And another kilomilestone, 25000 KM today! It’s now less than 900 km to Cape Town as the crow flies. I’m in Aus, a village in Southern Namibia, the first village since I left Windhoek 15 days ago. The first village with electricity and a tar road. During these days, I cycled along the Namib desert, and it was another splendid ride.

From my gravel roads, that see less than 10 cars (and a bicycle) per day, I have seen lots of wildlife: springboks and oxyx every day, but also jackals, ostriches, zebras, etc. I climbed up the largest dunes in the world, next to which Merzouga in the Sahara and Khongoryn Els in the Gobi look like baby dunes. I woke up petting cheetahs that were flown to a remote farm for a Vogue photoshoot with the stylist of Michael Jackson. I had unexpected rain, I slept in sub-zero temperatures with frost in the morning, it’s real winter.

Additionally, I had my worst bike damage, and this is on the frame: one braze-on bolt hole for the rear rack broke, and it’s terrible if I can’t carry my rear panniers. I stopped at the first workshop and welding this tiny piece to the rear fork dropout failed. Wilhem eventually cut two plates of steel and we screwed them onto the seat stay, and these are supposed to hold the rack until the end. I’ll have to avoid rough roads from now on …

Tonight I’m wearing all my clothes again. After repairing my stove and patching my air mattress, I’ll be ready for another freezing night out. Tomorrow, I will be crossing the forbidden area, the Sperrgebiet, a land almost as big as Belgium, where De Beers collects diamonds exclusively, until Lüderitz.