Verneukpan November 2024 Ride

I once went to Verneukpan a few years back with my mate Shaun ....We camped by the Bell and Although very cold night on the pan the experience was great.....I promised my self I would go back again.
THis past Week the opportunity came again ... This time with my friend Derek whom I had been riding with in the old days of Suzuki Drs....We both had the time so I put a quick trip together......And sorry for the technical guys I don't have tracks of the route ....I just use a good old fashioned Tracks 4 Africa Map
We left from my place on the West Coast to Citrusdal over the pass to Op Die Berg then over Katbakkies to the Tankwa Padstal then along the R355 to Calvinia for the first night
The second day was tar from Calvinia to Brandvlei then 70km north of Brandvlei direction Kenhardt was the turn to Zwartkop and we entered the Verneukpan from the Furtherst West point vs my previous time from Kenhardt side entering the middle...
After spending the night wild camping on the pan the next day we headed to the middle and towards Zwartkop and then Brandvlei ....The first part of this road off the pan was gated and had some interesting sandy patches....We got to Brandvlei without incident as Derek needed fuel for the Transalp.
From Brandvlei we took the R353 dirt road to Williston and from Williston the road to Fraserburg which was partly gravel the last time i travelled there but now was tar all the way to Fraseburg.
From Fraserburg to Sutherland was about 110km of not bad dirt road and we stayed over in Sutherland fro the evening sharing a house between us at R450 per person.....Bargain It is called Jack of the Karoo
The final day was home on the gravel road R356 to Ceres
A total of 3 nights and 4 days and 1560km....
absolutely a blast and memorable ride

By know most of you know that I record my trips/rides on my youtube channel Chris' Motorcycle Rides This is because I love to keep a visual record of my trips and secondly videography and photography goes hand in hand with my passion for motorcycling

I bought a second hand drone recently and am busy mastering that as it adds visually to my trips and of course its fun to fly

I will add a few pictures to this post but mostly my trip was covered in my 46 minute video which i will post the link here

heres the link if you like a visual experience of a ride

My previous trip was in August 2021 When Shaun and I did a cross country ride

Verneukpan November 2024... It was windy this time not as cold at the previous time and strangely enough it wasn't extremely hot either max around 28 degrees in the day to fresh and cool in the morning

Thanks for posting Mother!!
How does the accommodation look like on Verneukpan? Still operational?

Chrisl said:

Thanks for posting Mother!!
How does the accommodation look like on Verneukpan? Still operational?

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If u talking about the camp site ......it looked sad and run down ....but i didnt take a close look if u see on the video ...just rode past it as we wanted to camp on the pan away from everything

mother said:

If u talking about the camp site ......it looked sad and run down ....but i didnt take a close look if u see on the video ...just rode past it as we wanted to camp on the pan away from everything

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So the gate to the pan was open and you did not have to make a booking at mrs Losper? It seems Verneukpan is not as organized as it was in the past.

the best part of going to verneukpan is the wild camping in the middle of nowhere........not at any camp site.... but hey thats just me

Chrisl said:

So the gate to the pan was open and you did not have to make a booking at mrs Losper? It seems Verneukpan is not as organized as it was in the past.

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there was a reception sign as u came towards the pan on the western side ...u ride right past the farm house on the road to the pan..... we stopped and the lady came out we paid for camping on her side of the pan R200 per person but theres no people to control anything from what i saw .....I guess to be considerate and polite and leave the pan as you found it is common sense that is expected...
The first time i ever went there there was no farms showing reception coming in from the kenhardt side and we camped freely on the middle by the bell....next day left the way we came in and still no one in sight

Chrisl said:

So the gate to the pan was open and you did not have to make a booking at mrs Losper? It seems Verneukpan is not as organized as it was in the past.

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a good thing then it stays off the grid in my view

ps they were shooting a movie there the previous week on the eastern side the lady told me ......so im guessing that will take some organising with the ....land owners....very glad we missed that but i did see signs on the gates that said direction to SET when we left the pan on our way out

Verneukpan brings fond memories☺ Glad you enjoyed it.