The Beauty of the land God made in anger.

[LMG]

The Land that God Made in Anger was the title of an award-winning novel by John Gordon Davis about Namibia.  It was the beauty of this Land that God Made in Anger that I again came to appreciate and admire after a season of exceptionally good rains.

I must have done something right last year since I again was invited for a series of lectures by the Institute of Security and Strategic Studies at the University of Namibia.  And, like last year, I requested UNNAM to fund my road trip instead of buying me a return air ticket.  Here is my trip report of last year - https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=119077.0

Last year, I did the eastern part of Namibia, riding to Windhoek via gravel roads east of the B1 and my initial idea was to plan a good ride for this year west of the B1.  Then I heard that the Augrabies Waterfalls are in flood and I decided to go and have a look whilst I’m riding that way.  Looking at the map, doing my time & space appreciation, I just knew that there wasn’t enough time to do the western route and, as a result, I did the eastern route again this year.  I was not to be disappointed.  Last year was one of the driest in recorded Namibian history.  And the contrast with what I experienced this year was simply unbelievable.

Let me get the show on the road: Leaving Saldanha on Wednesday afternoon I pointed the lady’s nose north and run with the wind in the general direction of Loeriesfontein.  The stop-and-go on the N7 is irritating, but I eventually arrived in Loeriesfontein at around 17h30.  Hinksding and his “buddy” offered me a bed for the night.  En ek sê nooit nee vir Boesmanlandvleis, goeie geselskap saam met ‘n rooietjie nie.  

But it was tar road all the way to Loeriesfontein - https://goo.gl/maps/Xw2gd.

And I was thinking about the efforts Herman invested in a WD gathering that I’m going to miss in Lambertsbay.

Clanwilliam and the dam from Bak-se-rug.

Stop-go!!!!

Playing with the camera whilst waiting for the road to open.

The Vanrhyns Pass is still one of the most interesting to ride with a two-wheeler.

From the top.

Heading to Loeriesfontein.  Should say, the tar road between Loeriesfontein and Niewoudtville is not far from total disintegration.  And the amout of prosopis juliflora trees in the area is quite alarming.  But the scenery is good.  Loeriesfontein is one of those jewels of the Northern Cape.  The people exceptionally friendly and helpful, but more about that on the second day of the trip.

Hingsding and his “buddy” before I left the next morning.

 

[Oom Foe-rie]

Nog n RR wat my gaan laat droom .......................... :thumleft: :thumleft:

 

[Bundu]

nice pics!

I thought I was the only one "suffering" through that piece of road last/this week  :biggrin:

 

[troos]

:sip:

 

[Mev Vis Arend]

Hier gaan ek ook inteken. 

 

[DCR]

Nog, nog.

 

[COLES]

thank u for sharing great area

 

[LMG]

My route for the day two: gravel from Loeriesfontein to Kakamas, the Augrabies Waterfalls and then a time and space appreciation on where to sleep for the night.  It eventually turned out to be Upington  https://goo.gl/maps/Tp5ko

Thus, leaving Hingsdink’s house I stop at the Spar for some emergency rations.  As a rule, I never tackle these long gravel roads on my own without some emergency rations.  One never knows what may happen.  

Stopping in front of the Spar, though, a guy by the name of Ivan stopped behind me.  

The conversation that follows was more or less along the lines of -
He: “Where are you heading?”
Me: “The gravel road to Kakamas.”
He: “Thought so. Are you stocked up on tyre repair equipment? I’m heading that way to the Soutpanne and I'll wait for you.”

Ivan turned out to be from Vredenburg and is also riding a GS.  An all-round great guy with a true biker spirit.  

I quickly popped into the shop, stopped at the garage for the right tyre pressure, and tackled the road.

The road: Wow, people who are impressed with the Ceres-Karoo and the road between Ceres and Sutherland / Calvinia should try this little girl.  Besides the fact that I was left with two punctures and a couple of tankslappers, she really succeeded in impressing me.  I always thought I know where the Boesmanland is and how the place looks like.  But I ended up with a way more respect for the place and its people.  To be a farmer in that area you need to have steel hair on your balls.  I developed a whole new understanding for concepts like space, nothing, openness, vastness, etc.  At one point, when I thought I can’t be too far from Kakamas, I stopped to asked a boervrou how far I still had to go: “O meneer dit is presies 141km van hier.”  With a total distance between Loeriesfontein and Kakamas of 295km it, in essence, meant that I was more-or-less halfway.  Dit is so wyd soos die Heer se genade.

Of course, every time I stopped with a punctured tyre, Ivan and his well-oiled team stopped behind me.

I arrived in Kakamas at around 13h00.  Dead tired from standing on the girl with this lean body of mine for the whole morning, I stopped for a pie and coke.  

Begging, according to Wikipedia is “… the practice of imploring others to grant a favour, often a gift of money, with little or no expectation of reciprocation. Beggars may be found in public places such as transport routes, urban parks, and near busy markets.”  Well, let me tell you – begging is a profession, no – a sport, in Kakamas.  Kids from around seven to the elderly; everybody is begging.  I felt guilty about eating a pie and drinking a coke in public.  Hul kyk die kos uit jou mond uit!  The only ones not begging are those that are too drunk.  Something is wrong with this country …

From there I headed west towards the Augrabies Falls.  I haven’t been there since I was a kid.  And with the river relatively high, it was quite spectacular.  Since they are selling beer at the little shop at the Falls, I just lay low for a while and enjoy a couple of cold ones.

I ended up sleeping in Upington in a guest house.  I found the guest houses in the area to be quite pricey.  


 

 

[Rynet]

Lovely LMG .  :thumleft:

Love your language use  :biggrin: : "So wyd soos die Here se genade"

"Begging is a profession, no a sport in Kakamas" 

"Hulle kyk die kos uit jou mond "  :imaposer:

Fantastic that these kindly souls rode as voluntary back up  :thumleft:, I suppose friendliness in that area is partly a survival skill. Looking forward to the rest .  :ricky:

 

[Bie]

Mooi man. Ek lees lekker.

Nooit besef jy is so 'n kortgat nie Hingsding.  ot:  :imaposer:

 

[Rynet]

Ja Bie , self so gekyk.  :biggrin: Hings het nog nooit so kort gelyk nie  , lyk of hy op sy kniee staan .  :imaposer:

 

[Malibu]

*sub*

 

[Dirty Boy]

Following this LMG, great story and pics.

Please tell more of punctures. That road looks so well scraped and 'clean', that I doubt it was thorns. Was the puncture a slice from a sharp rock ? Slow deflate or instant ?

 

[LMG]

Following this LMG, great story and pics.

Please tell more of punctures. That road looks so well scraped and 'clean', that I doubt it was thorns. Was the puncture a slice from a sharp rock ? Slow deflate or instant ?

The road looks very nice - agree.  The first part isn't too bad, although, it has these grys klippies that are bad news for tyres.  It's used mostly by farmers and has clear tracks.  If you stay on / within these tracks you ought to be quite safe.  I picked up a rusted nail in the tyre on that part of the road.

The middle section of the road is well-used by lorries from the salt and gypsum mines in the area.  The road looks very nice and its probably not too bad for the lorries.  It has no tracks and has a fine layer of very fine sand on it.  If I say fine sand, I imply a waterish type of dust that is very good in hiding potholes of significant size.  Bad shit ...

The last part is just bad, not properly maintained and there is a lot of sizable stones and loose sand.  Its ridable but I pick up a puncture of sizable note - probably a sharpish type of klip.

In all, it is quite doable.  But as a lone-rider it is risky if you're not properly prepared.  And it keeps on and on and on . . .  Is this the typical adventure type of road?  Probably, otherwise I would not have done it. :biggrin: Better than sitting on the tar road via Calvinia, Brandvlei (Fire Valley!) etc.    

 

[LMG]

Day 3: Filling up Friday morning, I left Upington around 08h00.  En-route to the garage I notice a number of adventure bikes also leaving for the border. I made a quick stop at the gate of 8 SAI Bn for a photo for a friend of mine.  

In the process I forgot to draw cash to pay for fuel on the Namibian part of the trip.  Halfway on the road towards the Nakop border post I remembered that I should have drawn some cash.  Not to worry, I'll get it at Ariamsvlei: mental note.

I caught up with a friendly group of fellow WDs at the border post and was very tempted to accept their invitation for a worsie op die kole for breakfast somewhere on the road towards Karasburg.  After a quick reality checked, though, I realised that I still have a long way to go for the day and that I will probably not finish the braai before about 12h00.  Thus, after a quick limelight celebrity photo session under the auspices of a friendly all-round Namibian lady (border official), I said my goodbyes and pointed the two-wheeler’s nose towards Karasburg.

 

Halfway towards Karasburg I turned right on to the D209.  Typical Namibia, the road was great and let the old lady speak.  

After about 20-30 mins of really nice gravel riding, I made a mistake of continuing with the D258 instead of turning right on to the D209.  (Trust technology – the Zumo was correct!!!)  As is quite clear from the map, the D258 criss-crosses a little plaas river and it was a good raining year in Namibia.  Real technical riding for about an hour!

I eventually turned left on the C11 towards Aroab.  An open road and in true Namibian style you had to remind yourself from time to time not to push it too high into the numbers.  The scenery was truly Kalahari.  Red dunes starting to make their appearance and I had my first taste of dune riding – approach with speed and the front wheel slightly in the air as you go down on the other side.  Dangerous stuff; but freaking nice!!

Then I arrived at Aroab.  Looking for the single petrol pump in town, I realised all of a sudden that I have not drawn the money that I had to at Ariamsvlei.  F@rk!!!  Its public holiday in Namibia and the only ATM in town is safely locked away in the only shop in town that is also closed for the day.  And no, they do not accept cards of any sort.  Eventually I counted R173 of los sente out of my wallet.  Probably enough to reach Koës.  My good friend Rikus is the owner of the garage in Koës.  I’ll be safe if I can reach Koës.
The best story of Aroab, though, is the pompjoggie with his one arm.  I asked him about his arm.  A couple of pregnant seconds follow and then he said to me: “Menee, a moutorkar is nes so gevaarlik soos hierie masjien va meneer. Ek het hom al 18 jaar ‘trug onne a kar verloor”.    

The road between Aroab and Koës is probably the best gravel road that I’ve had the honour to ride thus far in my life.  Exceptional!  Twisties and turns; ups and downs. Lekker.

I arrived in Koës around 14h00.  Rikus’ personnel told me he left early the morning – “seker om te ga jag, meneer”.  He has an accessible ATM behind bars at his kiosk.  I filled the beast up, draw enough cash to last me till Windhoek and after a quick coke & lunchbar, I tackled the road towards Gochas.  

The last 20kms between Koës and Wegdraai is an absolute must ride for any adventure rider https://goo.gl/maps/4cZJH  One dune after the other.  Just keep left sign boards. Orgasmaties!

Turning left at Wegdraai, the road takes you into the Auob valley all the way towards Gochas.  I had a proffie many years ago that liked to use the Engfrikaans word ‘spektakulêr’.  Well, I’ll describe that road as spektakulêr after this year’s rain in Namibia.  

Riding into Gochas I considered sleeping over at the hotel.  However, a good friend of mine is the predikant in Gochas and I knew Gustav will never forgive me if he found out that I have slept over at the hotel – a couple of hundred metres from his house.  Of course, he immediately invited me in and it wasn't very long before I had a Tafel in my hand and a fire going to keep the conversation going.  An outstanding evening with quality people, quality geselskap, and a quality environment.  The kind of things that give meaning to life.  

The route for the day: https://goo.gl/maps/o4awZ

 

[snortjoppie]

Wow, 

Makes me wanna go visit the wives family in Namibia even more. They can go with the car and I'll take the bike!  :drif:
Looks awesome out there!  :thumleft:

 

[The Badger]

Very lekker pics and RR....... On my bucket ist for sure.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Chorse]

Thanks for sharing  :thumleft: great pics.

 

[Mev Vis Arend]

Jo, hoe verlang ek nou.  Ons kuier gereeld by vriende in daardie omgewing.  Dankie vir 'n baie mooi rr en fotos. 

 

[Rynet]

The best story of Aroab, though, is the pompjoggie with his one arm.  I asked him about his arm.  A couple of pregnant seconds follow and then he said to me: “Menee, a moutorkar is nes so gevaarlik soos hierie masjien va meneer. Ek het hom al 18 jaar ‘trug onne a kar verloor”.    

Haha very funny. I can just picture him saying this. :imaposer:

:sip: