The harsh desert landscape of the Northern Cape makes the ideal playground for the adventure rider looking for a challenging tough challenge. Winter daytime  temperatures in the high twenties (degrees c) along with virtually no chance of any rain makes this the perfect time of year to visit the area. Eight brave explorers joined the WildWood team in the tiny hamlet of van Rhynsdorp early Saturday morning and set off north towards the Namibian border and the Orange River.

Each of the four days of this tour have an unique feel, testing different skills and providing new challenges. This tour is sadly for experienced off-road riders only and will test the skills and endurance to the limits.

The first day begins with a long liaison through the dry flatlands on bumpy desert roads until we reach the Orange River and spend the last hour or two on the sand and rocky 4×4 tracks around the village of Pella. The second day we follow the river along sandy tracks to the overnight 200km away at Vioolsdrift, the border post to Namibia. Short rocky passes join the river tracks and make for some great technical riding. The third day is the toughest stage that begins in the Richtersveld National Park on a route that alternates between  hectic course sand riverbed and short sharp rock strewn climbs. Finally flowing jeep track down to the coast at Hondeklipbay  with a nasty loose rocky decent and climb in the middle to keep us on our toes. Day four we ride south along the meandering thick sandy coast tracks for 200km before the short tar road back to our starting point.