Skeleton Coast Road starting at Swakopmund

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Swakopmund

   Swakopmund is a German seaside town that someone dropped into the Namib Desert, and it is still a little startled to be there. Palm-lined streets, half-timbered houses, a lighthouse and a pier would suit the Baltic, yet the sand dunes begin at the edge of town and the sea is the cold, grey Atlantic, chilled by the Benguela Current. The German colonial administration founded it in 1892 as a landing point, since the lagoon harbour at Walvis Bay lay in British hands, and the old buildings, bakeries and the Kaffee und Kuchen habit are what remains.

   Read the complete Swakopmund write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Swakopmund is where the day begins. Next is Henties Bay.

2. 2. Henties Bay

   Henties Bay is a fishing town with a sandy main street and a very honest purpose: it is where Namibians come to cast a line into the surf. It lies about seventy kilometres north of Swakopmund, where the dry bed of the Omaruru river reaches the Atlantic, and its name is said to come from a man called Hentie van der Merwe, who found a freshwater spring here in the 1920s while fishing. Rock lobster, kabeljou and steenbras are the catch, and anglers line the beach at dawn with rods like a row of antennas.

   Read the complete Henties Bay write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Henties Bay comes up about 154 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cape Cross.

3. 3. Cape Cross

   You smell Cape Cross before you see it. A cold wind off the Atlantic carries a thick, rank, fishy odour across the coastal desert of Namibia, and then the beach appears, packed with brown bodies, and the noise arrives: a continual barking, bleating and groaning from tens of thousands of Cape fur seals. The colony is one of the largest on the African coast, and in the pupping season, around November and December, the rocks and shingle are crowded with newborns. Black-backed jackals patrol the edges, hoping for a weak pup, and the Benguela current, cold and rich in fish, is the reason for the whole noisy business.

   Read the complete Cape Cross write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 271 km into the recorded legs you reach Cape Cross. Next is Torra Bay.

4. 4. Torra Bay

   Torra Bay is a patch of gravel at the edge of the cold Atlantic, and it is one of the loneliest places a motorcyclist is likely to go. On the Skeleton Coast of northern Namibia, the Namib desert runs straight into the sea, and the shore is a line of grey waves, yellow dunes and a horizon that looks as if it has nothing behind it. The cold Benguela current, running up from the south, chills the air above it, and fog rolls in from the water most mornings, so the desert here is damp, cool and strangely quiet.

   Read the complete Torra Bay write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Torra Bay, late in the day. Next is Terrace Bay.

5. 5. Terrace Bay

   Terrace Bay is a handful of buildings on the Skeleton Coast of Namibia, and it is as remote as a place can be while still having a name. The coast here is one of the harshest in the world: cold Atlantic water, thick fog rolling in from the Benguela current, and the dunes of the Namib running straight to the sea. The name Skeleton Coast comes from the whalebones and shipwrecks that litter the shore, and from the sailors who survived the wrecks only to die in the desert. The area is part of the Skeleton Coast National Park, and a permit is needed to enter, so plan this properly with a booking, because it is a tightly controlled area.

   Read the complete Terrace Bay write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Finish at Terrace Bay. That is the ride.