Namibia D707 Scenic Road

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Aus

   Aus sits on the edge of two worlds. Behind you to the west the Namib starts its long slide towards the Atlantic; ahead, the land lifts onto the high plateau of the south, and the village itself perches at roughly 1,400 metres, which means mornings here can bite even in a country that is famous for heat. It is a handful of buildings, a railway that once mattered, and a view over scrubby plains that go orange at sunset.

   Read the complete Aus write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Aus is where the day begins. Next is D707 north junction.

2. 2. D707 north junction

   This is a point on the map rather than a town, in the dry country of southern Namibia where the Tiras Mountains lift out of the Namib's gravel plains. There is no village here, no shade and nothing with a name beyond the number of the road, and nobody lives close enough to appear on a list of nearby places. That is exactly the point. The D707 is a gravel road that runs through some of the emptiest and most beautiful terrain in the country, and the start of it feels like the moment the real trip begins.

   Read the complete D707 north junction write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   D707 north junction comes up 193 km in. Next is Namtib Reserve.

3. 3. Namtib Reserve

   The Namtib Biosphere Reserve lies in the southern Tiras Mountains of Namibia, on private farmland that has been set aside as a reserve for wildlife and desert landscape. There is no town nearby and no population to list, only red sand, rocky slopes and wide grass plains that run up against the mountains, with the Namib Desert lying to the west. The nearest place with real supplies is a long way off, which gives you an idea of the scale.

   Read the complete Namtib Reserve write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   385 km in you reach Namtib Reserve. Next is Sesriem junction.

4. 4. Sesriem junction

   Sesriem is the gate to the dunes. The word means six straps in Afrikaans, and the name comes from the early settlers, who tied six leather thongs together to lower a bucket into the narrow canyon here, which holds water long after the rains. The junction sits at the entrance to the Namib-Naukluft Park, in the heart of the Namib desert, and from it a tarred road runs sixty kilometres to Sossusvlei, a white clay pan surrounded by some of the tallest dunes in the world, which rise to around three hundred metres and glow orange and red at sunrise.

   Read the complete Sesriem junction write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Sesriem junction closes the day.