Northern Cape

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    Hopetown First Diamond Gravel Route

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    In 1866, on a farm near the Orange River at Hopetown, a 15-year-old boy named Erasmus Jacobs picked up a pretty stone that he used to play skip-rock on the river. His neighbour Schalk van Niekerk recognised it as unusual and sent it to Grahamstown for testing. The stone was identified as a 21.25-carat diamond — the Eureka Diamond, South Africa’s first. Within two years, news of the discovery had reached Europe; within four, Kimberley had been founded; within ten, the entire trajectory of South African history had been altered irreversibly. All of it began on a gravel bank beside the Orange River at Hopetown.

    The Route

    The 45km Hopetown Orange River Loop follows the gravel farm roads beside the Orange River and across the flat alluvial diamond plains surrounding the town — the same geology that produced the Eureka Diamond and the subsequent rush of prospectors who swarmed the riverbanks looking for diamonds in the gravel. The Hopetown Museum documents this history with a small but well-curated collection that includes the discovery story, the subsequent commercial rush and the social upheaval that followed. The museum is worth an hour before the ride — riding the historical landscape with context transforms the experience entirely.

    The flat alluvial terrain makes the riding technically accessible for all fitness levels — the challenge is distance and heat rather than climbing. The Orange River provides visual punctuation on the valley sections.

    Getting There

    Hopetown is on the N12 between De Aar and Kimberley. GPS: -29.6167, 24.0667. From Kimberley: N12 south 120km. From De Aar: N12 south 50km. From Cape Town: N1 to Three Sisters, N9 to Hanover, then east to De Aar and south on N12.

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    Aggeneys Desert Mine Gravel Ride

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    Aggeneys exists because of the Black Mountain Mine — a world-class base metals deposit discovered in the 1970s containing zinc, lead, copper and silver in extraordinary concentrations. The mine and its associated company town were developed in the early 1980s in one of the most remote inhabited areas of South Africa, surrounded by flat Bushmanland desert with no other settlements for 50km in any direction. The town has the characteristic self-contained quality of a mining company settlement — functional, well-maintained and entirely focused on the operation of the mine.

    For cyclists, Aggeneys is primarily significant as a staging point — midway on the Pofadder-to-Pella bikepacking route across the Bushmanland interior, and on the main desert route between Springbok and the Bushmanland towns to the east. The 40km desert loop around the town on gravel farm roads and the R358 corridor provides a day of straightforward but scenically distinctive riding through the quartz-strewn Bushmanland plains, with the mine infrastructure providing an unusual industrial backdrop to what is otherwise completely empty desert.

    Getting There

    Aggeneys is on the R358 between Springbok direction and Pofadder. GPS: -29.2833, 18.8500. From Springbok: N14 east to Aggeneys junction, then south on R358. Confirm fuel availability before extending beyond Aggeneys toward Pofadder.

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    Steinkopf Rocky Descent

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    Steinkopf (Stone Head, named for a prominent granite dome visible from the town) is a Nama Khoi community town 50km north of Springbok on the R382 — a quiet Namaqualand settlement that serves primarily as the gateway to the Spektakel Pass and Port Nolloth coast to the west. The immediate surroundings are dramatic: granite koppie terrain on all sides, with the characteristic Namaqualand combination of rocky slopes, quiver trees and Namaqua succulent shrubland covering every surface that is not bare granite.

    Rocky Koppie MTB

    The informal 30km koppie loop around Steinkopf is built on the loose granite rocky terrain that defines the town’s surroundings — jeep tracks and community paths thread through the boulders and koppie flanks, providing technical riding of genuine difficulty on the descents. The rocky descent sections on the steeper koppie faces are among the most challenging informal MTB terrain in Namaqualand. Views from the upper koppie sections extend across the Namaqualand valleys and, on clear days, to the distant glint of the Atlantic at Port Nolloth 90km west.

    Spektakel Pass

    The R382 west from Steinkopf is the access road to the Spektakel Pass — the mountain descent that connects the Namaqualand copper plateau to the Atlantic coast. The sealed road drops from approximately 800m at Steinkopf to sea level at Port Nolloth over 30km of dramatic pass road — for cyclists riding the Namaqualand coast-to-mountains bikepacking loop, this is the signature descent. The climb in reverse is equally demanding for fit riders wanting the full mountain-pass experience.

    Getting There

    Steinkopf is on the R382, 50km north of Springbok. GPS: -29.2667, 17.7500. From Springbok: R382 north (50km). From Port Nolloth: R382 east, Spektakel Pass climb (90km).

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    |Ai-|Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Gravel Loop

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    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.

    Cycling in the Richtersveld

    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 |Ai-|Ais Connection

    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.

    Getting There

    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).

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    Orange River 20km Gorge Ride

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    Augrabies Falls is one of the most underrated national parks in South Africa — a 56-metre main falls dropping into an 18km gorge carved by the Orange River through ancient Precambrian granite, surrounded by quiver trees, Kalahari scrub and game that includes klipspringer, gemsbok, ground squirrel and baboon. The main falls is the sixth-largest waterfall on earth by volume during peak flood events. Despite this, Augrabies receives a fraction of the visitors that the better-known Kruger and Cape parks attract.

    The 20km Gorge Loop

    The park’s gravel road and jeep track network provides approximately 20km of cycling from the main gate to the various gorge viewpoints — Moon Rock, Ararat, Oranjekom — that reveal the full scale of the Orange River gorge from above. The standard visitor road (sealed and gravel mixed) covers most viewpoints and is suitable for any fit cyclist. The 480km of gorge accessible from the park provides a dramatic backdrop that increases in drama as you move further from the main falls.

    Khamkirri River Camp

    Khamkirri River Camp (23km northwest of the park gate) provides the most mountain-bike-focused experience: 7km of riverside loop, MTB hire, guided rides to the park and a stunning riverside setting with the Orange River flowing through the camp. The 100km guided return route to Riemvasmaak and back can be added for an epic multi-day adventure.

    Getting There

    Augrabies Falls NP is 25km from Kakamas on the N14. GPS: -28.5922, 20.3386. Tel: +27 54 452 9200. From Upington: N14 west 120km to Kakamas then park turn-off.

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    Loxton Village Gravel Loop

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    Loxton is the secret jewel of the Upper Karoo — a perfectly preserved Victorian farming village 60km east of Victoria West where the grid of whitewashed 1890s cottages around the Dutch Reformed Church has changed so little in 130 years that the sense of temporal displacement on arrival is complete. There are no chain stores, no traffic lights, no advertising billboards. The main street is unpaved. The village dam on the eastern edge of town provides a swimming hole for summer heat relief that has served this function for a century. The blesbok and springbok graze the commonage on the village outskirts as they presumably always have.

    For cyclists, Loxton provides the archetypal quiet Karoo gravel experience: flat farm roads in every direction through Upper Karoo sheep country, the enormous sky above, the absence of other traffic and the village church tower as an anchor point on the horizon for the return. The 20km village circuit is a gentle introduction; the 40km hills extension ventures into the low escarpment country northeast of town where game farms add wildlife sightings and the first hint of topographic relief to the otherwise pan-flat terrain. A cold drink at the Village Café after the ride, with the Loxton village square in the afternoon light, is one of the Northern Cape’s most quietly satisfying small pleasures.

    Getting There

    Loxton is on the R61, 60km east of Victoria West. GPS: -31.4667, 22.3667. From Cape Town: N1 east to Three Sisters, R29 north through Loxton direction (700km total).

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    Kakamas Vineyard Ride

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    Kakamas is the last town before the Augrabies Falls National Park on the N14 — a small Green Kalahari service town built on the Orange River irrigation scheme that transformed this desert stretch of the river into productive vineyard and date palm agricultural land in the late 1800s. The irrigation channels that radiate from the Orange River create a network of quiet farm roads that are ideal for flat, accessible gravel riding through some of the most unusual agricultural landscapes in South Africa.

    The Ride

    The 25km Kakamas loop follows irrigation channel roads through vineyards, date groves and orchards along the riverbank — flat, low-traffic riding in a landscape that oscillates between lush cultivated green and the ochre-red Kalahari desert. The Griqua cultural history of the area adds a layer of historical significance — Kakamas was established in 1898 as a labour settlement for destitute Griqua people under the Dutch Reformed Church, and many of the original settlement buildings remain. A northern extension toward the Griqua heritage landscape provides longer gravel riding on desert farm roads for riders wanting more distance.

    Getting There

    Kakamas is on the N14, 20km east of Augrabies Falls and 90km west of Upington. GPS: -28.7739, 20.6281. Kakamas Tourism: +27 54 431 0838.

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    Keimoes Riverbank Trail

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    Keimoes is one of the Northern Cape’s most unexpectedly beautiful destinations — a small Orange River town where the river fragments into dozens of channels around tree-covered islands, creating a labyrinth of date palm plantations, riverine forest and quiet water that bears no resemblance to the surrounding Kalahari desert. The 20km island and riverbank loop winds through this extraordinary landscape on flat gravel and earth paths, crossing the river channels via small causeways and bridges, past date groves and the famous island chapel of the Keimoes Mission.

    What to Expect

    This is gentle, accessible cycling — no technical skill required, almost no elevation gain. The terrain is flat throughout and the paths are well-defined. What makes Keimoes remarkable is purely the setting: riding slowly through the date palm groves with the river channels shimmering between the trees, and the knowledge that 5km in any direction beyond the river, the Kalahari reasserts itself completely. The Orange River Cellars cooperative cellar near town offers wine tasting — the Kalahari wine produced in this extreme heat and alkaline desert soil has a distinct character worth experiencing.

    Getting There

    Keimoes is on the N14 between Upington (50km east) and Augrabies Falls (70km west). GPS: -28.6847, 20.9731. Keimoes Tourism: +27 54 461 1030.