The tires of the mountain bike make a low humming noise as they roll across the red sands, and behind the bike a narrow trail is left on the unpaved road until the wind slowly erases it. 

It is hot in the Namib Desert in southwest Africa, with midday temperatures regularly above 35?C. A glance over the handlebars reveals the road shimmering brightly as it approaches the horizon.

But the breeze generated by the movement helps to keep the rider cool. Confronted with a cyclist, most native Namibians shake their heads in amazement. Answers are slow in coming to questions like whether the overland bus can take five bicycles, and if the next farmstead can always be reached within a day's ride in this vast and sparsely populated country.

But the reality is that a trip of this kind is not just for dedicated fitness fanatics. However, anyone attempting it does have to be moderately fit and prepared for a few adventures along the way, as there are no organized tours.

Nevertheless, with a little work on the Internet and with the help of guest farms along the long routes, a tour can be put together without too much effort.

Transport is required to take the riders and their bikes from Windhoek, 220 kilometers in a southwesterly direction to the Naukluft Mountains, where the tour starts.

From here pedal power takes over, with the route leading in a westerly direction through stony and sandy desert to the red dunes of Sossusvlei, one of Nambia's main tourist attractions.

Perhaps the biggest problem is carrying sufficient water on the bikes, as each rider needs at least 10 liters a day. For this reason alone, there has to be at least one farm to stop off at every day.

Eighty kilometers a day on good routes and 50 on the less good is the maximum, as the rider must carry not only food and water, but also a tent, sleeping bag and spare clothes.

The steady pace is well suited to the desert conditions. Springboks are sighted not far from the roadside, watching the approaching cyclists carefully and then bounding off with their characteristic long leaps.

A black snake measuring a meter-and-a-half in length slithers across the track directly in front of the wheels, and in the background, the colors change from the grey-beige of the Naukluft Mountains to the deep red of the sand dunes of the Namib.

The riders can spend hours without seeing another human being, but then houses are visible on the horizon. The tiny settlement of Solitaire appears, where there is a petrol station, a small guest house, a supermarket and a cafe - which even has freshly baked apple strudel on its menu.

The desert is at its best as the sun settles on the horizon, when the sands turn blue, lilac and red in the east. The riders now know they have about an hour left before they must stop for the night, as darkness falls rapidly in these latitudes.

Farmers in Namibia, most of whom speak either English or German or both, have come to see tourists as a handy additional source of income. Many rent out guest rooms and places on campsites, and often enough there is a swimming pool to welcome the weary cyclist. The evening meal is usually a barbecue - with fresh cutlets of zebra, springbok, gemsbok and other antelope on offer, apart from the more usual fare.

Five days in the saddle brings the rider to the 300-metre-high dunes of Sesriem and Sossuvlei. Between the high dunes there is a dried-out river bed that has turned into a salt pan.

The stumps of long dead trees rise out of the light-colored floor, silhouetted against the red sand and the blue sky.

The next stage takes the riders to the Spitzkop region -- Nambia's Matterhorn. This mountainous area with its flat granite slabs is ideal country for mountain-bikers, although the thorns of the acacias growing here present an ever-present threat to the tires.

The campsite lying in the shadow of the mountains is run by the local village community, which also maintains a bar there. The locals are friendly, open and keen to talk to strangers, hungry as they are for news from the outside world.

Cyclists are a novelty for them, so far from the beaten track. After a night in the station hotel at Usakos, a sleepy little settlement on the railway line running from Windhoek to Swakopmund on the coast, the route runs into the Erongo Mountains. Here the campsite on the Ameib Ranch offers a good starting point for day tours into the huge farm. Among the sights are the well-known rock paintings of the Philips Caves.

The riders have covered 600 kilometers under the unforgiving sun of the Namib. The last evening before the journey back to Windhoek is spent watching the "blue hour" as the sun sets and a herd of zebra move slowly across the landscape.

(China Daily May 8, 2004)