Why this ride
A shore-hugging corridor with open water, cliffs, bays or maritime landscapes. It links naturally to Skeleton Coast and Cape Cross.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Swakopmund to Cape Cross
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 135 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 46
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Editorial context
Coordinates are curated start-via-end route seeds. They are not a surveyed centreline or navigation geometry. Run road snapping, topology checks, access checks and a live-status review before publication.
Access context
Do not auto-publish. Snap to a routable road network, verify current closures, legal motorcycle access, surface, permits, border controls and local safety information.
Seasonal context
May-Sep
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
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 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Henties Bay.
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 60 km in. Next is Cape Cross.
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
135 km in you reach Cape Cross.