Day 4
(pictures in this episode can be viewed at better resolution here:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmdTcZH3)
Plan for the day was the catch up the loss from yesterday and make it all the way to Epupa Falls, original destination for day 4. This was to be the longest day of the trip over 310 km, but most of it on dirt highways, so technically a liaison stage. The only potential snag was the first 50 km from Robbie’s pass to Kaoko Otavi sd I didn’t have a clue if there isn’t another Robbie’s pass lurking there, but as we found out soon enough, there wasn’t - it was a smooth sailing on easy dirt all the way to Kaoko.
In the morning we went through by now pretty well rehearsed routine of breaking the camp, random breakfast and setting off at about nine-ish. As said, there were no more technical traps waiting for us and we rode steadily on good dirt roads until Justin spotted local Himba cemetery, where we stopped. Unlike Christian or Muslim cemeteries, most of the tombstones here didn’t include religious symbols, but rather favourite objects of daily use of the deceased, such as cow, or Kalashnikov.
Guess what is going to be the favourite object on Justin’s tombstone:
We were still at risk of running out of petrol so we asked around and a local told us that we should be able to get petrol in Ongango about 20 km further on. We made it there in no time and sure enough, the shebeen lady owner had petrol for us (most of the business in these parts is run by women - men focus solely on idleness). Bingo!
Petrol station in Ongango - run as most imporptant things here by woman, which is a good thing as men are mostly drunk and/or asleep:
After that it was a non-event ride on soon to be finished dirt road up to Kaoko Otavi, where we joined D3707 for the last 40 or so km to Opuwo. Opuwo - Paris of Kaokoland I like to call it - is provincial capital of Kaokoland, and proper shithole with drunk naked Himbas laying and begging all over the place.
But we arrived at about noon so the Himbas were spread lethargic in the various shades and the hassle was much less than I’m used to - another bingo. We filled up and stopped at the new Spar for some shopping and lunch at the Spar buffet. They had WIFI there, so we stared mesmerised into our mobiles making sure that the world doesn’t pass us by for way longer than advisable, and eventually left only way past 1 pm. The security guard at Spar told me with authority that it is 90 km to Epupa Falls, which confused me for a bit as I was pretty sure that it is double of that - actually more as we were not going straight but via Swartbooisdrif and Kunene river road. Quick check of GPS confirmed that he was wrong, but I didn’t dispute the matter and we set-off.
We were making steady progress looking forward to the rest day in Epupa Falls. The highway up is quite pleasant with rolling hills covered by typical African bush with baobabs thrown in here and there. But it is still a highway so it gets little boring. So Justin, to keep himself entertained, shot ahead full speed (he had longer gearing on his 500 than Bertie and I - otherwise Bertie would would have annihilated him as there are very few things he likes as much as proper drag race). When that got boring, he orchestrated another puncture to get another chance to play with rubber. We pulled up under a tree to get it my tube installed in and were immediately accompanied by local HImba herdboys who were at regular intervals asking for random things such as trousers, jackets, etc. Justin gave them his punctured Tubeliss inner tube so they can make a catapult, but that worked only for a while, and soon they were asking for our shoes.
Once sorted, we pushed on and soon turned north onto D3701 running straight to Swartbooisdrif and Kunene River. Now my original plan was to turn west off D3701 about half way up and follow a riverbed I spotted running northwest through the Zebra mountains and connecting to Kunene river track much closer to Epupa Falls. Here it is the intended track shown in yellow (if anybody here knows if it is doable, or even allowed to ride on bike, please let me know):
I was really keen to check this track out as it could provide an alternative to the boring highway, now that the Kunene river track from Swartbooisdrif to Epupa has been graded just another gravel road and lost most of its past charm. But because of the holdup on Robbie’s pass, we were late arriving to the intended turn-off only past 4 pm.
Justin and Bertie were adventured-out for the time being and wanted just to get to Epupa falls the easiest way possible and enjoy proper chalets, food and the next day off the bikes. I was still keen, even if that meant another night out in the bush eating spam and no rest day for me. So I explained them how to get to Epupa (very easy: go straight, at T junction left and follow river all the way to Epupa) and they set-off.
I turned west onto double track running through the bush towards the Zebra mountains and pushed on trying to make it to the riverbed as soon as possible. The inner gastro tourist was lurking in the shadows and should the river bed be not rideable or off limits (highly likely as I have never heard of anybody doing it, even though it seems like logical alternative to the highways - at least for people who like to ride/drive off the beaten track), I may be able still to gun it back that night to proper bed, medium rare filet and beer.
I pushed hard on a typical north Namibian bush track. It was good riding but I was keen to get a look at the riverbed as soon as possible. However the track I was on was mostly west and I needed to start turning north-west. I have tried couple of small riverbeds I came upon heading in right direction but sooner or later they all ended up in dense thorny bush.
Zebra mountains - quite weird and aptly named, they are basically hills of loose rubble with strips of vegetation:
None of the shortcuts I tried to take worked, so I decided to follow the double track and see if I might get lucky and it may turn north. I made it about 20 km deep west pretty close to the mountains, when my rear tyre went suddenly flat. I was riding Tubeliss, and thought that I can sort it out quickly with a plug, but when I checked pressure in the inner tube, there was none. So this was the second Tubeliss failure on this trip (in Justin’s case the tube got torn next to valve) - a bit annoying to be honest.
Like a devoted consumerist (or gastro tourist) I have never put in or taken out Tubeliss, and rather paid Runner to get it done. I made a token effort by watching youtube installation videos, but that was it. Suddenly I was missing the Capie hippie - congratulations Universe, you win.
But I wasn’t too fazed - I had all the necessary tools and how hard can it be? So I took out the tools and tubes and stuff, got the rear wheel off and proceeded to take the tyre and Tubeliss off the wheel. It wasn’t that difficult, but I still managed to damage slightly the red Tubeliss sleeve with the tyre levers.
But I wasn’t concerned about that. My main concern (or rather gastro tourist’s who by now took over the reins) was to get the spare tube in as quickly as possible and make a mad dash for the high end civilization of Epupa falls. It was obvious by now that there is no straightforward access to the river and I would need more time to find it - which I will, next time.
And as you probably expect by now, it is never good idea trying to get tube in in haste. While I have done nominally all the right steps, I didn’t inflate the tube sufficiently (I had mountain bike pump) before getting the tyre over the rim and sure enough I pinched it. There goes medium rare steak, and here comes spam (and sweetened condensed milk that helped to cushion the blow). Gastro tourist wasn’t happy.
But there was not much to just being pissed off - so I took the tube out, and patched it. However, in my piss-offness I somehow wasn’t sure if I have to let the glue dry before applying patch or put it on straight away. Now I knew that in the good old times not so long ago, when tubes were actually made from rubber, one had to wait for the solution to dry and vulcanize the rubber. But nowadays when tubes are made from some weirdo chemical compound one has to use rubber cement instead of vulcanizing solution and thes Sandton ranger didn’t know if the drying procedure is the same. So I kind of compromised - i.e. didn’t put the patch on straight away, but also didn’t wait for the glue to dry up sufficiently and put it on when it was still wet.
Logically then, I ended up with compromised fix - it kind of held on, but I could also see it coming off slowly when I pumped the tube up to test it. That clearly wouldn’t do so I ripped it off for another try. By now it was getting dark, so I put another patch on (still not the right way - this time just making sure that the circumference of patch is pressed on properly, but still applied the patch too soon) and then set-up a camp. I decided to let the patch dry overnight with some rocks over it hoping that the time will help it to set in properly. After that, it was time for past sundowner with can of condensed milk and then it was bedtime.
