004 · KTM 950 Adventure
Up the N7 to Noordoewer, across to the coast at Port Nolloth and Alexander Bay, into Namibia at Oranjemund, up the Orange River through Sendelingsdrif to Rosh Pinah, then into the Fish River Canyon at |Ai-|Ais and home down the N7.
Open in the plannerChange the dates, stops and your vehicle. The planner works out fuel, night stops, sunset, weather and the grade of every road.
Distances and grades from the planner's route on OpenStreetMap roads. Your plan may differ.
Hardest stretch: Pre-single, rocks, steep climbs, sand, river crossings. The grade reads differently by vehicle: what's fun on an adventure bike can be slow and hard in a car.
Day by day
- DAY 1 · 689 km
Cape Town → Noordoewer
Via Piketberg, Vanrhynsdorp, Kamieskroon - DAY 2 · 396 km · 7% gravel
Noordoewer → Rosh Pinah
Via Port Nolloth, Alexander Bay, Oranjemund, Sendelingsdrif - DAY 3 · 155 km · 93% gravel
Rosh Pinah → |Ai-|Ais - DAY 4 · 811 km · 8% gravel
|Ai-|Ais → Cape Town
Via Steinkopf, Garies, Klawer, Piketberg
The story
October 2004, on a KTM 950 Adventure, with a paper map and a guess at the fuel. Namaqualand, the diamond coast where the Orange River meets the Atlantic, the river road through Sendelingsdrif and a night in the bottom of the Fish River Canyon at |Ai-|Ais. Twenty-two years later I put the same trip into the planner, and it found the long fuel gap before I'd even packed.
Good to know
- Long gap without fuel on the coast and river leg: fill up in Port Nolloth, Alexander Bay and Oranjemund.
- Sendelingsdrif is a pont: 08:00 to 16:30, and it only runs when the river allows. Have a plan B via Noordoewer.
- Two border crossings: passport, bike papers, and a letter of authority if the bike isn't in your name.
- |Ai-|Ais sits in the bottom of the canyon: hot in summer, cold at night in winter.
More misadventures on onetrackmind.co.za
Roads change. Check conditions before you go, and report what you find in the planner so the next rider knows.