The last few days..
After Zelda we wanted to challenge ourselves a bit again. Drive from Zelda to Koes in the south without driving through a single town. A distance of 550km. We had enough diesel to cover the distance, and enough padkos, water, clothes (all clean now) meat, and drinks to last us 4 days if not more... So we plotted a route as close to the Namibian border as possible. I'll have to upload the GPS file, because I cannot really describe it in words. The roads we travelled on ranged from fairly okay dirt roads to 2-spoor sand tracks to really bumpy and corrugated farm tracks with about 30 gates to open and close along the way.
The scenery was spectacular. We were travelling on the road never travelled, let alone less travelled. Only the local farmers use these roads. Rest asured, the road we were on are all public roads. Not once did we venture onto private land. We ended up driving down the Nossob River bed. When we got to a place called Twee Rivier, we took a left in stead of a right... wrong!! Our Garmin has been acting up a little and started rebooting every now and then and somehow lost the route I programmed into it. But once we got to Twee Rivier I was confident that we would find our way to the farm. I need some more experience, okay? The first sign post we saw in ages told us that we are headed towards Mata-Mata, which is in the complete wrong direction. But there was a 2-spoor sand track leading off to our right. We took it.. and we ended up driving approx 70km along the best sand tracks in existence on the planet.
The best gate in Namibia!!
We were WAY behind schedule, we were out of fuel, but we didnt care... Somewhere along the way we had to refuel from the jerries on the roof, and we made the farm with only enough juice left to get us to Koes, 40km away.
Sundowners on a dune..
After spending 2 nights with family on the farm we decided that we didnt want to go home yet, so we packed for Rosh Pinah, where E's cousin lives. We filled up at Koes with 500ppm. It was a long drive to Rosh Pinah, but on good roads. In Keetmanshoop we stopped for some family business, bought lunch, called home, and tackled the tar roads. With the cruise control set at 120km/h we went past the Fish River, Goageb and eventually Aus, where we turned off. 166km from that point and about 200 mining trucks from the front we pulled into Rosh Pinah. Groot braai wereld!!
We were only going to stay for 1 night, but we were convinced to watch the Bokke play the All Blacks on Saturday morning, and then we were convinced to stay and watch WP play the Bulls... at the Lodge.. bad decision.. really bad.. The Four Seasons Lodge in Rosh Pinah is the place that a few years ago held the record for the highest consumption of Jagermeister... IN THE WORLD!!! Oh my WORD!! And seeing as WP won, and I was the only WP supporter in the bar, everybody bought Jagermeisters to congratultae me and to drown their sorrows.... Long story short, we got home way too late that nite...
In stead of leaving Rosh Pinah the next morning at 08h00 to cross the border at Sendelingsdrift, we only got away at about noon. Way too late!! We filled up again with 50ppm diesel. Crossing the border was once again an easy affair, and putting the life jacket onto my potsierlike lyfie was more of a hassle than the ride on the pontoon.. I was still busy tying the straps when the guys came to collect it.
From Sendelingsdrift we headed south towards Lekkersing, and hit the Port Nolloth/Steinkopf tar road. From there it was plain sailing until we hit the N7, and, of course, road works!!
There's not much I can say about the drive from Steinkopf to Klawer. The N7 is as boring and predictable as a polititian's speech, but by the time we reached Klawer we were both ready for bed. Although we hoped to make it all the way to Cape Town we decided that the roadworks past Clanwilliam in the dark was not going to be a whole heap of fun so we found a bed for the night and slept over.
Not being in a hurry to get home the next morning, we took it easy over the mountain to Piketberg, stopped in at the Spur for a good brekkie and drove the last stretch home. We were both coming down with a cold, and it was raining and cold in Cape Town again. Almost like when we left...
16 days after we left, we hit the Cape of Storms again. We had a fantastic trip, and got much more than we bargained for. We been to places where we havent been before, and that is always good.
Will we do it again? At a moment's notice yes!!
Summaries and own impressions to follow. Also what worked and what didn’t….