Day 7 â?? 5th June 2008 : Municipal Chalets to Sesriem
Route: (Funacide & Poppipants) Swakopmund, B2, Walvis Baai, C14, Solitaire, C19, C19/D826 split, D826, Sesriem
Route: (Plothond â?? bike) Windhoek, B1, Rehoboth, C24, C24/C14 split, C14, Solitaire, C19, C19/D826 split, D826, Sesriem
Distance: (Funacide & Poppipants) 377 km
Distance: (Plothond) Bus trip 375km, Bike 340km
Fuel: (Funacide & Poppipants)WalvisBay, Solitaire
Fuel: (Plothond) Windhoek, Rehoboth
Accomodation costs: R 300.00 for site, 150.00 per person, Firewood R 25.00 per bag
Funacide & Poppipants:
Plothond:
Funacide:The Bus that would collect Plottie and take him to Windhoek would be arriving soon and we arose with much with much concern about the possible loss of one of the members of the trip. After a quick stop at the Wimpy for some much needed coffee (yes, Mr Jameson came to visit the previous evening with some friends from Windhoek Breweries) and the regular police roadblock just outside Swakopmund, we headed off to see Dune 7 near Walvisbay. The pictures do not do it justice and this is the seventh biggest.......
Back into Walvis to fill up the bikes, fuel bladders and to make a call to check on Plotties progress. Walvis stinks bad of old fish and it was good to leave the place. The morning air along the coast was freezing cold, but within 20 km's of leaving Walvis, temperatures were getting close to 30 degrees.
We travelled along the straight road until a large rock outcrop appeared on the horizon, a stunning place with a big permit required sign at the entrance. The discussions along the way frequently move to the topic of whether we would see Plottie again before the end of the trip.
The lonely tree along the side of the road begged to be stopped at and it was with great disappointment that we saw all the litter that humanity had left behind.
Strangely, but thankfully we had cell-phone reception and chatting to Plottie, he delivered the good news that he will be leaving Windhoek shortly, we make a plan to meet later that day in Solitaire. The spirits were high after that news and the pace seemed to pick up on our way to Solitaire.
Kuiseb Pass is stunning and the pics just don't do it justice.
The classic pic of the Tropic of Capricorn was duly taken and along the way again our thoughts wandered to Plottie, where was he and was he going to meet us tonight...
The scenery changed to grassy plains with mountains all around, the contrasts from the morning in the dessert is amazing and we wanted to stop every 10 minutes to take pics but we pushed on to Solitaire. Earlier that morning we had wondered what size the town of Solitaire would be and what shops it would have. Well, we were answered very quickly with a petrol stop, general dealer (yes they sell beer), a lodge and a campsite.
A few beers were consumed, meat was procured for the eveningâ??s braai and a phone call to Plottie determined that we would only meet at Sesriem camp site later that night.
We arrived at the campsite and were shocked at the price, N$300 for the campsite (with broken braai-grid) and N$150 per person for the camping, they then wanted to charge a further N$190 for the privilege of going to view the nature reserve. We contemplated going to stay at the campsite down the road but remembered just in time that we were meeting Plottie later that night.
The German hitchhikers that we had met at reception and the biker from New Zealand (who is traveling from Cape Town to London on his own on a Honda CTX 200) decided to go and camp down the road near the riverbed.
Our advice: AVOID SESRIEM. It is downright robbery and the facilities are nowhere near the standard of the others we experienced. Rather plan to stay at Solitaire in the North or Bettaâ??s in the South
Plothond:The cellphone alarm woke me at 5:30 am and I got my kit together and took it up to the main gate in two trips. Funacide accompanied me and he spent the next 45 minutes reminiscing about his military days in Namibia. The time passed quickly and just as he left to go back to the bungalow, the shuttle arrived.
The driver invited me to sit next to him which was a good idea as Iâ??m sure the smell of a three day old T-shirt was not too good amongst the other passengers. He was very chatty but by Usakos I wanted time to myself and purchased a newspaper. The rest of the trip to Windhoek passed quickly and by 12:00 I was dropped off in front of the KTM dealer.
My bike had arrived about an hour earlier and was already stripped down by the time I had entered the workshop.
Mike, the owner found the problem soon enough.
Some will recall that about two weeks previously I had removed the crashbars to fit those â??famousâ? highway pegs. I had not supervised their re-fitment and when one of my welders had refitted the bars, he had inadvertently pinched the wires than run down the frame to the rear lamda sensor. The fall on that road 2 days earlier had shifted the crashbars and shorted the wires against the frame.
I was angry, but also relieved. I had faith in the bike again as this was entirely â??user errorâ? and my adventure could proceed.
The 80km tar road to Rehoboth passed in a flash and 260km of dirt lay ahead to Sesriem. I had done 140km whilst urging myself on, almost dangerously, when eventually the last remnants of daylight disappeared.
I stopped, got off the bike, cleaned my visor and had a drink of water and checked the map one final time. I was on a pass in unfamiliar territory and had roughly 120km to go on the famous Namibian dirt.
I noticed a new SMS had come through earlier but ignored it. Maybe it was just as well as it was from Funacide and went along the following lines:
Do not come to Sesriem, the road has loose sand and will be dangerous at night
I would be lying if I said the trip to Sesriem was easy. I maintained a speed of 80 to 85km/hour, any faster was downright dangerous given the type of roads and even with the visibility afforded by the HID globes. It was cold and by the time I got into camp it was close on 8pm.
There was still a bit of fun to be had and Poppipants got out his glow sticks ;D ;D ;D
I was happy to be with my friends again