NAMIBIA uber alles - by POPFUNPLOT

[Mungo Park]

so many fantastic places...so little time.Well done :drif:

 

[iep_kruger]

here's a question to al 3 of you,,,,

of all the stuff you packed and took with,,,,

what was the best thing

and what was the worst

 

[Lito]

I won't be surprised if you set a distance record for bike to bike towing.

I know someone who towed further than that... in similarly trying conditions...  :



Great report guys - fantastic. Plottie - you make an episode of getting up to take a pee, as exciting as being stampeded by a herd of buffalo -  ;D ;D ;D

Congrats. Truly great report there lads, one for the books.

 

[redtiger]

Dam guys!!!!  a exellent ride report it raises the bar on penmanship very entertaining and informative :salut: ... Respekt

 

[Stofstreep]

:drif: :drif: :drif:

Very nicely done and some great photography there!!!
As said: One of the must do trips.

 

[popipants]

here's a question to al 3 of you,,,,

of all the stuff you packed and took with,,,,

what was the best thing

and what was the worst

If you are going camping, then remember your camping chair!!! Very small and light to pack. But worth while.

I took closed shoes, which was stupid, should have taken sandals. If you spend all day in riding boots the last thing you want is to put on shoes.

I did not use any of my spares, but I will take it again. Only used the duck tape to build the shower  ;D ;D

We all carried extra water (and emergency food), which we used!!! Very important item. If you had to get stuck out at night you are going to need it. Near Twyfelfontein we rode for hours without seeing a single person. If you ran into trouble there you are going to need water!!! Even if you are 30 km from a town...try walking 30km without water.
When we spend the night next to the road the closest water was 70 km away at Mile 108. But 70 km can be very far if your bike is broken.


Take lots of fuses. I only took a spare for each type. Now thinking about it, it was silly.
Normally if a fuse blows there is something wrong, so you are going to have to do some fault finding and that might involve blowing more fuses.

Plotty used about 8-10 to try and find the fault.

And a tip for the BMW riders....deflate your tires!!!
I only did mine on day 4 and it makes a massive difference on the 1150. Not only from a sand riding point of view, but it helps a lot if you go over "sink plate". The whole bike seems to take the bumps more easily. I deflated mine to 1.8 and to 1.6 going through the river bed.
I cannot comment on the KTM's but Fun and Plotty did not deflate theirs.

 

[popipants]

Some more pics

Look closely there are some springboks in the background.

 

[Adventure MX]

A Brilliant report, Guys.

Well worth the wait and the read.  Plottie, you are definitely an excellent story teller.  I really enjoyed the photo's, which brought back many memories when I did a trip on a similar scale with 4x4's.

Would love to do this trip on a bike one day.

 

[funacide]

Some of my favourite pics from the trip.....

Campsite day2

Davy joining us leaving Windhoek

The views around Windhoek are simply awesome.

Poppi in the river bed

Plottie looking tired after a visit from Mr Jameson

Road to the White Lady with 2 adventure bikes in view...

Near white lady

Near white lady

Another river bed and I was loving it...

Probably the best camp site we had the whole time (they just ran out of beer  :xxbah

Plothond coming down the road Near Twyfelfontein

Poppi coming down the road Near Twyfelfontein

Salt Road

Dune 7 with Poppie on it... Damn he looks tiny

The road about 40 km's outside Walvis

Solitaire and the old bike with my beautiful baby...

A road after Sesriem the way it should look with 2 adventure bikes on it.

Naute dam and a ghost is floating above the fire  ;D

The dam wall at Naute made for some good pics, one of hundreds...

The 2 KTM's looking stunning in the light

A flock of birds taking off over Naute Dam

Sunrise Naute Dam

Sunrise Naute Dam

Plottie getting it sideways after some thick sand at the end of our dirt for the trip

Poppi getting it sideways after some thick sand at the end of our dirt for the trip

Damn it is time to go back and spend some more time in the north....

 

[funacide]

here's a question to al 3 of you,,,,

of all the stuff you packed and took with,,,,

what was the best thing

and what was the worst

All the new technical bits, I would take with again. The best of these was the wanking siphon pipe, the MSR fuel bladder and the water bag.

The worst for me were the Oxford soft panniers, after 2 days of dirt riding the seams were ripping and they are such a bitch to get stuff in and out of. The Kappa bags that Plottie had seemed much better and Poppi's hard panniers even better.

As far as clothes go, I would agree with Poppi, take sandals they would pack easier and be more comfortable in the evening...

Oh and i wished I had a beanie there.

All in all though, these minor irritations are forgettable in a place like Namibia....

The only thing I would have changed is the fact that Plottie could not be with us on one of the days. I don't regret the bike breaking and spending the night in the desert or the towing (all part of the experience) but the day he had to spend in Windhoek rather than riding with us was unfortunate....

 

[wino]

that is one lekker report! thanks guys, loved reading it over a few days. now pofunplot, you've ticked this one, where to next?

 

[popipants]

that is one lekker report! thanks guys, loved reading it over a few days. now pofunplot, you've ticked this one, where to next?

I vote Zambia!

 

[Adventurer]

I have a solution to that fuse problem, I'll post it with pics in the tech section asap.

 

[Plothond]

that is one lekker report! thanks guys, loved reading it over a few days. now pofunplot, you've ticked this one, where to next?

I vote Zambia!

You're evil !!!!!!!!!

 

[Plothond]

To answer some queries here and some PM's received:

Costs:
1. The daily camping / accomodation costs costs are listed in the heading info of each day
2. The border costs are also given, ditto
3. Fuel varied from bike to bike, but the KTMS used generally the same. The 1150GS used about 7 to 12% less fuel
A table is attached for the KTMS and the total cost for the 1 bike on the trip was about R 2 900.00. The attached table is indicative of an average and not total cost as my bike was towed for 260km
4. Food varied. The first night cost about R 100.00 for the 3 of us. The meal at Joe's Beerhouse was about R 120.00 each. I would say on average, dinners never cost more than R 50.00 each. Lunches were on-the-go affairs and if we had to average out the cost, it's unlikely that lunch cost us more than R 30.00 each per day. We only ate "breakfast" at an establishment 6 times, the other 4 mornings were either left- overs or we waited till lunch. This then averaged out at about R 35.00 per day. All in all the daily cost worked out at about R 115.00 p/p/p day

Alchohol is expensive - Work on an average of R 9.00 per beer and Whiskey cost anything from R 170.00 to R 250.00 per bottle


Clothing:
I'm learning to pack less and less. This is a bike trip afterall - not a fashion trip

Including what I wore: (bearing in mind that this was a "winter" trip)

3 T shirts and one long sleeved shirt (could have taken 1 T shirt less)
1 Thermal vest
1 Thin fleece type top - pull over type (K-Way)
1 Thick Fleece type top - zip up (K-way)
1 Riding jacket - EVO. I took the liners out and used the above for warmth.
Thin rain cover for the EVO jacket. I did not take my larger more bulky Nitro rainsuit
3 Underwear
1 pair shorts
1 Tracksuit pants
1 Riding pants
3 pairs socks
1 Buff
1 Balaclava
1 Hat
1 pair sandals - shoes would have been too bulky and were not necessary
1 MSR flanny type towel.


The hat is an absolute must, even in winter. Winter trips in desert type area's are difficult as it is hot in the day and cold at night. I reasoned that winter riding gloves would not be necessary as we would stop before it cooled down. There was not space for two pairs so the pain experienced on the last morning was unfortunate.
I may just take a second thicker buff for the cold mornings.

Something to form a pillow is highly reccommended


Equipment & sundry:

A groundsheet (even if you have a tent) is VERY important and has numerous uses
Spare batteries. Can be bought everywhere but appeared to be flat or not so efficient - rather take your own
Even if you have a lighter, take a spare or some matches
The mini gas lamp we took with was indispensible and much more portable. The idea of using the bikes battery and a LED light or flourescent is good, but I would take the gas lamp again - it was more versatile and not tied to a lead
Mosquito stuff - even in winter

Often rides and groups that are formed out of the Wilddog forum put relative strangers together. This means that we often only have each others real names and maybe a contact number. This could be a real problem in an emergency situation.
Contact details â?? attached to this post is a sample of a form we used to gather each others relevant emergency contact and medical details.

Checking documents â?? it would be disaster if we reached the border and one riders documents were either forgotten or incomplete. We physically took out all our docs, passports etc and displayed for the other to see

Be self sufficient, but certain kit can be shared. We ended up with 2 tripods â?? this was possibly unnecessary. Certain spares can be shared such as lubricants etcâ?¦ We also had hopelessly too many pots with us

Maps and GPSâ??s. When you go to unknown territory, the more info the better. Our primary source of hardcopy routing were the â??Infomapâ? series. These are excellent for travel and contain a wealth of usefull data. HOWEVER, they are NOT to be used as a sole source of info. In one instance the km distance on a vital link was not displayed, causing us to read the map incorrectly. This nearly resulted in us running out of fuel on the Trans Kalahari Highway. In another instance the distance was displayed incorrectly.

Our incorrect routing around the Doros crater was partially as a result of the GPS tracking North once you stop. Set your GPS to track â??UPâ? when doing this type of riding (even when stationary)

 

[Zeff Cowboy]

Excellent report manne.

Baie mooi

 

[popipants]

I have a solution to that fuse problem, I'll post it with pics in the tech section asap.

CANBUS
;D ;D ;D

 

[Colyn]

That rider list is really a good idea ... thanks for sharing.

 

[Carnivore]

That rider list is really a good idea ... thanks for sharing.

+1099  ... I will adopt that little piece of paper as a matter of course right this very instant... It is also a darn good idea to put a "who am I" laminated card in your jacket sleeve window.... unconsious ppl cannot speak... 

 

[Lootch67]

Awesome report guys! Thanks for making the effort to write it up proper. Believe me, it will sustain you for a long time! Or drive you to drink but hey, it's a chance worth taking.