It was named for Sir James Alexander,[2] who was the first person to map the area whilst on a Royal Geographical Society expedition into Namibia in 1836.

With diamonds being discovered along the West Coast in 1925, Alexander Bay was established to service the mining industry.

Fields of green and orange lichen grow on a hill near the turnoff to Alexander Bay town.

Being near the southern end of the Namib desert, it is officially also the driest town in South Africa with an average annual rainfall of less than 51 millimetres (2 in).

The cold Benguela Current in the Atlantic Ocean has a moderating influence on the coastal climate with only small variations in diurnal and seasonal temperatures.