KLR650 - Cape Town to Nairobi

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Following! My brother work on the overlanders that go between Cape and Nairobi. If you spot a white TATA overlander at a camping spot maybe with "G adventure" stickers on it and a guy with the name Dewet in it say hi for me. Also have a chat to him for some tips on the trip up. He does it all the time and sure will give you lots of help and tips for your trip up. Good luck and ride safe!
 
Just a quick tip, never leave a flat until the next morning, it works a lot easier while still warm, in the morning it will be cold and stiff.. :thumleft:
 
weskus said:
Just a quick tip, never leave a flat wheel until the next morning, it works a lot easier while still warm, in the morning it will be cold and stiff.. :thumleft:

Fixed your statement, before somebody misunderstands it  :bueller:

;D
 
Proper adventure part II

After getting back on the tar I continued onto vioolsdrift and made a quick run across the border to Namibia to get some fuel at noordoewer. Back in vioolsdrift I was in dubio where to stay. I had actually planned on taking one day longer on this part of the trail and I didn't really feel like spending the night in some fancy lodge. The only thing I was worried about was that the gas canister I used for cooking was running low on fuel, and I didn't know how many days I'd still have to camp for. So I decided to have diner at the vioolsdrift lodge and afterwards backtrack a bit onto the 4x4 track and put up my tent there. Sure the guys at the lodge were a bit surprised when I told them I only wanted to have a pizza there and would leave afterwards again. But when I explained it a bit more they caught my drift. I also met a guy there who was one of the top commanders in the South African army for the north and after hearing about the route I had taken and my further plans he offered to pay my beer and the pizza and gave me some further tips for my route. What a nice bunch of people. After diner I drove back to the 4x4 tracks and put up camp a little distance of the road.
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The next morning I set off early again towards the Richtersveld area. The first part of the road took me over gravel roads along the orange river with nice views over the river.
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After having this nice scenery around for a while the the 4x4 work began again and the road started following and crossing little dried up river/stream beds into the rocky mountains of richtersveld.
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This was all fun riding and after an hour or so the road turned into a more gravel kind of road, with spots of bad rocky patches
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I was enjoying the driving and enjoying the beautiful views around. Hehe, I even almost sent myself flying out of a unexpected turn because I wasn't paying attention to the road enough. From there on I paced myself a bit more and a couple of hours later I got to eksteenfontein. It was a remote village with some eery kind of feel to it. I tried to pay the park fees at some office where there was a big sign you were supposed to, but no one was there. I drove through the town and started on the Richtersveld circle route which was 'bakkie friendly' according to the sign, although the roads were still quite rough.
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This bakkie didn't survive though.
It was beautiful driving along the Richtersveld and the area really looked like some moon landscape with red and green tones. After being on the circle road for a while I noticed a little 'Toyota' sign with an arrow, similar to the sign that had been giving directions for the rest of the Namaqua 4x4 trail. I checked my gps and sure there was a 4x4 going straight through the Richtersveld meeting up with the circular road later on. I couldn't resist the temptation and set out. The roads were beautiful and I really got to appreciate the surrounding landscape even more.
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Some parts were leading through dry river beds with deep river sand, which I still find one of the most difficult terrains to navigate. I put the bike down there one time and afterwards I have to admit I peddled through most of the river sand patches. One other time though I got out of balance again and couldn't keep the bike upright after its tipping point and put it down again. When getting it back upright I did the stupidest thing and managed to drop it over to the other side again. I couldn't believe myself, but at least now I kept my average of 3 bike topples per day. I was pretty tired after the third time because all three instances happened pretty soon after each other and probably should have rested for a while. But I continued and luckily the driving went fine for the rest of the ride. Until I got to a crossing of a dry riverbed that was going to be trouble. The road led into the riverbed at an angle, and then made a sharp S-curve in the deep sand, leading straight up a sandy incline out of the riverbed on the other side. I managed to make the S-curve but what I feared happened and I didn't have enough speed going up the incline. My rear wheel dug itself into the sand and the bike got stuck.
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I tried to push it uphill out of the hole
t had dug itself, but it was no use. I then went about the hassle of unloading all the luggage and I managed to pull the bike backward out of its suspension and down the hill again. Without the luggage I then managed to push it uphill at an angle, so the incline wouldn't be so steep. After I got he bike up I decided to take my time. Have some lunch and rehydrate. When I was busy packing everything back on the bike I noticed dark clouds packing on the horizon. And sure enough soon after I got riding again it started raining. Now this was not something I had expected. To my knowledge the Richtersveld is one of the most arid regions in the world. I guess I must be lucky I got to experience the special phenomenon, hehe but at the time I was more concerned than happy. Luckily the rest of the road didn't pose any real problems except for some of the most heavy corregations I have encountered so far, and at the end of the afternoon I arrived at sendelingsdrift. I was really feeling my muscles acing and pretty tried so I didn't bother putting up my own tent fell fast asleep in one of the crappy pre-setup tents. The best morning I passed the river on the ferry and went through border control which all went pretty smoothly.
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I didn't have enough cash with me to pay the lady for the road taxes though (and I couldn't pay with card), so wouldn't give me the slip for it. I guess I'll have to pay that at the next border crossing I'll get to. The drive up from sendlingsdrift was beautiful. It followed the river for a bit more and I took a little 4x4 shortcut through some canyon and old riverbeds with which offered more stunning views and a couple of klipspringers just a bit down the tracks. That day I continued to the Ai-Ais hot springs, to relax a bit and recover from the amazing and fun adventures I had the past couple of days. Still even now when I think back at it I can't help myself from having a small smile on my face. That same day I got to meet a group of South Africans who had just completed the fish river canyon walk. We got chatting and I ended up joining them to the canyon roadhouse for some proper oryx steak.
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On the toilets they had this big wall painting and of course I had to open it to see what would happen.
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Hehe, i'm not gonna tell what happened, but it was fun 😁. Strange enough I was the only one who tried it out of the whole group, so no one realized. Haha but still actually quite a fun joke.
The next day I spent the whole day soaking in the pools, and we concluded the stay at Ai-Ais with a proper braai.
 
TheAnt said:
Following! My brother work on the overlanders that go between Cape and Nairobi. If you spot a white TATA overlander at a camping spot maybe with "G adventure" stickers on it and a guy with the name Dewet in it say hi for me. Also have a chat to him for some tips on the trip up. He does it all the time and sure will give you lots of help and tips for your trip up. Good luck and ride safe!
Cool, I will keep an eye out for him! Definitely will say hi if I get to meet him. :)

weskus said:
Just a quick tip, never leave a flat until the next morning, it works a lot easier while still warm, in the morning it will be cold and stiff.. :thumleft:

Thanks for the tip. Will remember that for next time!
 
I have had some comms with David in the mean time via SMS as I don't think he is in a position to post anything on the forum at present.

Since he left Walvisbay , he went all the way up to Epupa. From there he took the river track to Ruacana which according to him was quite an experience. Last I heard he was on his way to Grootfontein where he will get new tyres .

Not sure what he will do after that. When he was here , the plan was to go to Mozambique via Caprivi , Botswana and Zim. From there north through Tanzania all the way up to Kenya.

If I hear anything more I will post it.
 
I really enjoyed the resting at Ai-Ais but after a day of hanging around the springs I was quite ready to move on again. I first visited the fish river canyon viewpoint.
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It's a pity you're not allowed to do day hikes down. I enjoyed the view though. Quite amazing you can walk down the whole thing in 5 days. I would love to do the hike sometime in the future. After taking some more pictures I set out again towards Ludertiz. After a while the gravel road turned into tar and took me through the wide open desert landscape all the way up to the coast. I was surprised it was so cold even though the sun was shining so fiercely. Later on I learned it's the cold wind coming from the sea which cools off above the cold gulf stream that passes before the coast of Namibia. If you're standing still or moving slowly the sun is quite hot, but as soon as you start moving at a certain speed you actually cool down quite fast because of the cold air. I was actually shivering before I put in the wind tight liner in my jacket.
Along the way to Ludertiz I stopped at a small place where there used to be a gas station sometime in the past. Now it was just a deserted town in the middle of the desert. Quite eery.
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I made a quick pitstop in Aus for fuel and continued onto Ludertiz where I arrived just a bit after the sun had set.
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I stayed at the Ludertiz backpackers and was actually the only one staying there for the night so I had the whole place to myself. I took my time and cooked some proper dinner since it had been a while since I had a proper kitchen to my disposal. The next morning I went to visit kolmanskop, a little deserted diamond mining town. It was nice to learn a bit about the mining industry and the history of the area. When I got back I did some shopping and got myself a Namibian sim. I still had some time left and decided to go out towards the south of Ludertiz and drive to Diaz point to watch the sunset in the sea. Along the way I found quite a few 4x4 tracks going through the sandy dunes, so I had a lot of fun along the way. There were lots of bones scattered around and I found this skull lying somewhere. I wonder what animal this is. Could it be a hyena skull or is it rather a jackal or some other small predator?
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Along the way I also encounters two springbokkies they didn't really seem afraid funny enough and instead of making a run for it they just happily pounced ahead of the bike at a leisurely pace just 5 or 10 meters in front.
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Diaz point is a beautiful place. It was totally deserted when I got there, and there is this bridge which just consists of the start and end part, but the middle piece is totally gone.
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Quite a nice sight to have this bridge leading into nothingness. Luckily it was low tide so I could walk over to the 'point' for the sunset. It really gives a strange feeling. This place which is a meeting point of two vast places of untamed wilderness: the desert and the sea.
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I got to see a couple of seals playing around in the water just a bit further. Really nice to watch them jump out of the water and play around with my binoculars.
The next morning I drove off early to make as much headway to sesriem as possible. A 100km down the road I realized that I had left my laundry hanging in Ludertiz. Haha stupid me. So I had to turn back. Luckily the road was quite scenic and I got to see some of the horses that are roaming the desert there. They were left there by the German soldiers after the First World War and they somehow managed to survive.
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So I didn't manage to make a lot of headway that day but I still made it to sesriem the next day. The little detour along the D707 was real scenic and because I drove early in the morning the road was full of oryx and springbok. I got to measure their top speed driving along as they were running for it and some even made it up to 80km/h! Also the brown reddish mountains with the clear blue skies and gold/yellow fields is some beautiful sight. Unfortunately I didn't really manage to get it on camera.
As I arrived in sesriem I actually found out you weren't allowed to drive there on bike so I had to hitch a ride with someone. Luckily I met Hubert, a tour guide on one of the overland busses, and he allowed me to come along with them. I hung around with them the rest of the day.
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I climbed big daddy, the highest dune around.
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Saw the deadvlei.
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And we also visited the canyon which was there close by.

I got along with them really well and they suggested that if I would arrive at etosha around the same time as them I could actually drive around with them. Now that was a nice opportunity!  The first morning when we went to see the sunrise it was quite cloudy and we didn't get to see the famous sight the shade of the rising sun gives on the dunes. So the next morning I hitched a ride with a couple from holland and we still got to make the famous pictures.
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After this lighting visit early in the morning I set out again and drove to swakopmund. There I had the bike serviced by the guys from duneworx a big Yamaha workshop. I also sent a couple of things home by post, because I was carrying too much stuff around. The guys at Yamaha did a nice job and everything was looking fine when I set out the next morning. 32 km out of swakopmund the engine suddenly gave out though. At first I thought it might be the spark plug because it sounded like there was no combustion in the engine. After replace it that didn't turn out to be the case. I didn't get to doctor it out further, because by that time the battery gave out. Luckily I wasn't too far from swakopmund so I gave the guys from Yamaha a call and they picked me up. After we got to the workshop the bike was running normal again. Strange. I had noticed some fuel leaking out of the airbox earlier. So we figured that perhaps the fuel needle had gotten stuck on some dirt or something and flooded the carborator. That was our best guess since for the rest everything seemed to be working. I replaced the battery though, because obviously the old one didn't have enough grunt in it anymore since it gave out so quick when I tried to start the bike earlier. I also went to a phone shop to get the camera on my phone fixed. Because as you might have noticed there are little black specs in all the pictures I took.
The next day I was on my way again and decided to head to spitskoppe. After couple of hundred km or so the bike's engine gave out again. After closing the fuel tap and giving the carburetor a couple of knocks I was able to drain out the fuel and the bike stated again. I was really happy I replaced the battery though because I doubt if the old battery would have been able to run the starter engine long enough to get it going again. From this point onwards I don't really have any pictures because at spitskoppe I noticed that the camera on my phone was working but wouldn't focus anymore. Darn it.
The next day I headed out again because in two days I would have to be in Etosha. Along the way up I saw I was passing the waterberg plateau so I decided to pass by there before going to Etosha. I got there in the early afternoon so I was still in time to join for a afternoon safari drive and do some hiking in the area as well. The hike up the plateau gave some really nice sights of the area and during the game drive we got to see buffaloes and and a rhino from real up close at one of the waterholes. I'm really glad I got to pass by here for a bit still. I didn't want to stay at the campsite because they were charging me for a campsite plus for me as one person, and they wouldn't even let me drive up there with the motorbike because 'it was too noisy'. I passed some real deserted gravel roads earlier, so I just set up camp a bit of the road. The next morning I got up with first light and after breakfast set off again. In Otjiwarongo I made a quick stop to buy a camera, because I did't want to continue the rest of my trip without pictures. ;) I actually got one with a bit more zoom on it and it's way better than my phone's camera, especially for wildlife picture. So I guess it was a bit of a blessing in disguise.
I got to Etosha, where I left my bike at the entrance, and got a ride to okaukuejo just in time to meet up with Hubert and the French overlanders. We had lunch and in the afternoon we set out to drive around in the park.

When I started this trip I hadn't expected that I would enjoy the wildlife viewing so much. But man the time in etosha was really nice. It's really something else too see these animals in their natural habitat. Especially if you take your time and don't just rush through. Of course my time was still limited, but got to see some cool stuff and take some really nice pictures. I'm really happy I bought the new camera. The first two days I browsed through Etosha with Hubert. And then I hitched a ride back with a French couple. They wanted to see lions and in the end we found a couple with some 6 cups. I think we sat there and watched them for more then two hours, but out waiting was rewarded. First they were really far in the distance but in the end they were just playing and walking right next to the car. Amazing, and I got in some really good shots.
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GRAVELTRAVEL said:
I have had some comms with David in the mean time via SMS as I don't think he is in a position to post anything on the forum at present.

Since he left Walvisbay , he went all the way up to Epupa. From there he took the river track to Ruacana which according to him was quite an experience. Last I heard he was on his way to Grootfontein where he will get new tyres .

Not sure what he will do after that. When he was here , the plan was to go to Mozambique via Caprivi , Botswana and Zim. From there north through Tanzania all the way up to Kenya.

If I hear anything more I will post it.

Thanks for helping me and watching out for me Martin! Yes I just left grootfontein and am on my way to the caprivi now. Staying at Roy's camp. In grootfontein I needed to get some more repairs done on the bike so I was able to catch up a bit with the writing. I'm almost up to date now. Just have to tell you guys still how I ended up in walvis bay again and met Martin. ;) Hopefully I'll have some more internet access there so i can post the rest soon. For now I'm off to bed. Tomorrow morning I'm driving to Ngepi restcamp close to mahango game reserve. Goodnight!
 
Well here is David well on his way, in Namibia. I had the good fortune of bumping into him at Roy's Camp near Grootfontein. It was inspiring to see how simple his rig was. His Klr looks like it was holding out well. These kind of trips are about the human spirit. Go well David it was nice to meet you👍


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Just got another SMS from David

Quote:

I just finished the Caprivi Strip and had a little detour to Botswana and the Okavango on the way. Really nice! I'm on my way to Kasane now, so not sure how long I'll still have signal. Either way thanks for the support and help! Cheers!

Unquote
 
So I see this pic on FB this morning...... WTF happened?

 

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