Kleinsee Diamond Ghost Town Coastal Ride
Kleinsee is one of the most extraordinary towns in South Africa — a De Beers diamond company town that housed over 7,000 residents in identical colonial-era housing behind security fencing for most of the 20th century, then emptied almost overnight when the diamond mining operations were scaled back between 2009 and 2011. The population dropped from 7,000 to under 200 in less than two years, leaving an almost perfectly preserved mid-century company town standing silent in the Namaqualand coastal scrub.
Cycling the Ghost Town
The 15km Boulder Heritage Circuit through the former company town is unlike any other MTB ride in South Africa — uniform rows of abandoned mine manager and worker housing, an empty company club, a shuttered hospital and the surreal Pink Salt Lake (a former diamond mine cofferdam now filled with salt-rich reddish water dense enough to float in) create a post-industrial landscape of genuine strangeness and beauty. The Boulder Heritage Route extends into the old mine workings themselves, where the geological evidence of diamond-bearing gravels is visible in the excavated faces.
The Seal Colony and Estuary
The Buffels River estuary loop (10km) leads to one of the most extraordinary wildlife spectacles on the South African coast: a 350,000-strong Cape fur seal colony immediately north of town — the largest onshore seal colony in South Africa. The noise, smell and sheer biomass of the colony are unforgettable.
Shipwreck Coastal Route
The 37km guided track north to Koingnaas crosses coastal dune fields with multiple shipwrecks visible along the route — book at Kleinsee Tourism in advance. A shuttle return is required as the track is one-way only.
Getting There
Kleinsee is on the R355, 105km west of Springbok. GPS: -29.6833, 17.0500. Tel: +27 27 831 1102. From Springbok: R355 west through the Spektakel Pass area.