Gamsberg Pass Route (649 km)
Walvis Bay to Windhoek · one way, about 649 km back to the start
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Why this ride
649 km from Walvis Bay to Windhoek, about 8 h 49 of riding. It goes by way of Kuiseb Pass and Gamsberg Pass. The highest point is about 1,850 m. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Roadbook
- Walvis Bay
start
Flamingos, both greater and lesser, gather here in their thousands, along with pelicans, terns and waders, and the pink line of birds against the grey water is a sight that makes even a hurried rider slow down. The Benguela current, cold and rich, brings fish and fog, and the town is often wrapped in mist while the desert behind is sunny.
For many years the port was a South African enclave inside Namibian territory, and it was handed over only in March 1994, after independence. Today it is Namibia's main harbour, with cranes, salt works, fish factories and a pleasant waterfront. Swakopmund, a German-flavoured resort town, lies thirty kilometres north along a road that runs between sea and dunes, and Dune 7, a huge golden dune, is a short ride away. Pelican Point, a long sandspit across the bay, is home to a colony of seals.
The Gamsberg Pass route heads inland from here, and it is a very different kind of riding. The roads go east into the desert, through the gravel plains and the deep canyon of the Kuiseb river, and up onto the Khomas Hochland, the high plateau, passing the Gamsberg, a flat-topped mountain of about 2,350 metres. Much of the road is gravel, with corrugations, sand patches and loose stones, and it demands lower tyre pressures, steady speed and respect. Rain is rare, but when it falls, dry riverbeds can flood suddenly. Temperatures swing from cool mornings to hot afternoons, and the sky at night is brilliant.
Fuel is available in Walvis Bay, which has several stations, and it is essential to fill up completely and carry extra, since stations inland are far apart and may be closed. Carry water, spare tubes and a tyre pump, and tell someone your route. Oysters from the lagoon, grilled fish and German-style pastries are good in the town.
Watch the flamingos for ten minutes before you go. The calm of the lagoon is a good start for a long, hard road.
- Kuiseb Pass
scenic · 905 m
The Kuiseb is a river that mostly isn't. For most of the year its bed is a broad strip of dry sand, lined with ana trees and camelthorn, running west from the Namibian highlands toward Walvis Bay, and only after heavy rain in the interior does water come down it, sometimes in a brown flood that reaches the sea. Along its course, the river has cut a deep canyon through the edge of the plateau, and the road, the C26, drops through it at Kuiseb Pass, at about 905 metres, in a series of bends with views over rocky ridges and dry valleys.
The canyon has a story attached. During the Second World War, two German geologists, Henno Martin and Hermann Korn, evaded internment by retreating into the desert, and for more than two years lived in a rock shelter near the Kuiseb, hunting game and drinking from springs. Martin later wrote a book about it, The Sheltering Desert, which is a classic of survival and of the desert's strange beauty. Not far away, the Gobabeb research station has studied the Namib since the 1960s, and its work on fog, beetles and dune life is known around the world.
The landscape is stark and lovely. To the north lie gravel plains and low hills, to the south the great sand sea of the Namib, with dunes that run on for hundreds of kilometres. The colours change through the day, from pale gold at dawn to deep orange at sunset. Wildlife is thin but present, with oryx, springbok and the occasional zebra on the plains, and the dry riverbed is a corridor for animals and birds.
The road surface is gravel, hard-packed in places and loose in others, with corrugations and sandy patches, and speed should be kept moderate. In the dry bed of the river, there may be soft sand at crossings. Fuel is the key problem. Walvis Bay, on the coast, has full services, and Solitaire, a tiny settlement to the east, has a petrol station, a bakery known for its apple pie and a few wrecked cars as decoration, but nothing in between, so fill up and carry extra. Carry plenty of water, since the climate is dry and the sun intense. Nights are cold, and mornings can be misty near the coast.
- Gamsberg Pass
scenic · 1665 m
Gamsberg is an odd mountain, a huge flat-topped block of rock that rises abruptly from the plains of the Khomas Hochland, almost 2,350 metres high, and it can be seen from kilometres away. It is an inselberg, a survivor of an older landscape that has been worn down around it, and its pale sides, glowing red in the evening, dominate the horizon. The pass that takes its name, at 1,665 metres, is on the road from the coast to Windhoek, and it marks the point where the land drops from the highland plateau toward the Namib desert.
The Khomas Hochland is a high, rolling country of grass and thornbush, cut by gullies, where the farms are huge and the farmhouses far apart. The names on the signs are German, a reminder of the colonial settlers who took up land here in the early twentieth century, and cattle and game farms are the main activity. The air is dry, clear and bright, and the sky is a deep blue. On the night of a new moon, the stars are so thick that the Milky Way casts a faint shadow. Not far from the Gamsberg, a group of large telescopes, built to detect gamma rays from space, takes advantage of that dark sky.
The pass itself has switchbacks and steep sections, with views opening across the valley, and a sheer drop on one side. The road, the C26, is gravel, and its condition varies with the season and recent grading. After rain, it can be slippery and cut by washouts, while in dry weather it is corrugated and dusty. Ride at a moderate speed, keep a good distance from other vehicles because of the dust and watch for livestock on the road. Baboons often sit on the rocks by the roadside, and kudu and mountain zebra graze on the slopes.
Plan your tank carefully, and carry spare fuel in a jerrycan. Water is a necessity, and a first aid kit, tools and a means of calling for help are wise. Weather is usually dry, but summer storms can bring flash floods in the gullies. The best months are from May to September, when the days are warm and the nights cold, and the light is superb.
- Windhoek
finish
Windhoek sits at about 1,700 metres in the middle of Namibia, in a bowl of hills that gives it a cooler, drier climate than most of the country. It is the capital and by far the largest city, with a population approaching three hundred thousand, and a mix of German colonial buildings, modern shopping centres and sprawling townships. The Christuskirche, a Lutheran church with a pale stone facade, stands on a hill in the middle of the town and has become the city's best-known landmark.
Namibia was a German colony until the First World War, and the legacy shows in the architecture, the bakeries, the beer and a language still spoken in some quarters. Beer is a good example: the country brews under the old German purity law, and a cold lager at a terrace in the evening is a fine end to a day. Game meat, from kudu to oryx and springbok, appears on menus alongside the sausages and schnitzel, and biltong, the air-dried meat, is sold everywhere.
The road to Windhoek from the Gamsberg and Kuiseb passes is a ride across the edge of the Namib. The Gamsberg Pass drops from the highlands toward the desert, with long views over a landscape of red rock and pale grass, and the surface is a mix of gravel and tarmac. Gravel here can be loose, corrugated and deep in places, so ride within your limits and keep your speed down. Wildlife, from kudu to baboons, can step onto the road, and long distances between towns mean a breakdown is a serious matter.
Windhoek has everything: fuel, repairs, supermarkets and hotels, and it is the place to stock up before any long ride. Beyond the city, stations can be hundreds of kilometres apart, and you should fill at every chance, carry water and tell someone your route. Cell coverage is patchy outside the towns.
The dry season, roughly May to October, is the best time to ride, with clear skies and cool mornings, though nights can be near freezing at altitude. Summer brings heat and occasional thunderstorms. The sky at night, far from city lights, is spectacular.