SGB
Race Dog
chrisL said:
Chris, hy het neus eerste geland maar gelukkig op die wiele geeindig. Die 2 ouens in die bakkie was oortuig dat iets gebreek het, maar wonderbaarlik het alles gehou. :thumleft:
Country TRAX Angola and Namibia Expedtion 2012
- Thread starter SGB
- Start date
Chris, hy het neus eerste geland maar gelukkig op die wiele geeindig. Die 2 ouens in die bakkie was oortuig dat iets gebreek het, maar wonderbaarlik het alles gehou. :thumleft:
SGB
Race Dog
Day 9: Espenhierra to Bush Camp en route to Ruacana
Distance: 192 km
Sunrise this morning was as spectacular as sunset last night.
The aim now was to reach Ruacana, the second leg of our journey was in Namibia and Ruacana is where the border post is. This ride rates amongst the best known to me. The terrain varies continuously between hard pack, sand, rocks, river crossings and all those good things. I think this was exactly what the design brief was when they built the 990. We had another amazing day's riding. I could quite easily do this for the rest of my life....
At Iona, we had to stop at the Police post, again with once official writing down all our details. It only took him 1 1/2 hours - quite fast....
Police patrol vehicle
More of that amazing riding - the pictures do not show the "vibe"... Don't quite know what to call it - go see for yourself. Nowhere in SA do you see hundreds of km of this that is free to ride at will....
We made camp within reach of Ruacana. The going was good again today. 200 km of this terrain in the bakkies is good going. And the best it that nothing broke. There is a real risk of some roadside repairs here, the terrain is hard on a vehicle.
Typical chalet in the bush...
Himba girl
And another good nights sleep in the middle of nowhere, at no cost and without harming or disturbing anyone. There is space for everyone here.....
Distance: 192 km
Sunrise this morning was as spectacular as sunset last night.
The aim now was to reach Ruacana, the second leg of our journey was in Namibia and Ruacana is where the border post is. This ride rates amongst the best known to me. The terrain varies continuously between hard pack, sand, rocks, river crossings and all those good things. I think this was exactly what the design brief was when they built the 990. We had another amazing day's riding. I could quite easily do this for the rest of my life....
At Iona, we had to stop at the Police post, again with once official writing down all our details. It only took him 1 1/2 hours - quite fast....
Police patrol vehicle
More of that amazing riding - the pictures do not show the "vibe"... Don't quite know what to call it - go see for yourself. Nowhere in SA do you see hundreds of km of this that is free to ride at will....
We made camp within reach of Ruacana. The going was good again today. 200 km of this terrain in the bakkies is good going. And the best it that nothing broke. There is a real risk of some roadside repairs here, the terrain is hard on a vehicle.
Typical chalet in the bush...
Himba girl
And another good nights sleep in the middle of nowhere, at no cost and without harming or disturbing anyone. There is space for everyone here.....
:thumleft:MINZI
Race Dog
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Amazing report. Can't wait for the rest.
SGB
Race Dog
Day 10: Bush Camp to Kunene River Lodge
Distance: 230 km
We were up and about and ready to enjoy riding the last bit of Angola.
This part is more densely populated, there is more vegetation and farming cattle is what Himbas do. Lots of them around.
This village is called Chitado, and we are within a stone throw from the Cunene river.
There is an election coming up in Angola and the MPLA is giving away these Chinese bicycles to voters. This guy received his from the MPLA office about 200m down the road, and whilst staring at our bikes he did not see the other guy crossing the road and crashed his brand new bike. Look at the front rim!
Some more Himbas just before the Ruacana border.
The border crossing was a lot less time consuming, we just handed back those temporary import permits and stamped passports. On the Namibia side they just wanted to ensure that we did not swap engines since we came through here a week ago. The same police officer was on duty too. We left our sticker on the window and waved the border good bye.
In Ruacana, we filled up with expensive fuel again. All containers full, as the next reliable source was at Palmwag. We also gave the bikes and bakkies a wash at the filling station, was good the wash off the salt and sand. Some food supplies were also taken in and we were ready to go. Nico and Abie had to head back to SA from here, so we wished them a pleasant journey - we now had two bikes less.
The plan for the next leg of the expedition was to travel all the way along the Cunene river to Epupa falls, then down Van Zyls pass and through Puros area to find the elephants before heading back to Omaruru. Sticking to the route less travelled in or close the river beds.
So we had some daylight left and we knew that Kunene Rived Lodge is a nice place and the last shower we had was at Flamingo. So we hit the road. The tourist traffic caused some heavy dust on the gravel road, and some sharp corners and sudden steep decents made me talk with Mr Peters in appreciation again.
We pulled in at Kunene River Lodge with all the luxuries. Hot showers, camping on a green lawn, sipping cocktails on the deck and so on. Life was good.
During our evening dinner meeting, we decided to stay another day. This place was so well suited for resting and having a holiday, and the decision was easy. Another wonderful night under the African stars.
Distance: 230 km
We were up and about and ready to enjoy riding the last bit of Angola.
This part is more densely populated, there is more vegetation and farming cattle is what Himbas do. Lots of them around.
This village is called Chitado, and we are within a stone throw from the Cunene river.
There is an election coming up in Angola and the MPLA is giving away these Chinese bicycles to voters. This guy received his from the MPLA office about 200m down the road, and whilst staring at our bikes he did not see the other guy crossing the road and crashed his brand new bike. Look at the front rim!
Some more Himbas just before the Ruacana border.
The border crossing was a lot less time consuming, we just handed back those temporary import permits and stamped passports. On the Namibia side they just wanted to ensure that we did not swap engines since we came through here a week ago. The same police officer was on duty too. We left our sticker on the window and waved the border good bye.
In Ruacana, we filled up with expensive fuel again. All containers full, as the next reliable source was at Palmwag. We also gave the bikes and bakkies a wash at the filling station, was good the wash off the salt and sand. Some food supplies were also taken in and we were ready to go. Nico and Abie had to head back to SA from here, so we wished them a pleasant journey - we now had two bikes less.
The plan for the next leg of the expedition was to travel all the way along the Cunene river to Epupa falls, then down Van Zyls pass and through Puros area to find the elephants before heading back to Omaruru. Sticking to the route less travelled in or close the river beds.
So we had some daylight left and we knew that Kunene Rived Lodge is a nice place and the last shower we had was at Flamingo. So we hit the road. The tourist traffic caused some heavy dust on the gravel road, and some sharp corners and sudden steep decents made me talk with Mr Peters in appreciation again.
We pulled in at Kunene River Lodge with all the luxuries. Hot showers, camping on a green lawn, sipping cocktails on the deck and so on. Life was good.
During our evening dinner meeting, we decided to stay another day. This place was so well suited for resting and having a holiday, and the decision was easy. Another wonderful night under the African stars.
SGB
Race Dog
Day 11: Kunene River Lodge
Distance: 0 km
Another rest day. We really did as little as possible. "Generally chilling" is probably the right term.
I decided to change my rear tyre in the afternoon, just something to do....
The lodge staff warned us about the road to Epupa, and theatened that it is at least an 8 hour drive to get there. So we packed up most of the stuff to be ready and on the road early in the morning. Riding in the morning would also be nice and cool, the afternoons saw temperatures of about 32 °C. My wife told me that it was max 5 °C in Bloem!!
The rest day made for a refreshed team in body, soul and spirit, ready to flatten that Swartbooisdrif - Epupa section tomorrow.
Distance: 0 km
Another rest day. We really did as little as possible. "Generally chilling" is probably the right term.
I decided to change my rear tyre in the afternoon, just something to do....
The lodge staff warned us about the road to Epupa, and theatened that it is at least an 8 hour drive to get there. So we packed up most of the stuff to be ready and on the road early in the morning. Riding in the morning would also be nice and cool, the afternoons saw temperatures of about 32 °C. My wife told me that it was max 5 °C in Bloem!!
The rest day made for a refreshed team in body, soul and spirit, ready to flatten that Swartbooisdrif - Epupa section tomorrow.
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Agh, veldskoen!
How does one crack the nod for trips like this?
How does one crack the nod for trips like this?
Fingers
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Baie lekker trip en baie goeie RR, goed gedoen SGB! :thumleft:
twister
Race Dog
SGB it is safe to say any trip with you is going to be an interesting one. This ride reports proves just that. Well done :thumleft:
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Fantastic
Voetpomp
Pack Dog
Nice RR
Thanks for sharing guys :thumleft: :thumleft:
Thanks for sharing guys :thumleft: :thumleft:
Smokes
Race Dog
Great RR :thumleft:
Bucket list trip :3some:
Bucket list trip :3some:
SGB
Race Dog
Trevor-the-Rever said:
Look who's here..... Welkom! :thumleft:
KTM Jagermeister
Pack Dog
Wow ! Lekker groep, die beplanning moes seker rof gewees het ...
SGB
Race Dog
Day 12: Kunene River Lodge to Bush camp
Distance: 214 km
We were ready to go at sunrise. The Swartbooisdrif to Epupa section has been fearfully discussed on the forums and in the media and we were looking forward to some action. The ride along the Cunene river was pleasant with the cool breeze and the sunrise providing perfect light from behind us. The river and dense trees make for good scenery and the sandy, rocky track dictates some attention to the riding part too.
There are a few rocky climbs with terrain that reminds of Lesotho - most enjoyable.... I have some video footage that I will uplaod at the end. Still need some education here.... On the bikes, momentum and choosing the best lines make things smooth and I was singing like a bird in my helmet.
Some Himaba activity on this side of the river too. A border post does not really bother them - crossing the river at will.
Brunch stop along the way.
Crocodile hunting (We fortunately had to stick with the meat in the freezer...)
On the bikes we progressed quite a bit faster than the cars, which gave us good resting and chatting time.
Some of those brewing palms where the Himbas make their juice.
On a bike, the section can be ridden in about 3 hours without too much racing blood. The vehicles took 6 hours coming through at the right speed to not break anything and enough stops for pics, etc. We were looking at the Epupa falls with plenty daylight left.
The trip from Swartbooisdrif is not that bad. The road is rocky and sandy, with a few steep climbs with big rocks, but it is very rideable and driveable and turned out to be another highlight of the trip. We came to ride, and we rode. Happiness filled my helmet.
The procession left Epupa and headed for Okangwati (where you turn off to Van Zyls pass) on a wide gravel road. Tourist traffic was making dust again, mostly oncoming trucks with bus bodies loaded with German tourists. They are all over at this time of the year - summer holidays in Europe. At Okangwati we bought some drinks at the local watering hole.
We were now back on the twin track, heading for Van Zyls and no traffic again. We decided to push on to a river bed to bring us within easy reach of Van Zyls. We found a nice camping spot again and the normal routine worked, therefore it was not changed.
Coenie doing some property development. He likes clear and flat ground to pitch his tent....
In the middle of the night somewhere, our friend the Revver was suddenly shouting: "Oueeeeens.... Hulle steel ons bikes!!!!" The noise carries well in the quiet night air and he was giving it his all. It turns out that he woke up and saw his helmet and jacket hanging on the bike and thought that a Himba wanted a 990. He immediately made the alarm and after shouting himself and the camp wide awake he realised what was going on and promptly fell asleep again. The trip was getting too long for some of us..... It gave us a good laugh.
Distance: 214 km
We were ready to go at sunrise. The Swartbooisdrif to Epupa section has been fearfully discussed on the forums and in the media and we were looking forward to some action. The ride along the Cunene river was pleasant with the cool breeze and the sunrise providing perfect light from behind us. The river and dense trees make for good scenery and the sandy, rocky track dictates some attention to the riding part too.
There are a few rocky climbs with terrain that reminds of Lesotho - most enjoyable.... I have some video footage that I will uplaod at the end. Still need some education here.... On the bikes, momentum and choosing the best lines make things smooth and I was singing like a bird in my helmet.
Some Himaba activity on this side of the river too. A border post does not really bother them - crossing the river at will.
Brunch stop along the way.
Crocodile hunting (We fortunately had to stick with the meat in the freezer...)
On the bikes we progressed quite a bit faster than the cars, which gave us good resting and chatting time.
Some of those brewing palms where the Himbas make their juice.
On a bike, the section can be ridden in about 3 hours without too much racing blood. The vehicles took 6 hours coming through at the right speed to not break anything and enough stops for pics, etc. We were looking at the Epupa falls with plenty daylight left.
The trip from Swartbooisdrif is not that bad. The road is rocky and sandy, with a few steep climbs with big rocks, but it is very rideable and driveable and turned out to be another highlight of the trip. We came to ride, and we rode. Happiness filled my helmet.
The procession left Epupa and headed for Okangwati (where you turn off to Van Zyls pass) on a wide gravel road. Tourist traffic was making dust again, mostly oncoming trucks with bus bodies loaded with German tourists. They are all over at this time of the year - summer holidays in Europe. At Okangwati we bought some drinks at the local watering hole.
We were now back on the twin track, heading for Van Zyls and no traffic again. We decided to push on to a river bed to bring us within easy reach of Van Zyls. We found a nice camping spot again and the normal routine worked, therefore it was not changed.
Coenie doing some property development. He likes clear and flat ground to pitch his tent....
In the middle of the night somewhere, our friend the Revver was suddenly shouting: "Oueeeeens.... Hulle steel ons bikes!!!!" The noise carries well in the quiet night air and he was giving it his all. It turns out that he woke up and saw his helmet and jacket hanging on the bike and thought that a Himba wanted a 990. He immediately made the alarm and after shouting himself and the camp wide awake he realised what was going on and promptly fell asleep again. The trip was getting too long for some of us..... It gave us a good laugh.
SGB
Race Dog
The next box to tick on the list of expedition goals is Van Zyl's pass. Again, a lot has been reported in the press about it, and we were looking forward to a challenge. Here is an example of some info that describes a ride through the pass.
https://www.driveout.co.za/destinations/van-zyls-pass-pass-too-far
Van Zyl's here we come....
https://www.driveout.co.za/destinations/van-zyls-pass-pass-too-far
Van Zyl's here we come....
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