Gravel riding through the Marrakech Palmeraie into the pre-Saharan foothills — 40km of piste threading through ancient palm groves, berber hamlets and the dry red earth foothills of the Atlas. An accessible and culturally rich introduction to Moroccan gravel riding.
One of Africa’s great gravel epics — 227km along Lake Kivu’s shoreline and the volcanic ridges of western Rwanda, from the Congo border to Burundi. The Congo Nile Trail is Africa’s most developed long-distance bikepacking route, passing tea plantations, fishing villages and the foothills of the Virunga volcanoes.
Gravel riding through Africa’s most ancient mountains — the Brandberg massif rises 2,573m from the Namib desert floor. Challenging gravel and jeep track routes through remote desert scenery, passing the White Lady rock paintings and Ugab River oasis.
High-altitude gravel riding in the Mountain Kingdom — Lesotho’s Maluti Mountains offer dramatic basalt plateau gravel routes above 3,000m, crowned by the legendary Sani Pass descent into KwaZulu-Natal. Africa’s most dramatic gravel destination.
The Namaqua National Park’s coastal section is the least-developed and least-visited part of the park — extending from the Skilpad plateau section all the way to the Atlantic coast in the Groen River area, where the succulent karoo biome meets the Benguela Current ocean in a landscape of extraordinary ecological richness and visual beauty. While the Skilpad plateau section draws thousands of spring wildflower visitors, the coastal zone remains largely undiscovered, its remote location (accessible via R362 and park roads from the N7) keeping it far quieter than any comparable coastal national park environment in South Africa.
The 35km gravel sprint from the N7 direction to the Groen River mouth follows the park’s gravel access road through the heart of the Namaqualand succulent karoo — an extraordinary ecosystem of quartz fields, endemic succulent groundcovers and specialised coastal fynbos found nowhere else on earth. The Groen River mouth opens onto a wild Atlantic beach: cold Benguela Current water, extensive tidal pools rich with marine life, and the sea mist that regularly rolls in from the ocean to create an atmospheric coastal environment completely unlike the sharp-lit dry interior just 20km behind you.
Practical note: The coastal section of Namaqua National Park is genuinely remote and the access infrastructure is basic. Contact SANParks Namaqua (+27 27 672 1948) to confirm current access road conditions and gate arrangements before visiting. Carry all food and water for the full day — no facilities on the coastal section.
Access the Namaqua NP coastal section via the R362 from the N7 (turn-off between Bitterfontein and Garies). GPS: -30.9167, 17.3833. Tel: +27 27 672 1948. From Cape Town: N7 north 530km to the R362 junction.
Loeriesfontein occupies a unique place in the Northern Cape landscape — the self-declared capital of Bushmanland, set in a flat Hantam basin surrounded by low mountains and sandy plains, 65km north of Calvinia on the R357. The town is known locally for one extraordinary attraction: the Fred Turner Windpump Museum, a free open-air collection of 27 working windpumps from South Africa, the United States, Canada, England and Australia that was assembled in the school playground at the request of Dr James Walton — a Cape Town-based engineer and windmill obsessive who put out a national appeal for windpump collections. Loeriesfontein was the only respondent. The result is one of the most unusual and genuinely delightful museums in South Africa: the Atlas Ace, the Conquest, the Australian Southern Cross, the English Hercules, the American Aeromotor, the Canadian North, the Star Zephyr — all creaking and spinning in the Bushmanland wind that never seems to stop.
The 45km Loeriesfontein Plains Loop follows farm gravel roads through the flat semi-arid terrain surrounding the town — a quiet, meditative ride through typical Bushmanland landscape where the working windmills on every farm horizon are the primary visual reference. Every 15-20km, a windmill marks a water trough — historically the only reliable water source for stock and human travellers across the Bushmanland plains, and still functioning today as it did when the first Trek Farmers crossed this country.
The Gannabos Quiver Tree Forest (20km return, southeast toward Nieuwoudtville) adds one of the most visually spectacular elements of Namaqualand landscape to the day: a dense grove of wild quiver trees (Aloe dichotoma) that is among the largest in southern Africa, with specimens reaching 8 metres in height and their distinctive bottle-shaped forms casting long afternoon shadows across the rocky koppie terrain.
Loeriesfontein is on the R357 between Calvinia and the Kamiesberg, 65km north of Calvinia. GPS: -30.9333, 19.4333. From Cape Town: N7 north to Vanrhynsdorp, R27 east to Nieuwoudtville, R357 north to Loeriesfontein (460km total). No fuel station — fill up in Calvinia before arriving.
Bitterfontein is one of South Africa’s smallest towns by any measure — a handful of buildings on the N7 between Garies and Kamieskroon, with a general dealer, a church and a school. Its name (Bitter Spring) refers to the brackish water that disappointed the first Trekker farmers who arrived here. For gravel cyclists, it is precisely the unremarkable nature of Bitterfontein that makes it interesting: the flat Namaqualand coastal plain surrounding the town is among the least-travelled cycling terrain in the country, with 60km of farm roads and the N7 corridor linking it to the wildflower destinations on either side.
The 60km loop to Garies and back follows the N7 south to Garies (35km of quiet two-lane tar road through typical Namaqualand flat coastal scrub) and returns on farm roads to the west of the highway — a relaxed half-day ride through the wildflower corridor. In a good rainfall year the farmland between Bitterfontein and Garies produces wildflower displays that rival anything north of Kamieskroon, with considerably fewer visitors. The route westward toward the Namaqua National Park’s coastal section at the Groen River (30km) reaches an undeveloped stretch of Namaqualand coast within the park boundary — rugged, empty and accessible with a SANParks day permit.
Bitterfontein is on the N7, 520km from Cape Town. GPS: -31.0167, 18.2500. No fuel available in Bitterfontein itself — fill up in Garies (35km south) or Kamieskroon (35km north). From Cape Town: N7 north through Citrusdal and Vanrhynsdorp.
Britstown is one of the most genuinely peaceful small towns in the Northern Cape — a quiet dorp on the Ongers River in the flat centre of the Upper Karoo, 60km from the nearest N1 junction at Three Sisters and surrounded by sheep farming country that has barely changed in character since the Anglo-Boer War. The Britstown Caravan Park on the Ongers River is one of the best-value and most pleasantly situated overnight options in the Upper Karoo — the mature camelthorn trees along the river bank provide shade, birdsong and the contrast of green riparian vegetation against the surrounding beige Karoo plains that gives the park a genuine tranquillity.
The Ongers River Valley Loop (25km) follows gravel roads along the river valley floor — camelthorn woodland provides shade and birding, and the river itself flows seasonally (mostly winter and spring), with the African fish eagle present when water fills the pools. The broader Plains Circuit (50km) extends onto the open Upper Karoo farmland east and west of town — flat, fast and completely quiet, with the characteristic Karoo dolerite koppies visible on the horizon in every direction providing just enough visual interest to anchor an otherwise infinite flat landscape.
Britstown is on the R389, 60km south of Three Sisters on the N1. GPS: -30.5833, 23.5000. From Cape Town: N1 east to Three Sisters (700km), then R389 south 60km to Britstown.
The Namaqualand Diamond Coast Bikepacking Route is the definitive multi-day cycling experience in the Northern Cape — a 400km loop that connects all the defining landscapes of the region: the N7 wildflower corridor, the Namaqualand copper mountain passes, the diamond coast ghost towns, the Cape fur seal colony, the Atlantic shipwreck coast and the remarkable frontier hospitality of Scott’s Seaside Inn at Port Nolloth. It can be ridden in either direction; the north-to-south clockwise version is described here as the preferred August-September wildflower season itinerary.
Day 1 — Garies to Kamieskroon (50km): North on N7 through the Anenous Pass approach — wildflowers on the farmland in season — to Kamieskroon. Overnight at the legendary Kamieskroon Hotel.
Day 2 — Kamieskroon to Namaqua NP and Springbok (90km): West to Namaqua NP Skilpad (peak wildflower day in season), then north through Namaqualand copper country to Springbok. Overnight in Springbok — resupply, rest, and an evening at a Springbok restaurant.
Day 3 — Springbok to Port Nolloth via Spektakel Pass (90km): North on N7 to Steinkopf, west on R382 over Spektakel Pass descending to the Atlantic coast at Port Nolloth. Overnight at Scott’s Seaside Inn — the most atmospheric overnight on the route.
Day 4 — Port Nolloth to Kleinsee (72km): South on coastal roads to Kleinsee — the diamond ghost town. Boulder Heritage Circuit, seal colony, Pink Salt Lake. Overnight in Kleinsee.
Day 5 — Kleinsee to Hondeklip Bay (35km + optional 37km shipwreck route): South to Hondeklip Bay via coastal road. Overnight at Honnehokke Resort — crayfish if in season.
Day 6 — Hondeklip Bay to Springbok via Messelpad Pass (104km): The hardest day — 104km on gravel, climbing the Messelpad and Wildeperdehoek passes back to Springbok through the copper mountain heartland.
Carry minimum 5 litres of water at all times on this route. Mobile signal is absent in many sections. Download the full GPX track and carry a paper backup map. A comprehensive repair kit is essential — the nearest bike shops are in Springbok and Cape Town.
Start: Springbok, 570km from Cape Town on the N7. GPS: -29.6641, 17.8866. Tel: +27 27 712 8035. Springbok is serviced by Intercape and SA Roadlink buses from Cape Town and Johannesburg.
The |Ai-|Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park is the most extreme cycling environment in South Africa — a UNESCO World Heritage Site desert mountain wilderness where the Orange River has carved a series of epic gorges through a landscape of ancient Namaqua metamorphic rock, and where the flora represents a botanical spectacle found nowhere else on earth. The Richtersveld’s half-mens (Pachypodium namaquanum — a succulent tree that faces north like a person searching the horizon), quiver tree forests, kokerboom colonies and endemic succulent species make it simultaneously one of the harshest and most botanically rich environments in Africa.
All cycling in the Richtersveld is on 4×4 tracks and gravel roads — there are no purpose-built MTB trails. The terrain requires technical competence and, above all, total self-sufficiency: the park has no fuel, no mobile signal in most areas and no services between the rest camps. The SANParks rest camps (Sendelingsdrift, Die Koei, Potjiespram, Tatasberg) provide self-catering accommodation and water — route all night stops at rest camps and plan water carefully. The 50km interior loop from Sendelingsdrift accesses the Hellskloof and Tatasberg areas through the park’s most dramatic geology.
The Sendelingsdrift pontoon ferry crosses the Orange River to the Namibian side of the park — the |Ai-|Ais Hot Springs Resort, where natural hot springs in the Fish River canyon system provide an extraordinary recovery experience after a day of Richtersveld riding. The full transfrontier loop combining South African and Namibian riding is a multi-day expedition for experienced bikepacking riders only.
Sendelingsdrift Gate is accessed via Alexander Bay (80km north) on the R382. GPS: -28.3000, 17.1667. Tel: +27 27 831 1506. The approach road requires a 4×4 vehicle. Book accommodation months ahead for peak season (August-September).