We made good time and pulled into Calvinia just after 19:00 for chow at Myl 250 restaurant. That place is 250 miles away from everyting!! Almost like it's 250 miles away from the centre of the universe. We decided to overnight at Brandvlei and phoned ahead and booked a room for the night.
The Brandvlei Hotel has enough bars (steel ones) to look like Fort Knox, but it didn't keep the locusts and mozzies out. The insects were as a result of above average rainfall in the region, so they are tolerated with a smile. The room was okay and breakfast was included so we didnt complain.
Kgalagadi Trans Frontier Park
We arrived at Twee Rivieren at about 14:00 on Tuesday 08/04 after a leisurely drive from Upington via Askham. This gave us enough time to book in, explore the camp site, get our passports stamped, and pitch camp for the first time. We never camped with our current setup before so we wanted to get sorted before darkness fell. And I wanted to have a few beers. Our camping went very well and our equipment and setup was adequate and comfortable.
Namibia
We entered Namibia through the Mata Mata gate on Sunday 13/04 on our way to Koës where Shameless was born. We spent 3 days on her uncle's farm outside Koës relaxing and doing some more emergency repairs. While we were driving in the park I noticed some squealing noises coming from the right rear wheels. I ascetained that it was something in the brake drum that was either loose or worn out. It sounded like sand/dust on the brake shoes at first but later deteriorated to a downright howling banshee sound. Everytime the noise started I just pulled the handbrake up a little and it stopped for a while, so I assumed that it could not be something serious like a wheel bearing. The brakes still worked fine so I was not too worried about that either. Once we got to the farm we took off the right rear wheel and when we pulled the drum off the whole automatic adjusting spring mechanism fell out. It must have shaken loose on the corrugations in the park. We removed all the loose bits, checked the brake shoes (they were fine), and replaced the drum, tested the brakes and that was it, ready to rock and roll again.
We left the farm on Tuesday 15/04 for Windhoek and spent the night there with family. We took time out that evening to go to Joe's Beer House for a few beers. As they say, "When in Rome.... and all that jazz". On our way to Windhoek we had our first introduction to the Namibian Tourism Rip-Off Machine. At Hardap Dam the lady at the gate wanted to charge us N$70 just to drive to the dam wall and take a few photos (300m away). After lengthy discussions and some negotiations she agreed to let us turn around inside the premises, 300m further by the dam wall, but we had to complete the maneuver in 10 minutes, otherwise she would have to charge us N$70. We saw a dam wall with water behind it, nothing special, and we still have no idea why viewing this dam would be worth N$70.
From Windhoek we traveled to Swakopmund via the Khomas Hochland.
We camped for 2 nights at the Little Sossus Lodge Camp Site. A nice shed like structure with a concrete floor and a corrugated iron roof and a bathroom built from stone. I pulled Kaspaas into the shed and we opened the RTT. It was great. The second night the wind came up and almost flattened the entire mountain range behind us, I have never experienced wind like that before. We drove out to Sesriem and explored the canyons and then out to Sossusvlei (after paying a further N$130). The size of the dunes are awesome, I cant wait to go drive the Atlantis Speedbumps again... We tried climbing Dune 45 but I gave up about 20m from the bottom. Shameless tried to make the top but turned around about 70% up.
On our way from Sossusvlei we drove to the Duwisib castle. What a waste. We were charged N$100 to view this castle. I have no problem with paying to see stuff, but I get NO return for my money except for my viewing pleasure and a few pics (NOT worth N$100). We need INFO people, give us a brochure, even signs explaining the origins and/or relevance of the exhibits in the rooms and the rest of the premises. All we got was "We are busy renovating the castle".. No sh!t? We saw nobody renovating anything, except a few school kids in the garden outside pulling out weeds. Did I mention we visited this place on a weekday?
Arriving in Luderitz that evening we booked in to the Zur Waterkant guesthouse and chatted with the delightful german couple who owns the place. Very friendly people and they gave us tips on stuff to see and places to go around Luderitz. The next morning we took Kaspaas to have the exhaust welded up, and then we did a spot of shopping and drove out to Kolmanskop. Same thing, you have to pay a LOT of $ and then you have to buy a brochure to give you some limited info on the Kolmanskop. I was fascinated though, and I was running around the ghost town inspecting every nook and cranny. Amazing!! Once again they "were busy renovating" but no workmen were to be seen. Maybe they work at night?
We were homeward bound now with only a stop-over in Rosh Pinah and a night in Keetmanshoop left over. At Rosh Pinah we had a lekker braai and a few beers with a cousin of Shameless, who is also the rugby coach of the local rugby team.There is a red dune outside RP that Kaspaas tried to conquer, but due to the load on his back he struggled a bit, after 4 tries I stopped because I realised I was getting to that stage where my ego was taking over, and that is never a good thing, so we conceded defeat, but promised to be back. After that we were treated to some hunting stories, rugby stories, vark stories and even later a few dronk stories...
From RP we drove to Keetmanshoop. A bit of a detour, but it was something we had to do and no matter how we planned our trip it was going to be out of our way anyway, so we decided to leave it to the end. We drove all along the Orange River (is that now the Gariep?) until we got the turn-off to Ai-Ais.
We went all the way to Ai-Ais just to be chased away by some arrogant Aussie building contractor with a lot of pent up anger towards tourists. They are busy with renovations, no really, they are, and no tourists are allowed on the premises. Once again, I asked "Why the f*** dont they put a sign up 25km up the road to inform people that Ai-Ais is closed, and there is nothing else down there to see"???? Despite the fact that Mr Aussie Contractor was driving a Hilux I showed him a LONG finger and turned around and drove off into the sunset...
When we got to the Fish River Canyon we wanted to go to the lookout point to just have a look down, but we got stopped at a gate and after looking at the registration nr on Kaspaas the man said N$130 before you can proceed to look at the canyon. This was the last straw and I told the man where he could put his entire Fish River Canyon, because I would be damned if I had to pay another N$130 for renovations on a canyon that was created by nature...
We did our business in Keetmanshoop, spent that night at the Lafenis Lodge, had a meal in the Wimpy and retired early for the long drive home the next day.
No sooner had we crossed the border than we ran into the normal old SA stuff. In Springbok we wanted to but KFC for lunch... "No can do sir, we are being load-shedded come back in 2 hours... " And then about 20km outside Springbok!! Stop/Go traffic control hut, "Estimated Waiting Time = 10 Minute(s)".. After that smooth sailing all the way home, we only stopped at Klawer to have a quick bite to eat, and then at Piketberg to fill up for the last time.
1. The canopy I built did its job well. There are 1 or 2 small mods I would like to make before the next trip. The vent on the left hand side of the canopy manged to keep the back dust free, until one day some wise-ass in Windhoek closed the vent. That evening the entire loadbin was covered in dust.
2. The spare wheel carrier for the second spare wheel on the back worked like a charm. BUT it is a bit in the way. I am thinking to build a full rear door for the canopy and bolt the wheel to the door.
3. Definitely add the extra leaf springs to the back.
4. We need another folding table.
5. The RTT is sweet, but we need a fly sheet for it, and the cover needs a mod ot 2 as well, but thats a minor issue.
Lessons learned
1. Remember to pack the "bino-curlers";
2. A citronella candle works like magic!!
3. You can never take too many photographs.
4. Namibia's Tourism Rip-Off Machine does not have a clue about tourism. But that is a topic all on its own.
5. Upington is the wettest place in SA.
The figures
1. Distance travelled: 6162.4 km
2. Petrol consumed: 874.3 liters
3. Average consumption: 7.0 km/l
Will I do this again? Most definitely!!
