Country TRAX Angola and Namibia Expedtion 2012

[Oetie]

Subscribed, lekker so ver SGB, dankie!

 

[Andre01]

:happy1:

 

[ALLAWYN]

A lot can be said about Stefan, especially his strong character points, the way he rides his 990 through various terrain and the way him and Jan rode together next to each other, at speed leading us and saving their GPS's batteries leading only with their knowledge of the land, but the the part that I enjoyed the most is his unique sense of humor, maybe that is what will remain the longest with me after the trip. My family, friends and colleagues would walk in and see or hear me laughing, then it would be me remembering something extremely funny that happend on the trip, mostly accompanied with Stefan's dry remark explaining his insight into the happening.

The one about the instructions how to sell a horse to a deaf person.......  The photo of us at the first dry river camp sitting together and me cracking up, very good photo. That kept me gigling in my helmet for days.

This expedition can be described in many ways, for me it was a 10 year dream came true, and living it minute by minute, but surely, the companionship between 21 men, mostly unknown to each other before the trip started, and the laughter, except for Stefan's sense of humor we had real funny men in the group that kept us busy all the time that we had our helmets off, non stop, giving and receiving it, always as a joke and never personally.....

It is with great fondness of nice memories that I type this.......

 

[Takashi]

Sub

 

[zetman]

Gooi mielies... Lekker  :ricky: report

 

[SGB]

A lot can be said about Stefan, especially his strong character points, the way he rides his 990 through various terrain and the way him and Jan rode together next to each other, at speed leading us and saving their GPS's batteries leading only with their knowledge of the land, but the the part that I enjoyed the most is his unique sense of humor, maybe that is what will remain the longest with me after the trip. My family, friends and colleagues would walk in and see or hear me laughing, then it would be me remembering something extremely funny that happend on the trip, mostly accompanied with Stefan's dry remark explaining his insight into the happening.

The one about the instructions how to sell a horse to a deaf person.......  The photo of us at the first dry river camp sitting together and me cracking up, very good photo. That kept me gigling in my helmet for days.

This expedition can be described in many ways, for me it was a 10 year dream came true, and living it minute by minute, but surely, the companionship between 21 men, mostly unknown to each other before the trip started, and the laughter, except for Stefan's sense of humor we had real funny men in the group that kept us busy all the time that we had our helmets off, non stop, giving and receiving it, always as a joke and never personally.....

It is with great fondness of nice memories that I type this.......

Dankie vir die mooi woorde Alwyn.  Dit was vir my ook 'n belewenis om jou droom saam met jou te leef.  Hoop om gou weer so te maak!  Tzaneen is nie so ver nie....

 

[SGB]

Day 5 - Continued

From Leba pass we took a leisurely ride down the tar to Namibe.  Stopped the the filling station to wait for everyone to catch up.  It took a while, the boys had to fix a puncture induced by a rock on a little section where the tar was washed away and it is now gravel.  We had to fill all our capacity here, the next 800 km had to be done on what we take in here.

The beauty of this place is the fuel price.  60 Kz / litre.  1 US$ = 100 Kz.  You do the math...

We left Namibe feeling like superbike riders from all the black top stuff.  We had to get off and se some dirt again.  Dirt in this area is in the form of beach sand, and what better way than to ride into the sunset on the beach.  The sun setting in the ocean feels the wrong way round when you lived in Durbs for a while, but it makes nice pics. So it's OK.

Outside Namibe, we pulled off the tar, let the tyres down and let the dogs loose a bit....  The sand was deep immediately and dictated some confident riding.  Now it started to feel like an expedition again!

The ride from the road to the beach (about 15 km) and on the beach was a very pleasant one.  Cool air and the symphony of Acrapovic and Leo Vince directed by SGB and Jan filled our ears.  Life was good!

We arrived at Flamingo lodge on the beach just as the sun cast it's final rays over the ocean for the day.  We could not be in a better place.

Sharing the experience with two of my best friends - thanks manne!

Loius en die boeties doing the same

The Sushi at the logde was ready - this Garrick was still swimming 1/2 hour ago...

The lodge was oversubscribed for the evening, and they offered us the tent camp where they pre-erected tents with sleeping bags and matresses for us.  We could just pull in.  No problem we said, we are easy.  This was our camp for the night.

We had dinner at the lodge - this place is famous for the fish you eat here and we were not disappointed.  A great evening on the beach and a good sleep in a tent which someone else put up.  This was 5 star!

 

[SGB]

Day 6: Rest Day at Flamingo
Distance: About 10 km.

Waking up with no rush.

You cannot just stay for a night at Flamingo.  So we spent the day at leisure here.  We left the tent town, the chalets on the beach were now available and our luxury level climbed another few notches. 

We did some eating

We did some resting

We shared some wisdom

We did some washing

We did some private religious rituals

We did some phoning - there is signal only at the water tanks on the hill

Some of us had excess energy and went rowing.

We checked over the bikes, and tightened up some bolts and fixed a little thing here and there, nothing serious.  We were resting after all...

Johan had to prove that there was no fish in the ocean.  Probably the first fisherman ever to travel all the way to Flamingo and catch nothing.

Nico designing a more comfortable seat for the SE.

In the afternoon we went to see those impressive sand canyons a few km's from the lodge.  It is well worth a visit.

Our support team.

A day at Flamingo is just an amazing experience.

This is Trixie.  She rules the lodge and ensured that our stay was pleasant.

And this man is a vital link too - the chef....

We had enough to eat and drink to feed an army, and we were ready to tackle the dunes the next day.  Flamingo is a lekker place.....

 

[SGB]

Day 7: Flamingo to Dunes
Distance: 160 km

We did not have a lot of distance to cover today.  We just had to get to the North end of the "Doodsakker" and camp there to be in time for low tide the next morning.  So we packed up after breakfast, filled all the vehicles with fuel we pre-arranged with Flamingo and got the convoy under way.

A last picture before we left.

And a group photo - this is important at Flamingo

The Flamingo river bed is about 23 km.  It also serves as the "road" back to the tar.  Our sand legs had to be loose right from the start - the ride was great.  There are millions of tracks - everyone trying to avoid the corrugations and thick sand to find just more of the same.  

We had time, so a visit to Lake Arco was fitted in.  A fresh water lake in the middle of the desert.  The name is from those sand arches that formed some time ago.  There are smooth river stones embedded in the highest sand formations here.  Not sure how it happened but it must have been impressive.

Continued down the road towards a village called Tombua.  We did not go into town, avoided the admin by turning off before the town and heading straight for the Vanessa Seafood wreck on the beach.  Back in the sand and life was a song again.

We headed down the beach towards and the landscape was now proper Namib dunes.

Gert's bike in it's country of birth.

We looked for a nice camping spot and parked there.  The sand gets soft here and there.

The cooking was under way soon and a pot of note was prepared by the master chefs.

We had some time to play in the dunes with the bikes, it is insane riding.  Amazing experience.

Sunset

The result of the cooking

Full moon and spring tide.  Perfect timing for the Doodsakker.  Tomorrow is the big day!

 

[Hakbos]

SGB, hoop die Noisebans was innie ore :. Nice trip :thumleft:

 

[PEET WEET]

Nog STEFAN !! Ons wag in spanning

 

[Outhere]

Thanks Stefan great report as normal

Sleep well

Cheers

 

[Ian in Great Brak River]

Always a pleasure to read anything you guys do.

8)

 

[Chrisl]

Die RR is nes n Voetspore program......................net n gevreetery!!! :imaposer:

Mooi geskryf en foto's tot sover Stefan. :thumleft:

 

[SGB]

Die RR is nes n Voetspore program......................net n gevreetery!!! :imaposer:

Voetspore se kokke kom nie naby ons chefs nie!  8)

 

[Sandban(g)k]

As ek eendag groot is...

 

[jorust]

Nice!  :thumleft:

 

[Brakenjan]

Hel, dit lyk lekker. Reg bo aan my bucket list. Klaar.

SGB, waarvoor staan "log" in "log team"? Logistics?

 

[SGB]

SGB, waarvoor staan "log" in "log team"? Logistics?

Korrek...  :thumleft:

 

[BryanOC6]

lekke RR keep it coming !! dont feel like work now at all!!