Day 11, tenth riding day
Palmwag to Aba Huab campsite
Short ride today, some 115 km only.
Fuel is sold next to Palmwag, so on our way out those that had not done so yesterday filled up.
Sand was on the menu today, lots of it - make that LOTS! - as our route would lead through a riverbed.
First some roads, then a regroup, under a tree of course, still quite warm there
The river was going to be as dry as a bone, and a chance to see some ellies was on the cards too :thumleft:
Riding to the turnoff we had seen elliedung everywhere, some obviously superfresh stuff even for the most ignorant layman - so even I have been seen to meerkat here & there, to allow me a better view of the bosveld type of surroundings over which an elephant simply must tower above.... but to no avail, we saw nothing.
After the turnoff some lekker open hence fast stuff led us to the, fairly wide too, riverbed.... sand, glorious sand, yayyyy :thumleft: :thumleft:
Look, I'm no sandgod, and part of the reason I decided on my 500 was that I consider myself handier in sand on it rather than on a heavier bike.... but, by this time we'd seen so much of it already that any sand now had become a non-event for me: bring it on, no wait, I liked it now, especially so at speed... Great Stuff it is!
Now the group has some quick chaps in front, and this time & in this terrain I decided to just stick with them.
I did too, here & there even ignoring a dustgap and just diving into the unseen.... and mense, was it fun! ;D
After a quick regroup again we tore off, and somewhere further Rickus (he's quick and handy on his big 950) dove off onto a riverbank into the, fairly open, bush. This was clearly off track so I followed him, curious, the speed suddenly slowish..... and then I found Rickus was scouting for some game. He's a Namibian farmer and well versed with the local scenery, so a good choice to tag on to when doing this kind of riding I reckoned
With half an eye on the gps we did a type of roundabout through the trees and shrubs, and this eventually brought us back to the others in the riverbed, which happened to have stopped again for a regroup.
No, we saw no game but for spoor, there's enough there so we just had bad luck.
Once the others had arrived we continued in the river until our gps led us out, and here we found some buildings including a petrol point - point yeah, 'station' they really can't be called there, the tiny canopy only providing shade for the attendant and the one bike filling up.
It was scorching hot there I remember, and we needed to fill up.... but also knew that a real fancypancy lodge was very close by: Cold Beer!
With a full tank only some 2 kays to the lodge... ... and a real jewel this lodge was!
Tastefully nested against the base of a small rocky ridge, partly built "in" it even, this was a genuine fancy place... which we bikers invaded, dusty outfit & all
Hardy had lined up a few Rum&Cokes already but I preferred to order a cold beer form the barman... which proved to be a bitofa misnomer however the beer was excellent!
Birdie Nam Nam anyone?
Here you can indulge!
Our lunchpacks included some peanuts&raisins, and once I opened mine the black birds in attendance, glansspreeus glo, became really 'voor op die wa' ..... with just the minimum of persuasion they literally ate out of one's hand: nice!
I know, salt etc, unhealthy and unnatural for them, but there's water enough there, green lawns even!
Kobus et al were downstairs splashing in the pool, allegedly to cool off but my hunch was, and still is, they were there in the hope to attract another type of bird.....
Also a largish colourful lizard was in attendance on the floor, brazenly curious rummaging inbetween our upholstyered chairs & couches we were splashed all over, we assumed also looking for some scraps. Andre, I know you and others have some pics of this lil dragon, please post some?
We whiled quite a few hours there, in this almost-alien unexpected luxury with a view of the barren landscape all around - magnificent!
On our way out we viewed some rockpaintings as well as a snake, a rock python - and Andrew could not help himself and draped himself with it :
Oh well, it survived him so no harm done....
The camp close by was another communal endeavour (like van Zyls camp is), but at least there was water here, warm showers even! :thumleft:
Hardy has arranged for some cold beers to be sold there too, and just because we could not leave those ladies empty handed we bough a few from them - great!
The crew also magically served a dinner with meat - as per always yeah, but we hadd crossed the veterinary border just after leaving Palmwag in the morning, where - obviously! - all raw meat and biltong etc is disallowed to cross and confiscated!
It may have been me only but I never saw a supermarket or butchery in that riverbed ..... but hey, nobody complained, so excuse me for noticing these little odd details, sorry: that dinner was great! :thumleft:
An evening unfolded with a great fire as well as a little hunt to locate a small Owl (name anyone?) in a big tree close by, persistently calling for a mate. If (?) anyone has a photo (it was dark so perhaps not) then post it here please, it apparently is the smallest Owl in Africa.
After this a good night was had.
Palmwag to Aba Huab campsite
Short ride today, some 115 km only.
Fuel is sold next to Palmwag, so on our way out those that had not done so yesterday filled up.
Sand was on the menu today, lots of it - make that LOTS! - as our route would lead through a riverbed.
First some roads, then a regroup, under a tree of course, still quite warm there
The river was going to be as dry as a bone, and a chance to see some ellies was on the cards too :thumleft:
Riding to the turnoff we had seen elliedung everywhere, some obviously superfresh stuff even for the most ignorant layman - so even I have been seen to meerkat here & there, to allow me a better view of the bosveld type of surroundings over which an elephant simply must tower above.... but to no avail, we saw nothing.
After the turnoff some lekker open hence fast stuff led us to the, fairly wide too, riverbed.... sand, glorious sand, yayyyy :thumleft: :thumleft:
Look, I'm no sandgod, and part of the reason I decided on my 500 was that I consider myself handier in sand on it rather than on a heavier bike.... but, by this time we'd seen so much of it already that any sand now had become a non-event for me: bring it on, no wait, I liked it now, especially so at speed... Great Stuff it is!
Now the group has some quick chaps in front, and this time & in this terrain I decided to just stick with them.
I did too, here & there even ignoring a dustgap and just diving into the unseen.... and mense, was it fun! ;D
After a quick regroup again we tore off, and somewhere further Rickus (he's quick and handy on his big 950) dove off onto a riverbank into the, fairly open, bush. This was clearly off track so I followed him, curious, the speed suddenly slowish..... and then I found Rickus was scouting for some game. He's a Namibian farmer and well versed with the local scenery, so a good choice to tag on to when doing this kind of riding I reckoned
With half an eye on the gps we did a type of roundabout through the trees and shrubs, and this eventually brought us back to the others in the riverbed, which happened to have stopped again for a regroup.
No, we saw no game but for spoor, there's enough there so we just had bad luck.
Once the others had arrived we continued in the river until our gps led us out, and here we found some buildings including a petrol point - point yeah, 'station' they really can't be called there, the tiny canopy only providing shade for the attendant and the one bike filling up.
It was scorching hot there I remember, and we needed to fill up.... but also knew that a real fancypancy lodge was very close by: Cold Beer!
With a full tank only some 2 kays to the lodge... ... and a real jewel this lodge was!
Tastefully nested against the base of a small rocky ridge, partly built "in" it even, this was a genuine fancy place... which we bikers invaded, dusty outfit & all
Hardy had lined up a few Rum&Cokes already but I preferred to order a cold beer form the barman... which proved to be a bitofa misnomer however the beer was excellent!
Birdie Nam Nam anyone?
Here you can indulge!
Our lunchpacks included some peanuts&raisins, and once I opened mine the black birds in attendance, glansspreeus glo, became really 'voor op die wa' ..... with just the minimum of persuasion they literally ate out of one's hand: nice!
I know, salt etc, unhealthy and unnatural for them, but there's water enough there, green lawns even!
Kobus et al were downstairs splashing in the pool, allegedly to cool off but my hunch was, and still is, they were there in the hope to attract another type of bird.....
Also a largish colourful lizard was in attendance on the floor, brazenly curious rummaging inbetween our upholstyered chairs & couches we were splashed all over, we assumed also looking for some scraps. Andre, I know you and others have some pics of this lil dragon, please post some?
We whiled quite a few hours there, in this almost-alien unexpected luxury with a view of the barren landscape all around - magnificent!
On our way out we viewed some rockpaintings as well as a snake, a rock python - and Andrew could not help himself and draped himself with it :
Oh well, it survived him so no harm done....
The camp close by was another communal endeavour (like van Zyls camp is), but at least there was water here, warm showers even! :thumleft:
Hardy has arranged for some cold beers to be sold there too, and just because we could not leave those ladies empty handed we bough a few from them - great!
The crew also magically served a dinner with meat - as per always yeah, but we hadd crossed the veterinary border just after leaving Palmwag in the morning, where - obviously! - all raw meat and biltong etc is disallowed to cross and confiscated!
It may have been me only but I never saw a supermarket or butchery in that riverbed ..... but hey, nobody complained, so excuse me for noticing these little odd details, sorry: that dinner was great! :thumleft:
An evening unfolded with a great fire as well as a little hunt to locate a small Owl (name anyone?) in a big tree close by, persistently calling for a mate. If (?) anyone has a photo (it was dark so perhaps not) then post it here please, it apparently is the smallest Owl in Africa.
After this a good night was had.
