Damaraland
Race Dog
Day 1
Lock-down was pretty tough on all of us. Work stress, family stress, uncertainty gnawing at your bones all day. All of us know the feeling of being cooped up, so not even going to talk about that. We managed to slip out of town and go camping in the rivers around Windhoek once or twice during lock-down, but that didn't really quench the thirst for freedom, if anything it lit the fire properly. We committed to doing a proper ride as soon as our lock-down was lifted - and what better place to go slay all the demons gnawing at you than Kaokoland. As it stands now, our coastal region is back into full lockdown so very happy we pulled the trigger when we got the chance.
We're lucky to live relatively close to and thus ride Kaokoland a couple of times a year, so we decided to do something new this time round. We were going to skip the tourist route and try to stick just to the rivers as far as possible. Those rivers that send shivers (hehe) down every adventure riders spine - the Huarusib and the Hoanib. We were going to end the trip off with a bang, riding the famous Robbie's Pass - probably the only pass in these parts that none of us have done, either by car or bike We had a public holiday in Namibia that Thursday, so it all worked out great. The preceding couple of days was spent giving the 500's a once over (service, in-line fuel filter and valve check). Very chuffed that about 160 hours in all valves still in spec. What can I say - awesome little motors.
Day 1's planned route:
We loaded the bikes the previous evening and set off the next morning at 6am
Priority was getting to Opuwo as quick as possible, so we took the tar from Windhoek to Opuwo via Outjo. Drive was uneventful apart from being stopped to have temperatures taken. Hitching a ride was my 3 year-old girl's lucky unicorn which she very graciously borrowed to me for the trip.
Due to the lock-down we couldn't do our obligatory shebeen stops so we made good time, pulling in at a deserted Opuwo Country Lodge at around 14:00. We made arrangements to leave the car and trailer there, got kitted, asked for beer & was turned down and got the hell out of dodge. Or not, we had to fill up first.
Don't let anyone give you romantic notions about Opuwo - it's a bit of a ******** and the highlight of any trip there is when you leave it. We headed out about 45km on the D3703 then turned left, following an easy route that gradually turned into nice sandy 2 track. Just lekker riding and getting into the groove, being thankful and in the moment.
We criss crossed the Huarusib for about 15km's, our first target was Otjiou, a little village where we've previously managed to snag some beers. No such luck this time. Admittedly, I was getting a bit worried that this was going to be a beer-free trip. Because we're riding the rivers we were going to miss most of our regular shebeen stops and I kind of had hopes that we would luck out here. Luckily I was wearing my helmet so nobody could see my tears of disappointment.
Then we hit the Huarusib proper, and was immediately and pleasantly surprised by the water, which was to become a bit of a feature of the ride. But more on that later.
The riding was a very nice mix of water crossing and rocky riding. Without us really realising it, Koakoland was already treating us to a full bouquet of terrain, hard-pack, sand, water and rocks. She's a harsh but beautiful mistress. After the first technical section I called a halt and we celebrated by sharing the last of my 20 year old Olaf Bergh brandy. Befok man.
Suitably and rather nicely lubricated we rumbled on down the river, coming across a fleet of Cruisers and Prado's. We hung around a bit, trying our best to look thirsty - they were friendly enough but were clearly not going to share beer with us so after a quick chat we headed on. Their intention was to also ride down the length of the Huarusib, but I think they would've had to turn around the next day, the river just wasn't passable without doing some damage to the stock standard Prado's. The leader of the group was an older chap with an air of competence about him, so reckon they would've done the right thing.
Anyhow - it was getting dark, we weren't chasing waypoints so we parked off and struck camp at a pretty cool spot next to the river. Happy days!
Note on tents: Over the years we all tried multiple tents, and without a doubt the best one at a reasonable price is the First Ascent Starlight 2. Spacious enough and packs nice and small. The fact that it only comes in orange is a bonus.
It wasn't long before we had a pretty awesome fire going, I made some pasta with sardines and braai spice, which by the way tasted way better than it had any right to. We felt pretty good and at peace with the world and all its ****. Just what is it about a proper camp fire that is so soothing?
I must admit, every so often I find myself wondering why I ride with my riding companions (cranky german and grumpy old englishman), and every so often they pull a rabbit out of the hat and remind me. Heiko pulled this bad boy out of his rucksack:
Now I'm not cultured enough to know about noses and bouquets and tannin's - but I don't think I've ever enjoyed a red wine as much as I did that and that was also probably the finest bottle of wine ever bottled to date. Trust me.
Spectacular end to a pretty great day. We hit the sack and slept like kings.
Lock-down was pretty tough on all of us. Work stress, family stress, uncertainty gnawing at your bones all day. All of us know the feeling of being cooped up, so not even going to talk about that. We managed to slip out of town and go camping in the rivers around Windhoek once or twice during lock-down, but that didn't really quench the thirst for freedom, if anything it lit the fire properly. We committed to doing a proper ride as soon as our lock-down was lifted - and what better place to go slay all the demons gnawing at you than Kaokoland. As it stands now, our coastal region is back into full lockdown so very happy we pulled the trigger when we got the chance.
We're lucky to live relatively close to and thus ride Kaokoland a couple of times a year, so we decided to do something new this time round. We were going to skip the tourist route and try to stick just to the rivers as far as possible. Those rivers that send shivers (hehe) down every adventure riders spine - the Huarusib and the Hoanib. We were going to end the trip off with a bang, riding the famous Robbie's Pass - probably the only pass in these parts that none of us have done, either by car or bike We had a public holiday in Namibia that Thursday, so it all worked out great. The preceding couple of days was spent giving the 500's a once over (service, in-line fuel filter and valve check). Very chuffed that about 160 hours in all valves still in spec. What can I say - awesome little motors.
Day 1's planned route:
We loaded the bikes the previous evening and set off the next morning at 6am
Priority was getting to Opuwo as quick as possible, so we took the tar from Windhoek to Opuwo via Outjo. Drive was uneventful apart from being stopped to have temperatures taken. Hitching a ride was my 3 year-old girl's lucky unicorn which she very graciously borrowed to me for the trip.
Due to the lock-down we couldn't do our obligatory shebeen stops so we made good time, pulling in at a deserted Opuwo Country Lodge at around 14:00. We made arrangements to leave the car and trailer there, got kitted, asked for beer & was turned down and got the hell out of dodge. Or not, we had to fill up first.
Don't let anyone give you romantic notions about Opuwo - it's a bit of a ******** and the highlight of any trip there is when you leave it. We headed out about 45km on the D3703 then turned left, following an easy route that gradually turned into nice sandy 2 track. Just lekker riding and getting into the groove, being thankful and in the moment.
We criss crossed the Huarusib for about 15km's, our first target was Otjiou, a little village where we've previously managed to snag some beers. No such luck this time. Admittedly, I was getting a bit worried that this was going to be a beer-free trip. Because we're riding the rivers we were going to miss most of our regular shebeen stops and I kind of had hopes that we would luck out here. Luckily I was wearing my helmet so nobody could see my tears of disappointment.
Then we hit the Huarusib proper, and was immediately and pleasantly surprised by the water, which was to become a bit of a feature of the ride. But more on that later.
The riding was a very nice mix of water crossing and rocky riding. Without us really realising it, Koakoland was already treating us to a full bouquet of terrain, hard-pack, sand, water and rocks. She's a harsh but beautiful mistress. After the first technical section I called a halt and we celebrated by sharing the last of my 20 year old Olaf Bergh brandy. Befok man.
Suitably and rather nicely lubricated we rumbled on down the river, coming across a fleet of Cruisers and Prado's. We hung around a bit, trying our best to look thirsty - they were friendly enough but were clearly not going to share beer with us so after a quick chat we headed on. Their intention was to also ride down the length of the Huarusib, but I think they would've had to turn around the next day, the river just wasn't passable without doing some damage to the stock standard Prado's. The leader of the group was an older chap with an air of competence about him, so reckon they would've done the right thing.
Anyhow - it was getting dark, we weren't chasing waypoints so we parked off and struck camp at a pretty cool spot next to the river. Happy days!
Note on tents: Over the years we all tried multiple tents, and without a doubt the best one at a reasonable price is the First Ascent Starlight 2. Spacious enough and packs nice and small. The fact that it only comes in orange is a bonus.
It wasn't long before we had a pretty awesome fire going, I made some pasta with sardines and braai spice, which by the way tasted way better than it had any right to. We felt pretty good and at peace with the world and all its ****. Just what is it about a proper camp fire that is so soothing?
I must admit, every so often I find myself wondering why I ride with my riding companions (cranky german and grumpy old englishman), and every so often they pull a rabbit out of the hat and remind me. Heiko pulled this bad boy out of his rucksack:
Now I'm not cultured enough to know about noses and bouquets and tannin's - but I don't think I've ever enjoyed a red wine as much as I did that and that was also probably the finest bottle of wine ever bottled to date. Trust me.
Spectacular end to a pretty great day. We hit the sack and slept like kings.
