Keetmanshoop is the capital of the south, which in Namibia means a flat, dry town of some fifteen thousand people where everything useful happens at once. It is the place you buy tyres, groceries and cash, and fill every container you own, before heading for the Fish River Canyon or turning west towards Aus and the coast. Treat it with that respect and it is a perfectly good place to be.
The name carries the story. It was founded as a mission station by Rhenish missionaries in the 1860s and given a name that honours Johann Keetman, a German industrialist who funded the work. The old Rhenish mission church is a solid stone building that has been preserved, and the old railway station from the German colonial era is one of those sturdy buildings that looks as if it were designed to survive a siege. Short walks, a coffee and a look around are plenty.
The surrounding country is the real attraction for a rider. Just outside town, a few kilometres off, lies a quiver tree forest, where Aloidendron dichotomum, the quiver tree, grows in clusters among dolerite boulders. The tree gets its name because San people used the hollowed branches to carry arrows. At sunrise or sunset the shapes against a red sky are some of the best photographs you will take in the south. Close by are the Giant's Playground boulder fields, a landscape that looks like the leftovers of a game played by something large.
The roads out of town are mostly long, straight tarmac, and the challenge is not the corners but the distance. Straight lines run towards horizons, and gusting wind from the side can tire your arms. Watch for livestock and for the odd springbok at dusk, and avoid riding at night, when the animals are hard to see. The B1 is a busy highway by local standards, with trucks, so give yourself room when overtaking.
Fuel is no problem here; there are several stations, and since distances beyond are huge, this is where you fill up. In summer afternoons the heat is fierce and the town basically sleeps between about one and three. Winter mornings can be cold enough for a proper jacket. Grab lunch somewhere simple, try the local game meat if you are curious, and enjoy being in a town that knows exactly why you have stopped.