01 February 2013 - Homeward bound

As we wanted to go past Plooysburg on our way home we left the park at 08:30 after breakfast at the restaurant.

My great-grand parents were married in Plooysburg as was many of my grand-mothers brothers and we were hoping for some photo’s of the church and surrounding area.   We were sure, on several occasions, that we had missed the town.  Only as you are literally at the entrance with “Hoofstraat” (Main Road) on the left do you see any buildings.   We did not encounter any traffic in town and only spotted one other vehicle.  The town is literally 7 houses, a post office, small police station, School, Church and a small cash Shop.  It was initially, in the 1880’s, a farm belonging to a Du Plooy, he set aside some land for the Church, under a servitude and this eventually lead to the Town being established. We took the photo’s we came for and left town towards Kimberley.

 Xx – Town Photo’s

After 2 weeks of the red Kalahari sand the green grass in Northwest almost hurt the eyes.  From Klerksdorp onwards the road was exceptionally busy and 2 long stop and go sections delayed us even further, we only reached home at 17:00.

Overview – The Northern Cape is a vast province.  In 13 days we travelled 5,008 kilometres over 71 hours straight driving time.  We did not manage to see the tip of the iceberg.  People are very friendly and most anyone will start a chat with you in the local pub and we met some fantastic people as we stayed mainly in guesthouses and really small towns.   The sun set’s very late over the desert making for long days and extended time after work for most people to visit, relax and reconnect.    We also did not self-cater often during our trip and ate supper and breakfast at the local restaurant or the guest house where we stayed.  Barring one or two mishaps, the food overall was well prepared and you definitely got value for money, especially at the coastal towns, the seafood was ridiculously well priced.  Even out of flower season the landscape is breath taking and the sand dunes of the Namib Desert will stay with us.  Many more places we would like to see like Heunighvalley, Vioolsdrift,  Boesmansgat, Luderitz and many others.  We will be back for a visit.

 

31 January 2013 - Mokola

The trip from Witsand to Mokola turned out to be another full day driving.  The road we took to Postmasburg is a rather terrible dirt road that get’s progressively worse as you get nearer to town. To make matters worse some of the shorter roads to the tarred R385 has been closed off by the expansion of the mining business in the area (Kuma Iron Ore).  This resulted in the Navigational device losing us several times as it did not recognise the road.  There was also a tense moment when we hit a ditch and all the door mechanisms released the locks as if preparing for accident conditions.

From Postmasburg we drove to Koopmansfontein.  My great-Grandfather is buried on a farm in the area and we wanted to get foto’s of the gravestones (macabre I know).  Although Jaco helped us with GPS coordinates for the farmhouse, we only discovered that the Tom-Tom does not allow the entry of longs and lats when we reached town – Fantastic planning!  All other technology, PC’s, Tablet and cellphones failed us as there is NO RECEPTION in the area.  Just when you think technology can do it all.

The SAPS in the area turned out to be super helpful.  One of the patrol vehicles approached us as the Filling Station to chat about our visit to town and where we are going.  After telling them our story, they quickly mobilised their connections in town and at the station.  One of the guys knew a farmer in the area, about my Dad’s age, that has been there for years.  The guys from the SAPS drove with us, to introduce us to Kobus Weideman, as well as do a impromptu farm visit.   After a week in the Northern Cape we knew the people to be extremely friendly and helpful, however, Oom Kobus and he’s wife were in a league of their own.

They invited us into their house, offered tea and coffee, dug out old maps and spend a pleasant 45 minutes chatting to us about the old days and possible mutual family and acquaintances.  Oom Kobus went to Delportshoop Boarding School around the same time as my Dad (he is 4 years older).  He’s paper maps also proofed to be far more efficient that our techno toys and he quickly found us Kareboom as well as indicated the new owner of the farm.

Unfortunately we ran out of time farm-hunting and as we had another 200km to go to Mokola had to abandon our search and press on. 

 Reached Mokola around 16:00.  The park is very new and at the entrance they have the game farm equivalent of an intercom.

xx - Intercom and entrance photo's

 The welcome is warm and friendly, great service and accommodation.  The units overlook a water hole and as you sit and relax all manner of animals come down to drink.  As the park has no predators the animals are not so skittish and the Warthogs with babies grazed next to the pool while we swam.

Definitely recommend the park, easily accessible, lot’s of game and a very relaxing atmosphere.

 

xx - Park photo's

30 January 2013 - Witsand

As we had to self cater at Witsand we re-provisioned in Upington and set out.  The road took us through Groblershoop again but after that was pretty much straight going, held up a bit with Stop and Go on sections being repaired and a hellish 50km dirt road.  The reception at Witsand is very friendly and had a lot of info and extra brochure’s available.

Just a magical place

 

The singing sands of Witsand is one of the Kalhari’s most eerie phenomena.  South of Olifantshoek, a 100-mere high tongue of brilliant, white sand dunes, about 9 km long and 2km white protrude from the surrounding sea of red Kalahari sand.  On the southern side of the dunes you are can hear the singing of the sand bests.  Merely moving your fingers through the surface will produce a muted roar.  The white sands consists of granules blown over a body of water, forced to the surface of the desert floor.  The water bleaches out the water oxides – and with them the red covering in the sand granules.  The removal of the red oxide coatings, the dry air and the smooth and uniform size of the granules contribute to the strange phenomenon.

We booked into the chalets – which is more of a villa.  3 rooms, 2 with single beds and 1 with a double bed.  A separate bathing area and a kitchen/sitting room to the side.

On the left is the bedrooms

In the middle the bathrooms

And to the right the kitchen and sitting room

 

We drove up to the Sand dunes to explore.  The road up to the dunes was highlighted on the map by the receptionist as a “wandel padjie” (relaxing meander).  Sadist did not tell us that this translates to climbing the dune.  Much easier said than done.  In 36 degree heat we climbed the sand dune, no water – we’re from Gauteng!  The view from the top more than compensates for the huffing, puffing, swearing, aching, leg numbing experience.

White sand dunes in the Kalahari!

To hot to sit on the sand so hiding in the shade

The "wandel paadjie" up to the dunes

"self-portrait" at Witsand

  

Had a fantastic braai.  No close neighbours, so the quite and the dark has a chance to sink into your soul.  If you want to leave behind the dead-lines, cellphones, computers and brick-a-brac of modern living and steal away a part of Africa that is restorative to the soul – this is the place to go.

29 January 2013 - Upington

Our initial plan was to spend 2 nights in Oranje Mund, but again, limited viewing in a sedan, made as re look out travel plans.  Setting out from Oranje Mund in the morning we had to again cross the Orange River into South Africa.  A bit strange, you are required to obtain a permit before entering the Sper gebied but on leaving the area, your vehicle or baggage is not searched or checked at all.  Easiest border crossing ever.

The plan was to stay in Pofadder for the night (371km from Oranje Mund) and then go on to Witsand the next day (another 308km).  While having lunch in Springbok we, very bravely, decided to push through to Kakamas – thus having a shorter trip the next day.

Well, we eventually ended up on Upington, some 700km from Oranje Mund – a full day’s driving.

BMW and Fiat was again out doing Government approved speed testing.  Just outside Pofadder a BMW M?? Came flying past us, did not see him going and just barely saw the going as he disappeared across the horizon.  This is a 198Km straight road with temperature’s reaching 42 degrees, so perfect testing areas.  There are no warning boards on the road or in town that these tests are happening, only the vehicles are marked in any way.  Makes for a quick heart attack when they come flying past at break-neck speed.

Rumour has it (yeah, we spend a lot of time skinnering with the locals) that the local Pofadder millionaire sold Dinky 4x4 to BMW as a testing area.  It’s apparently a fully fledged Formula 1 track where they do testing on the interior, body panel colours, leaving the cars standing in the desert for years etc.

As we passed Kakamas our quest for accommodation became desperate.  We eventually phoned the Protea hotel in Upington where we had stayed on a previous occasion.  Were quoted R1,586 for bed and breakfast.  Lucky, another very fast car sped by us, drowning out my high-pitch screech.  We found far more reasonably priced accommodation at River View Lodge in Upington.  A refreshing oasis, right on the river.  We were close to biltong by then and just flopped in the pool.

 

The garden at River Bank Lodge

Tree next to the river

After consuming many beers to re-hydrate, we had supper at the local O’Hagans where they preprare a fantastic Ostrich Fillet and Beef Snitchel

28 January 2013 - Oranje Mund

We left Port Nolloth with a fond farewell to Maggie who had spoiled us with a full English breakfast for 3 mornings and set out for Oranje Mund.

The Border crossing is just outside Alexander bay but as we did not get to see the town or bay area on our earlier reccie, we decided to visit the town on our way out.

Although there is a boom gate guarding entrance to the town area it is not real hard to get into town.  We asked the guard to go and see the town, River mouth and dredges.  He seemed unsure of the procedure, scratched through 3 different books, could not find a pen and at last just waved us through.  The town is very dreary.  Absurdly, EVERY BUILDING in town in the same colour.  It’s a sad, yellow,  “sand-ish” colour – just depressing.

Every building is the same yellow colour

Only Shopping centre in town - again yellow

The entrance to the town - all dusty and neglected

 

The town is mainly inhabited by miners, contractors and workers that work for Alexkor the Government diamond mining business, the opposition to De Beers and NamDeb across the river.

From some books Neville read and conversations with some of the locals it is clear that 30% plus of the rough diamonds recovered go missing before reaching the plant.  Elaborate schemes i.e. homing pigeons carrying satchel filled with diamonds, shooting cross-bow across the fence, the arrow shaft filled with diamonds etc.  Additionally, one of the contractors told us that some of the rarer colour diamonds they dive out (yellow, orange and even maroon) is handed in, but they are never paid for them and no record is kept to trace the diamonds further on.

We were able to get closer to the river mouth; the river is more brown/green closer to the ocean.  You can see much of the Alexkor mine from here, it is old and broken down buildings litter the beach.

 Thoroughly depressed we moved on to the border.

The Oranje Mund Border crossing was a pleasant experience.  On the SA side you do not need to complete any paperwork at immigration, the staff is friendly and very helpful.  They checked our vehicle, almost seemed embarrassed that they had to and we had to sign a police register.  On the Namibia side, as you are not only entering the country but also the “Sper-gebied” you also need permits from NamDeb.  You can arrange the permits with the owner of the guest-house you book – in our case, Fanie at “Op My Stoep” obtained the permits, it costs N$ 40.  After immigration you go to the NamDeb office, they take your photo, give you a access card and off you go.

 Op My Stoep is about 1.5Km after the border crossing.  We booked in and set off to explore the town of Oranje Mund.  In sharp contrast to Alexander bay, the town is green, well kept, clean, has many shops – event a Woolworths – a Spar and many other small business that looked to be flourishing.

Entrance to town - NamDeb owns almost
everything in town

 

We stopped at the only museum in town, the Jasper House.  It is very well kept, has many photo’s of the town and it’s development as well as fossils from the area, mining tools etc.  We had a genteel cup of tea and cake and the garden and then drove through the suburbs.

 

Cofee shop next to the museum

Having a cuppa - check the pinky!

And then – Heart stop!  In the middle of town, in the desert, on the lush green lawn of the park, amongst the swings and children playground – a gemsbok.  Not only one, a whole herd.  They meander through town, having a snack of grass wherever it seems softest and are not bothered at all by people walking through the park or down the street.  Like the tourists we are, we gawked and  took a string of photo’s .

 

Gemsbok wandering through the suburbs

Gemsbok in the park

And more Gemsbok

 

We stopped on the beach on our way to the Oranje river mouth on the Namibia side.  The water is icy cold with a very strong current, we were told – as if we intended to swim!

Could not get to the river mouth as it’s mostly sand and you need a 4x4 to go any further but did see the flamingo’s playing in the water and in the distance the river emptying into the sea.

The Flamingo's on the riverbank

Orange river on it's way to the Atlantic

 

The town is pretty small and the next town (Rosh Pinah) can only be reached with a 4x4 so we spend the rest of the afternoon sleeping, reading and relaxing. 

At 18:00 we walked up to the pub/restaurant area and were met by the owner, Fanie, born in Argentinia.  This turned out to be quite an evening.  Lot’s of laughter, to many Jagermeisters, fantastic food and great conversation.  Fanie is quite the character and a astute businessman.  He visited South Africa from with he’s mother when he was 16, quickly moved on he’s own to Mozambique, did some odd jobs, moved between Mozambique, South Africa and ended up in Oranje Mund. 

 Fanie has a passion for food and the meal was out of this world.  Neville had a fillet espedata, tender, and on he’s scale, best ever!  I had the seafood paella, spicy and crammed with seafood.

The remainder of the evening was spend at the pub. Fanie sharing with us many funny and interesting stories about the town’s history and development, the diamond industry and all he’s other ventures.

The Holder used by Mine Formen to collect diamonds
picked-up by workers - it's got a one-way valve.

If every you are in Oranje Mund – you have to visit Fanie at Op My Stoep.  It will be an unforgettable experience, he is a superb host.

 xxx - Desert Photo's

25 - 27 January 2013 - Port Nolloth

Slept very late the next morning and went for a drive, exploring the full available 8km and then sat on the Roof of Namakwa with a 360 degree view of the area discussing our plans for the day.

The Roof of Namakwa

 We had planned to spend 2 nights in Namakwa as a bit of a rest, however, with the very limited area available to us we decided to book out early and go to Port Nolloth a day earlier.

Springbok is really very central in the area as we had to pass that again on our way to Port Nolloth via Steinkopf. 

The road is long, straight and tedious, however, after Steinkopf you really notice that you are moving towards the Namib desert.  The sand turns far more white / grey than the red we were used to seeing in the Kalahari and the plant life (such as it is) became sparse. 

The temperature in Namakwa was far more temperate and with a breeze going on the hill very pleasant, however, driving through Steinkopf we reached 39.5 degrees again.

We packed our water bottles in the freezer at Namakwa but were not able to drink it as the water is strangely salty and has a strong smell.  Steinkopf is not more than 20 houses in the desert, no discernible shop or cafe to get cold drinks.

The road to Port Nolloth is a pass through the mountains where the desert area really becomes noticeable. 



View to the left



View to the right

There is nothing to see for miles, even crows that you see everywhere does not bother to live near the road.  You also do not see entrances to farms etc. on the road as all the land belongs to Alexkor - the government owned Diamond mining company.

The town itself is charming.  We stayed at Bedrock Lodge in the Grace room, it’s a lovely old Scandenavian wooden house, with Yellow wood floors from Knysna.  Very warm welcome and a hearty breakfast cooked up every morning.

Bedrock Lodge

The view from our room

The Grace room

The Bathroom - its HUGE

Had supper at Vespetti, the local Italian restaurant.  You have to bring our own alcohol and they do not charge corkage.  Great lasagna and Mexican Pizza.

International car companies often do Government approved high speed testing in the area as the dry mountain area and hot conditions as well as the coastal air lower down is ideal testing area.  Fiat was in town when we were around so the Restaurant was crowded with the drivers relaxing. 

During breakfast the next morning, we discussed our upcoming stay in Alexander Bay with the guys at the Bedrock.  Had a tip-off that the self catering accommodation may not be what we expected and as it is only 95Km from Port Nolloth we decided on an early reconnaissance mission to investigate. 

The road is in good repair and tarred.  EVERYTHING belongs to Alexkor from there on.  All the fences next to the road have warning boards and as you drive into down a boom-gate bars access to the bay area.  This is where the Orange River meets the Atlantic Ocean and after travelling through near desert for the past 2 days it was like meeting an old friend.  The river is sluggish this far and a more blue colour than inland.

The rondawels we had booked is not in the bay area, we were to discover, but some 20km out of “town” on a dirt road. 

This at last, was the desert sand dunes of my imagination.  The sand is near white in colour with a strange green tinge in areas, huge dunes around the road and it feels like just the loneliest place on the planet.

 

A stop on the way to Alexander Bay

Police college - we did not stay

Proper sand dunes!

 

Our “informer” turned out to be correct.  The accommodation is very old (about 1960) in, officially, the middle of nowhere with no network coverage and little comfort facilities, no shops etc.  While our goal was to live in far off, small, deserted places on our trip, Neville was adamant that this reminded him far too much of police college so we promptly cancelled our booking and decided on a 3^rd night in Port Nolloth.

As we were only planning on 1 night in Port Nolloth we did not do too much research on tourist attractions in the area so spend Saturday and Sunday being excessively lazy.  Driving around the area exploring, reading, making up sleep debt and walking around the town and beach.

Diamonds drive everything remaining in Port Nolloth.  De Beers and Trans Hex has diamond dredging facilities and you can see the dredges from the beach.

 

One of the dredges on the beach, being re vamped

6 of them were out this morning - vacuuming up the seabed

A dredge out vacuuming - the pipe at the back is used
by the diver to vacuum the sand from the seabed.  They
are out there for up to 8 hours a day - it is very cold,
between 12 and 15 degrees 

 

Illegal Diamond buying and trade in uncut (rough) stones used to be rife during the early 2000/1 period and apparently there were more Mercedes Benz and BMW’s per capita in Port Nolloth than in the rest of South Africa.  Eventually the Police did a raid in the Mc Dougal’s bay area and found people with no jobs but thousand in US Dollars under the mattress.  Lots of property available on the market now.

Interesting town with lots of gossip if you are willing to sit and listen to the locals.  Plenty of characters in the area, especially the Kotze family that seems to own everything in town and, depending on the source and story, is a mixture between the Mafia and the Broeder-bond!

We had supper at the Scotia Hotel on Saturday.  Fantastic Prawns, very reasonably priced.  The Scotia Hotel is right near the dredging facilities, and this is where the Divers converge early morning and wait for favourable weather conditions to go out and “vacuum” up diamonds from the bottom of the ocean. 

24 January 2013 - Namaqua National Park

Left Hondeklip Bay after Breakfast and had to drive back to Springbok for supplies.  Garies and Kamieskroon’s shopping would just not cut it.

The drive to the park was tough.  The road is not in great condition and it’s about 20km dirt road to the gate, many sections are so bad we were reduced to no more than 10km/h.

SANPARKS does warn you before-hand that the “bulk” of the park is assessable only with a 4x4 vehicle.  They should specify that less than 1% of the park is accessible with a normal car.  This means a circular route of 8km from the gate to the camp – Skilpad Rest Camp. 

We would not have booked 2 nights had we known what a small section we were able to view.  Even out of flower season the park is gorgeous, untouched with rolling hills.  It is a bit surreal to sit in a National Park and watch the sheep munching next to the rest camp!  We did see a Jakkals, Springbokke  and some dassies but for the rest the park does not support a lot of wild life in the Skilpad area.

The accommodation was something else.  Normally the SANPARKS cottages are not real flush but these were great.  The “stoep” (veranda) at the back offers a great view of the Kamies berge and a spectacular sun set. 

We were very cafefull to only stay on the road

Skilpad rest camp Cottages

The Lounge area - I'm already reading

The view from the Stoep

We spend the afternoon watching movies, sleeping and walking around.  After a week of driving it was great to have nowhere and to go and no time frame in which to get there.  The camp was deserted – it only has 4 cottages and only 1 other was occupied, even though, when making the booking we were advised that they are fully booked – in fact, they did not have open spots at the beach camp!

The cottage has an indoor braai and we had a meal fit for a king (a normal South African braai) on the stoep watching the last colour fade from the sky.  It only gets dark by 8:30 in the Northern Cape.

23 January 2013 - Hondeklip Bay

From Springbok to Hondeklip Baai is about 110km.  We went via Garies which includes about 83km of dust road.  The road is not pleasant in places, but the scenery is beautiful although a bit sad.  There are many abandoned farm houses on the way, makes you realise how difficult it is to live here and make it work.

A abandoned Farm house on the way, you see many of
these on the roads through Namakwa, very sad

Stretches for miles

Not at all glamorous! 

SMALL, but it does have a supermarket -the Garies SPAAR :)  vs SPAR

The road may be a trail but is absolutely worth it.  The town is small, gorgeous on the bay and this was just one of the bests visits of the trip.

Welcome to Hondeklip Bay

The Dog Stone - a bit disappointing as it now resembles
a frog or a dassie

Every beach is covered by stretches of Mussel shells

The lighthouse

 

Die Honne-Hemel (Dog Heaven) - everything is doggie related

Honnehok (Dog Kennel) Chalets

 

We stayed at Skulpieskraal and AnneMarie and Laurens Van Vuuren could not be friendlier or more hospitable.

Our dome tent

Yep - Neville had to sleep on that bed - foetal position all night !

Again a tent, this time a 2 man domed tent under a "wind skerm".  The ablutions is a separate shared block, which normally I don't enjoy, but as it was mostly empty and INCREDIBLY clean, it really did not bother me that much.

You can have supper at the Rooi Spinnekop Restaurant.  It's part of the facility and run by AnneMarie and Laurens.  They cooked us up the most fantastic supper of Kreef (for me) and Prawns and Hake (for Neville) and even fresh salad!! Trust me, this far from a Food Lovers Market, you start to really appreciate fresh fruit and veggies.

The Rooi Spinnekop - where "food alchemy" happens

There were 2 other visitors at Skulpieskraal (Jessie and Anne) and together with Laurens and AnneMarie we talked, laughed and shared stories until the wee hours.  It was a incredible visit.

Me and Jock Rossow - went to School with my Dad
in Kimberley - met him by accident at the Rooi Spinnekop!
What a small village we live in

The food is priced VERY reasonably.  We also met some other "locals", Jock and Ben and had a great time laughing with them.  They are all from the area and real characters.

We had breakfast the next morning and were treated to a feast before we left.

Definitely one to return to.  Highly recommend it and well worth the trip to get there.