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.
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| A abandoned Farm house on the way, you see many of these on the roads through Namakwa, very sad |
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| Stretches for miles |
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| Not at all glamorous! |
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| 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.
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| Welcome to Hondeklip Bay |
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| The Dog Stone - a bit disappointing as it now resembles a frog or a dassie |
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| Every beach is covered by stretches of Mussel shells |
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| The lighthouse |
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| Die Honne-Hemel (Dog Heaven) - everything is doggie related |
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| Honnehok (Dog Kennel) Chalets |
We stayed at Skulpieskraal and AnneMarie and Laurens Van Vuuren could not be friendlier or more hospitable.
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| Our dome tent |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.