Day 9 â?? 7th June 2008 : Naute Campsite to Eiland resort (Upington)
Route: Naute Campsite, C12/ (S27 03 15.0 E17 51 54.3), C12, C37, Canyon Roadhouse, Hobas (fish river viewsite), C37, C10, B1, C10, Karasburg, B3, Ariamsvlei, N10, Upington
Distance: 570km
Accomodation cost: R 404.00 for 5 bed unit with faulty shower and very little hot water
The feline that slept in my mouth, pawed and scratched at my brain, sending shockwaves of light behind the ocular nerve, forcing my eyes to open in an involuntary spasm. I would have spent the rest of the day there in the confined warmth of my sleeping bag if the choice lay within my brain, but the nerve that was controlled by my bladder had the upper hand. I needed to raise the level of the dam and I needed to do it NOW. I half crawled half stumbled out of my tent and reached the point of no return, just in time, otherwise clean undies day would have taken on an entirely new perspective. Poppi and Funacide stirred. This was a first â?? I was up before them. May those that distilled the contents of that green bottle and empty â??gif kannetjieâ?, which stood a silent but very empty sentry the whole night on the table in front of me, burn in a very hot place forever.
Funacide decided that our favourite brew would solve things but while filter coffee may just contribute to world peace the loose ballbearing in my brain was having none of it. Stronger measures were called for and I popped a few Panadoâ??s
The blind leading the blind. ;D >
;D
Naute campsite can be recommended to any traveler in this region. Itâ??s not listed in the directories or on the Garmin maps. We picked it up from Tracks 4 Africa. Itâ??s run by a senior lady and her husband, on lease from Nam Water. Although they are still in the process of building showers, their rates are super cheap, a little kiosk sells the essentials including firewood and ICE â?? another evil contibutor to my woeâ??s that morning
We took so many pictures of the dam
Our first watercrossing of the trip â?? we had to have a picture of this event
A grave in the middle of no-where left more questions than it gave answers. The baby was only 6 months old in 1933 when itâ??s short life ended. It appeared to have been tended recently
Quoted from a poster on the wall:
â?¦we suddenly come across a sign-board with a sad smiley asking: thirsty? It has us wondering. What is it there for? No idea. Then, another Smiley: hungry? Now we are getting interested. Soon there is sign number 3 with a twinkling Smiley: feeling sleepy? Expectations, Excitement. And joy: Smiley number 4 is grinning happily and announces a roadhouse
We had reached Canyon Roadhouse
The restaurant offers home baked meals and the toasted chicken mayo we all ordered was top class. We the events of the previous evening still fresh in our memories and the added discomfort of the cold weather we wisely forestalled the idea of our morning frosty and ordered successive cups of filter instead
There are a few rooms available and a campsite with two ablution blocks caters for travelers like ourselves
The viewpoint to the Fish River Canyon was at Hobas and although our cash was running out we decided to fork out the R 60.00 entrance fee each. The viewsite was 10km away and ignoring the 60km/h speed limit â?? WTF ?? â?? the road was well over 10m wide, we reached it in no time
This is a Namibian gem and pictures just cannot do this place justice. We tried to capture the majestic nature and failed dismally. Bragging with our bikes was the next best thing and soon like directors of a photoshoot company vie-ing for the 1st prize we all lined up our boneyâ??s hoping for that award winning million dollar (Not Namibian) Pulitzer prize photo.
The road from Hobas to Ai Ais, although unsettling due to the unpredictable gusting wind was just another treat added to growing collection of memories on this trip.
Namibia produces opportunity upon opportunity for the most fantastic sights. Aaaah.. the wonders of mass storage��
A sea of Orange approached, some mates on a 2 week journey from Cape Town to the Northern reaches of Namibia, one of them â?? Bandito, a forum member. Being selfless travelers like ourselves, they were only too eager to share the contents of their â??gif kannetjieâ? and had both our groups not had some distance to cover that day (they hoped to reach Bettaâ??s) a right royal party may have ensued.
One thing which is most critical to take note of is the distances on the Namibian maps we used. They are NOT accurate, so do not plan your petrol against them â?? always leave a 50km odd buffer. The last dirt section to Karasburg was about 20km longer than the map indicated. Although this was the worst error, we found quite a few discrepancies on the route ito distance and deviationsâ?¦â?¦
Leaving the Namibia soil at Ariamsvlei was a non-event and even the SA Police on the RSA side just waved us through. Funacide was concerned that his missing number plate would cause problems, but I doubt if they even noticed.
With the sun setting on the horizon, Fun and Poppi consulted their GPSâ??s looking for lodgings for the night in Upington. They had heard about the â??Eilandâ? resort and were looking for info. I phoned Mrs Plothond and she found us a unit.
Imagine our disgust when the bloody place had no shower. The industrious Funacide was having none of this nonsense and soon, together with the â??solver of all bikers problemsâ? â?? DUCTAPE, he had a shower setup. Our joy was shortlived thoughâ?¦â?¦, there was no water pressure, the water was lukewarm and the friggen pipe leaked like a sieve. Damn this place, all we were looking forward to was a hot shower and now this. We resorted to boiling numerous kettles and ended up rolling around in a few cmâ??s of tepid water in order to get the last few days encrusted dirt off our bodies.
We watched a movie and surprisingly only 1 wizzo each before the sheets started calling
