Guided Mountain Bike Tours, Trails & E-Bike Hire in the Heart of the Erongo Mountains

The Big Sky Lodges team have teamed up with a crew of expert trail builders to develop a network of trails that allow mountain bikers the rare opportunity to explore the spectacular landscape of the Erongo Mountains at their own pace. These are some of the most scenic mountain bike trails in Namibia, arguably in the world. To add to this unique offering, they have now added specialized Levo E-Bikes, the best of the best in the world of Mountain E-Bikes, to ensure hours of spectacular, enjoyable riding..

The Ai Aiba mountain bike trails cater for riders of all skill levels, but the overall emphasis is on enjoyable, free-flowing, scenic riding trails.

There is a skilled / well-trained mountain bike guide on-site if you wish to take the hassle out of navigating the routes on your own, so you can enjoy local expert knowledge, making the most of the trails and the sights and sounds of the surroundings. Should you prefer to explore the trails on your own, there are countless options for hours of mountain biking bliss where you can follow one of the three well-marked and planned routes.

These routes vary in distance and effort level, ranging from an easy-going 22km route with around 294m of climbing to a 33km route with 579m of climbing. Also marked out on these routes are several extensions that lead off from this trail, exploring some of the granite outcrops on the property that will appeal to those with a higher level of skill and taste for adventure.

All the mountain bike trails are well-marked and maintained. The imposing red granite landscape of the Erongo mountain range presents the backdrop for an impressive journey through the history and present beauty of the area. Geological major events like the rupture of the Gondwana Continent 130 million years ago, the life of the first people in the region 300 to 500 thousand years ago, the 2000 – 4000-year-old rock paintings of the hunter-gatherers and the fascinating flora and fauna all can be experienced up close and personal on these mountain bike trails.

And for those who are not travelling with your own mountain bike, you are welcome to hire one of the new Levo E-Bikes for the ride of your lifetime. It is something you will never forget.

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Mountain Bike Routes

Light Green Route

A lovely introduction to the trails on Ai Aiba. Generally easy-going, predominantly jeep track riding.

Apart from one section of a purpose-built single track towards the beginning of the ride and another around halfway, this is mostly on the jeep track through some of the most stunning parts of the farm.

Fairly easy-going with some nice fast-flowing tracks.

Special trails to look out for:

·  1st section of single track hugging the mountain to the left of the lodge. Stunning scenery popping out at Springbok Plains and beautiful views.

·  Licah Leopard Trail  - some brand new single track marked out by Micah Chase and Luke Fussell (12 year old mountain bikers who love having fun on their bikes)

Dark Green Route

Although this is only 30km, this ride is not to be underestimated.

There are a lot of new single tracks on this route and even though it is not very technical, it is slow going and requires constant concentration and effort.

All of these trails are absolutely stunning and should not be missed. This route takes in a greater area of the special parts of the farm and incorporates most of the unique purpose-built single tracks.

There are a few ‘bailout’ points on the route which will get you back to the lodge if you have had enough.

Special trails to look out for:

·  Romeo ’s Trail : Our permanent trail builder, Romeo’s 1st single track trail. Close to the start of the ride hugging the massive granite outcrops through some interesting river crossings, between some stunning boulders and offering some incredible views.

·  Submarine Trail: When looking out from the lodge, there are two huge Granite outcrops defining the landscape. It would be a shame not to explore these on a bike so we have built a spectacular route going up and around and down the other side of these outcrops. Unbelievable riding, the highlight of mountain biking in the Erongo Mountains.

Not for the faint-hearted

·  Kian’s Trail: Exploring the furthest part of the farm on some beautiful single trail and amazing granite copies.

Light Blue Route:

This route is a bit shorter than the Dark Green Route but also allows you to ride some of the best single tracks on the farm.

We start off with the same route as the Dark Green one but miss out on the sandy jeep track of Moringa Valley

Special trails to look out for:

·  Shortcut: Lots of fun for all riders. It is very winding with some 180 degree bends to keep you on your toes.

·  Leo’s Loop: An optional extension up a spectacular granite outcrop. Over a couple of small purpose built bridges and some interesting downhill to get to back the trails again.

·  Peter Pan: Peter, an expert trail builder and his team have put in a lot of effort and time designing and building our trails but this spectacular bit of downhill is what Peter is best at. It is flowing, fast, a bit hairy at times but so much fun.

Technical extensions: Orange arrows

Whilst we have made every effort to ensure that these trails are easy-going and accessible for all skill levels of our riders, there also needs to be some fun thrown in for the more experienced go-getters. We have added some wonderful extensions to the various routes and marked them off with orange arrows. These extensions will take you up over some of the amazing granite outcrops with a bit of climbing and some technical sections for your riding pleasure. These extensions always bring you back onto one of the routes that you are following.