The Southern Namibian Raid - pissing on sand
- Thread starter MickeyT
- Start date
MickeyT
Race Dog
Kolmanskop final
1. This shot will not be everybody's cup of tea. I edited it with lots of contrast and structure to try and get rid of the footprints, but also to try and show off the woodwork.
The last two shots was taken in the hospital wing.
1. This shot will not be everybody's cup of tea. I edited it with lots of contrast and structure to try and get rid of the footprints, but also to try and show off the woodwork.
The last two shots was taken in the hospital wing.
Attachments
Those are some really nice photos! Love Kolmanskop. If any of you ever get the chance (and permit) to go to Elizabeth bay, you must do it. Photographer's paradise.
But I digress.
I'm really enjoying your report, keep it coming. :ricky: :thumleft:
Welcome to the forum! :thumleft:
If you or Kabous GS or Willem or SOMEONE can post that soundclip of Mickey's snoring, we could all give you our opinions as well?! :laughing7:
But I digress.
I'm really enjoying your report, keep it coming. :ricky: :thumleft:
ABie said:
Welcome to the forum! :thumleft:
If you or Kabous GS or Willem or SOMEONE can post that soundclip of Mickey's snoring, we could all give you our opinions as well?! :laughing7:
Pilchie
Race Dog
Beautiful pics and loving the report
MickeyT
Race Dog
subie said:
Defnitief. As ek weer dié roete doen, sal ek twee aande in Luderitz en net een aand in Ai-Ais oorslaap. Daar is soveel gedeeltes van Kolmanskop wat ek nie gesien het nie, en soos jy sê - mens moet daar ronddwaal om die ware atmosfeer van die plek in te drink.
MickeyT
Race Dog
Klein Torkar said:
:lol8: Die man was te moeg om ons verder uit te trap! En ons het hom Baie gepaai met hoe goed hy die amper-valle gesave het.
Nam was on my bucket list, and I will return... it is a MUST-GO!
At the Tourist Info we got ourselves a pass for Kolmanskop
So you went in on your own? No tour with guide?
Last time we were there we were not allowed in by ourselves because people were vandalizing the place. Had to use one of the two tours given per day. Have to add this was in 2004.
So you went in on your own? No tour with guide?
Last time we were there we were not allowed in by ourselves because people were vandalizing the place. Had to use one of the two tours given per day. Have to add this was in 2004.
Jors Troelie
Race Dog
MickeyT said:
Well argued M'Lord. Nice RR so far, keep it coming. :thumleft:
MickeyT
Race Dog
Day 3 part 2…
So when I eventually met up with the other guys it was just past 11 and some of them had lekker skoonma-dunlippie-sindroom. Here Willem bode us farewell and promised to meet up with us at either Canyon Roadhouse or Ai-Ais.
Now most of you most probably wondered by now where the “pissing on sand” in my title fit in… See, Abe is a good buddy, but he is like a Jack Russel – not the aggressive energizer-bunny type, but the pissing-on-everything-that-stands-still-type. He really did his best on relieving the drought in Namibia – such a caring bloke, that one… I could produce a whole album only on Abe watering from Namaqua pretty flowers, to Abe filling the Fish River Canyon to Abe trying to resuscitate Dead vlei and Abe pissing on the very sand that caused us to use profanities suitable in a taxi in the Cape Flats. Fekkit – I have the best scenic shots with Abe having the expression of a boerboel in long grass. But Kobus sat me down like a principal would do to a Ginger with a frog in its pocket. “Hou nou asseblief die foto’s wat nie geskik is vir n familie nie, uit enige soort ride report.” I must admit, I felt taken aback a bit – how can he even THINK that I will post the pics I had of us sharing our tents and showers with that group of female beautician students who ran out of money (and clothes)??
Tsk, tsk… Deeply hurt. Ek het ook n hart!
But I digress.
I promised them all that I will not stop to take a photo of any wild horses on our way back to Aus. Although Salty did point out a couple of horses near the road, I kept my promise.
We filled up in Aus and took the C13 to Helmeringshausen, and within 5km got our first sandy patch. Here all of us had near-offs, but the road was the most part very nice with only the odd sandy patch in the dips and (strangely) between the mountains. On a bad patch of corrugated road here, I had the only breakdown on my 1200 the whole trip – the bloody screw that you use to adjust your screen, vibrated loose and fell out somewhere. Nothing that a piece of Kobus’ washing line and later a cable tie could not fix though.
We filled up at Helmeringshausen, turned back for a couple of km and then turned into our nightmare.
The C27 to Betta. It started off ok – here and there a patch of sand and rocky bits. After a couple of km Salty had his steed on the centre stand with yet another flat front wheel. At that stage my riding buddy was pissed-off to say the least. I assumed my customary position as human paperweight, keeping the front light, while he and Kobus got the wheel and tyre off.
While examining the tube, Salty showed us a snakebite with a twist – it strangely resembled the imprint of a valve… I kid you not. Chris fished in the tyre and low and behold – produced one of Willem’s valves that he by accident dropped in the tyre on the first day. The best is – Chris made sure there was nothing in that day… Twice!
Slowly but surely the sandy patches became more, became softer and lasted longer. And so did Salty’s comms over the Sena too become more frequent: “Fooking sand again!”
Stand up, look up, open up. That works for sand, and it works well. BUT if the sandy patch lasts longer than a km in length, you have to open up a bit more every few meters to get the front nice and light, and then open up a tad more after another couple of meters… until you realise that if the GS decided to chuck you off now, it can be a bit worse than just toppling over. And bloody hell – WHY do people in bakkies not ride in a straight line in sand? Jy kry net jou dooierse voorwiel soortvan in toom dan donner die spoor wat jy gevat het na die ander kant van die pad, en begin die GS weer haar kop nukkerig rondpluk!
Every couple of meters you can see the S-shape track one of the other bikes left and you knew THAT one was close!
It was also here that Chris and I stopped to have a breather. We were fooked. I have never been so tired in my life before. (Hats off to the Amageza guys and gals!)
Eventually we got to Betta where Abe and Kobus was waiting. At this stage while we refuelled, I made the suggestion that we stay over in Betta and tackle the 140km to Sesriem the next morning. It was late afternoon and we were pretty much drained of all adrenaline. After speaking to one of the owners there, Kobus came back and told us that she said the road was much better to Sesriem, so we decided to push through. Min het ons geweet…
The scenery was breathtaking in the golden hour. I would’ve given my left nut to stop and take decent images, but we had to braap on. My choice on taking my mx helmet instead of the Airoh paid off. The mx helmet has a long peak, and we were heading straight into the setting sun. Every 50-odd km we stopped to recuperate, but we were racing the sinking sun, and lost. The last 50 km we rode in complete darkness.
What is kakker than riding a bike in the dark? Riding a bike in the dark on gravel. And even kakker than that? Riding a bike in the dark, on gravel and crossing huge sandy middelmannetjies. All of us had a couple of close calls.
We arrived at Oasis camp site just after they closed the shop, but Kobus persuaded the to open up again so we could buy fire wood, milk and Coke… for the mix.
And yet, Murphy would not leave us alone. As we parked our bikes and got out our glasses and Kobus’ 10 year old KWV brandy, two American laaities came strolling over.
Kobus pouring a stiff brandy for each of us as we see them approaching
Laaities: “So how long are you here for?” (Hands in the pocket and that kakish new type of cap on skew.)
Kobus: “Two nights”
Laaities: “Well, we have booked this site for our friends that will arrive tomorrow.”
We are now finished with our first dop
Kobus: “We have booked too, but if you can sort it out with the camp within 10 minutes and find us another spot, we’ll move. BUT…. Once we start unpacking we’re not moving. We had a hectic day and are tired. You have 10 minutes.”
I thought he was pretty nice with them. I was actually impressed with the way he handled them.
And within 10 minutes and another dop, the owner/manager stopped and told us that someone just drove in without paying or reservation and pitched their tent, and that he was on his way chucking them out. 20 Minutes and almost a bottle of brandy later, we moved two spots to where the previous occupants left us a nice big fire. That night we toasted to riding sand like gods, we toasted to friendship, we toasted to Willem in Luderitz - most probably having a green milkshake. And we toasted to sand again. (Well – Abe toasted to sand in his own way. A couple of times.)
And we saw the big red moon rise. We were in Namibia, and loving each and every second of it.
So when I eventually met up with the other guys it was just past 11 and some of them had lekker skoonma-dunlippie-sindroom. Here Willem bode us farewell and promised to meet up with us at either Canyon Roadhouse or Ai-Ais.
Now most of you most probably wondered by now where the “pissing on sand” in my title fit in… See, Abe is a good buddy, but he is like a Jack Russel – not the aggressive energizer-bunny type, but the pissing-on-everything-that-stands-still-type. He really did his best on relieving the drought in Namibia – such a caring bloke, that one… I could produce a whole album only on Abe watering from Namaqua pretty flowers, to Abe filling the Fish River Canyon to Abe trying to resuscitate Dead vlei and Abe pissing on the very sand that caused us to use profanities suitable in a taxi in the Cape Flats. Fekkit – I have the best scenic shots with Abe having the expression of a boerboel in long grass. But Kobus sat me down like a principal would do to a Ginger with a frog in its pocket. “Hou nou asseblief die foto’s wat nie geskik is vir n familie nie, uit enige soort ride report.” I must admit, I felt taken aback a bit – how can he even THINK that I will post the pics I had of us sharing our tents and showers with that group of female beautician students who ran out of money (and clothes)??
Tsk, tsk… Deeply hurt. Ek het ook n hart!
But I digress.
I promised them all that I will not stop to take a photo of any wild horses on our way back to Aus. Although Salty did point out a couple of horses near the road, I kept my promise.
We filled up in Aus and took the C13 to Helmeringshausen, and within 5km got our first sandy patch. Here all of us had near-offs, but the road was the most part very nice with only the odd sandy patch in the dips and (strangely) between the mountains. On a bad patch of corrugated road here, I had the only breakdown on my 1200 the whole trip – the bloody screw that you use to adjust your screen, vibrated loose and fell out somewhere. Nothing that a piece of Kobus’ washing line and later a cable tie could not fix though.
We filled up at Helmeringshausen, turned back for a couple of km and then turned into our nightmare.
The C27 to Betta. It started off ok – here and there a patch of sand and rocky bits. After a couple of km Salty had his steed on the centre stand with yet another flat front wheel. At that stage my riding buddy was pissed-off to say the least. I assumed my customary position as human paperweight, keeping the front light, while he and Kobus got the wheel and tyre off.
While examining the tube, Salty showed us a snakebite with a twist – it strangely resembled the imprint of a valve… I kid you not. Chris fished in the tyre and low and behold – produced one of Willem’s valves that he by accident dropped in the tyre on the first day. The best is – Chris made sure there was nothing in that day… Twice!
Slowly but surely the sandy patches became more, became softer and lasted longer. And so did Salty’s comms over the Sena too become more frequent: “Fooking sand again!”
Stand up, look up, open up. That works for sand, and it works well. BUT if the sandy patch lasts longer than a km in length, you have to open up a bit more every few meters to get the front nice and light, and then open up a tad more after another couple of meters… until you realise that if the GS decided to chuck you off now, it can be a bit worse than just toppling over. And bloody hell – WHY do people in bakkies not ride in a straight line in sand? Jy kry net jou dooierse voorwiel soortvan in toom dan donner die spoor wat jy gevat het na die ander kant van die pad, en begin die GS weer haar kop nukkerig rondpluk!
Every couple of meters you can see the S-shape track one of the other bikes left and you knew THAT one was close!
It was also here that Chris and I stopped to have a breather. We were fooked. I have never been so tired in my life before. (Hats off to the Amageza guys and gals!)
Eventually we got to Betta where Abe and Kobus was waiting. At this stage while we refuelled, I made the suggestion that we stay over in Betta and tackle the 140km to Sesriem the next morning. It was late afternoon and we were pretty much drained of all adrenaline. After speaking to one of the owners there, Kobus came back and told us that she said the road was much better to Sesriem, so we decided to push through. Min het ons geweet…
The scenery was breathtaking in the golden hour. I would’ve given my left nut to stop and take decent images, but we had to braap on. My choice on taking my mx helmet instead of the Airoh paid off. The mx helmet has a long peak, and we were heading straight into the setting sun. Every 50-odd km we stopped to recuperate, but we were racing the sinking sun, and lost. The last 50 km we rode in complete darkness.
What is kakker than riding a bike in the dark? Riding a bike in the dark on gravel. And even kakker than that? Riding a bike in the dark, on gravel and crossing huge sandy middelmannetjies. All of us had a couple of close calls.
We arrived at Oasis camp site just after they closed the shop, but Kobus persuaded the to open up again so we could buy fire wood, milk and Coke… for the mix.
And yet, Murphy would not leave us alone. As we parked our bikes and got out our glasses and Kobus’ 10 year old KWV brandy, two American laaities came strolling over.
Kobus pouring a stiff brandy for each of us as we see them approaching
Laaities: “So how long are you here for?” (Hands in the pocket and that kakish new type of cap on skew.)
Kobus: “Two nights”
Laaities: “Well, we have booked this site for our friends that will arrive tomorrow.”
We are now finished with our first dop
Kobus: “We have booked too, but if you can sort it out with the camp within 10 minutes and find us another spot, we’ll move. BUT…. Once we start unpacking we’re not moving. We had a hectic day and are tired. You have 10 minutes.”
I thought he was pretty nice with them. I was actually impressed with the way he handled them.
And within 10 minutes and another dop, the owner/manager stopped and told us that someone just drove in without paying or reservation and pitched their tent, and that he was on his way chucking them out. 20 Minutes and almost a bottle of brandy later, we moved two spots to where the previous occupants left us a nice big fire. That night we toasted to riding sand like gods, we toasted to friendship, we toasted to Willem in Luderitz - most probably having a green milkshake. And we toasted to sand again. (Well – Abe toasted to sand in his own way. A couple of times.)
And we saw the big red moon rise. We were in Namibia, and loving each and every second of it.
