From Don

Sunday evening on St Patrick’s day, and we are sitting around the pool with the sun setting. Yesterday we rode from the Roadhouse near the Fish River canyon to Aus, a very German oriented town. And lots of German tourists around, even more appear in August apparently.

Yesterday we had an 80 km ride on excellent gravel through desert relatively lush compared with what we saw later. Rain may have come through recently as a pretty yellow wildflower was blooming extensively. Near the end of the stretch we faced a new challenge – water! (Andrew had warned us of this before we left in the morning). Water leaking from a dam above us was running across the road for a length of about 50 meters, and up to a foot deep. Not ideal for motorcycles… We got across with only two of us deciding our bikes need dust washed off! After that it was a straight run on tar road to our destination.

We are staying at the Klein Aus resort. The reception area has a pool, wifi etc, but our accommodation is a little cabin a further 6 km along a sandy road. Yes, that stuff again!

We went for an evening stroll while Morrie was making us another delicious dinner, with Andrew providing bbq sausages. Here is some of what we saw.

Wild horses in the Namibian desert

Sunday 17th March – some comments from Allen

Today we rented a Toyota Safari Wagon and drove 90 Kms to the ghost town called Kolmanskop.It was a thriving diamond mining town until it was closed in 1954. Over the years the desert has been reclaiming the buildings with some dramatic effects. This is a similar subject to the Freeman Paterson photos I mentioned in the original intro on day 1. The site is now a popular tourist stop and a fascinating two hour visit.

The scenery from our “camp” to Kolmanskop is a wonder to behold, so many pastel shades of yellows, greys, pinks,oranges all set against the deep blue Namibian sky. There were wild horses along the roadside and the story of how they happened to make this hostile place their home is interesting. They are mostly escapees from a German military camp in 1918 andsomehow found a way to survive. Apart from a few Ostrich, not much to report on the animal front.

From Kolmanskop, we drove 10k to Luderitz, a coastal port in a protected cove. The desert goes to the water’s edge. Not a lot here except for the colourful homes of the locals.

Back to the lodge for a swim and a “cold one” and back to the lodging.

Promising to be a long day tomorrow, mostly gravel and the weather man says hot (over 40C-104F)

yikes!

Gary’s turn to post:

Well, today was work!

We left this morning a little after 8 on an asphalt road passing huge table grape farms and a fairly big “township”. It appeared that the grape farms provide the only employment opportunities in the area.

After 40 some kilometres of asphalt we rode the rest of the way on gravel roads through the starkest landscape I’ve ever seen.  Vast expanses of desert bordered on our left by mountains. 

It was generally alright riding on the gravel roads (except for the dust) but after about 130 kms. we ran into sporadic patches of soft, deep sand. And that’s when the work began. 

We all dropped our bikes at least once except for my esteemed  neighbour, Allen Slade. In addition to picking up heavy bikes and at times pushing them out of the sand, we were riding in temperatures over 100F. It was exhausting, at least for me. 

On the bright side we did begin to see wildlife: four zebras and a solitary, beautiful oryx. 

We rode to the lookout for the Fish River canyon. It is claimed to be the second biggest canyon in the world. It was certainly impressive. There was also some interesting posters: one on the Nama rebellion against the German imperialists at the start of the 20th century. “Human” inhabitation here can be traced as far back as homo erectus. The canyon dates back 1500 million years.

We’re staying at a resort called the Roadhouse with old car and truck chassis spread around the property including the reception and restaurant area. 

Four of us are camping while three decided to splurge on air conditioned rooms (including me). 

For the next few days it’s all dirt road. Hopefully the sand will stay where it should – in the desert!

Today we had a day off from riding, and instead went on a three hour canoeing trip on the Orange River, with a guide named Willem. We also learned a lot about Namibia from Willem. Among several languages he speaks a click language similar to that of the San people.

We saw an enormous number of birds. Also the river is teeming with fish, many quite large. Here are some of the birds we saw, while I (Don) can remember them. Thanks to Willem for the excellent identification.

Cormorants (Cape Cormorants?) – many many.

Darters ( many, hang out with the cormorants, and look a bit like them but pale orange neck, also called the snake fish as when on the water it often has only its long snake like neck above water)

Malachite kingfisher. Very small, beautifully coloured, just one.

Pied kingfisher: black and white as suggested by its name.

Blacksmith plover – long legs, very plover like shore bird.

Sacred ibis.

African Jacana. Also known as the Jesus bird as it appears to walk on water, really just on grasses in the river. Quite a few of these.

Egrets. Willem said it was a cattle egret, but looked too big to me for that. But white.

Grey herons. Similar to GB heron at home.

Goliath herons- huge bird

Egyptian geese.

A pair of fish eagles – the Namibian national bird.

Swallows: dark coloured, almost black.

The nest of a masked weaver. These are built hanging from a branch to attract a female. When the female has inspected it, if she doesn’t like it she rips it to shreds!

We heard but couldn’t see a laughing dove.

An enormous lizard sunning itself on a rock

We also saw a herd of beautiful goats, including an enormous “chief” (billy)

Among the teeming hordes of fish were yellow fish, cat fish, and talapia.

Allen took some great pictures of the birds, but technical difficulties have prevented us adding them here so far. Check back later.

Report from Brian today

Good news!  Nobody dropped their bike on the very sandy road on leaving our camp today, so everyone felt like champions and we know “ we must be learning to ride in sand “.

Learning how to ride in sand….(from yesterday)

Getting into Namibia was our goal for today. It was the hottest day yet, apparently hitting 38 C.

On route, we encountered mostly African semi arid desert, surrounded by mountains.  Every once in a while, we got to ride up and through a lovely winding pass to an even dryer looking desert. It was a lovely ride all the way to the Namibia border crossing at the Orange River. 

We fumbled our way through customs and Immigration, everything seemed to take forever but in the end we all got through in less than 2 hours with no problems. 

We crossed over The Orange River that is the border between SA and Namibia and headed to our lodgings nearby. It was dry desert on the right side of the road and on the left a huge contrast of lush green grapes, row after row for as far as we could see.  Apparently the largest table grape farm in the Southern Hemisphere. 

Soon, we reached Felix Unite Resort, where we will stay for two nights. We could not believe our eyes at how amazing this oasis is, with thatched cottages, a full size pool and bar overlooking the pool and the beautiful Orange River.  Oh yea – it did not take us long to all get in the pool with a cold beer to celebrate the start of our Namibia adventure. 

Allen’s take on day 4

As we pulled into Papkullsfontain Guest Farm on the evening of March 11, we sensed the history. Our host Marietta Von Wyk was gracious and gave us a great history of the farm and the family. The farm has been in the hands of the von Wyk family (Afrikaners) for six generations. We were treated to a meal of braised lamb shanks from their farm, complete with home grown beans and carrots with mashed potatoes. It’s a tough life.

Breakfast was a 7km ride down the road to to the Von Wyk’s son’s farm named Waenhais Farm and were greeted by Annelize, Marietta’s daughter in law. The history goes back to the 1700’s and the old farm house has a magnificent setting. We were treated to a delicious four course breakfast: Local fruit, muesli and yoghurt, Afrikaans porridge (tasted like semolina!),and bacon, eggs with mushrooms and tomatoes that would put a “full English” to shame. I think we decided to skip lunch!

j

We stopped at a stunning Kloff or Canyon that sunk deep into the land.

We re-traced our route of the previous day, past quaint homesteads from years gone by and down the twisties of the escarpment where whoopees from the general direction of Brian were heard across the veld. The terrain got more and more interesting as the high glacially scoured high ridges were interspersed will piles of massive weathered mounds from an ancient era. Our next stop is our accommodation for the night near Springbok, some cozy thatched cabins nettled far into the hills.

The entry track into the cottages challenged our riding skills to an unprecedented degree. Deep soft sand may be OK for four wheels but not so for two… At least the distance down was short and the landings soft!

Some reflections so far;

1. We are lucky to have chosen Andrew as our guide. His choice of accommodations (so far) has been superb, his routes excellent and I swear that if given a box of parts, he’d build us another bike.

2. Our group of motley riders have meshed so well. Whew!

3. As we travelled through S. Africa we have seen homes ranging from those that would rival the wealthiest of Vancouver’s mansions to the shantytown dwellings around Cape Town. We saw how nature does not discriminate as the January fire that ravaged the east side of False Bay would destroy one lovely weekend home, but skip the neighbours and completely avoid the densely populated shantytown a few hundred meters down the road.

Today’s post is by Don.

Today dawned cloudy and rainy in Ceres. We decided to push on without waiting for the rain to stop, which meant we all got quite wet loading the bikes and the van. Nevertheless it was the right decision. We pushed up yet another mountain pass in drizzle and rain , and eventually it dried up and the sun came out. Lots of signs warning of baboons, but they were apparently sheltering from the rain today. Off came the rain gear when we reached Clanwilliam for lunch. We had moved from an area of vineyards to many citrus orchards.

Shortly before lunch we had our first major mechanical issue. Allen’s bike started slowing down rapidly, and he was unable to get back to speed. The front wheel brake was frozen solid. We pulled in, and Andrew quickly relieved the built up pressure by bleeding the hydraulic oil. He then had to remove the brake pad in order for the wheel to turn. At this point the most expedient solution was to swap out the spare bike, and deal with the brake problem later.

Onwards! Lunch at Nancy’s Diner in Clanwilliam offered monkey gland on the menu as an option for the burgers! Much speculation ensued and questioning the waitress did not lead to much clarification. This ended when she brought out a spicy sauce to show us, and it seemed we would not be eating primate after all, at least not yet.

The country opened out to broad endless vistas of bush, with escarpments on the east side. As we climbed one, there was a wonderful view across the plain we had ridden across (called The Karoo)

Shortly afterward Andrew pulled into a rather run down looking petrol station. He told us we should spend 20 rand ($2) for an amazing experience. At the back of the station was the most amazing collection of old motorcycles. We could have spent hours there!

After leaving reluctantly we wound our way down dirt roads to our lovely evening accommodation with Marietta way out in the bush. Here is where we have reached so far:

PS Someone asked us to say where our pictures are taken. The truth is, most of the time we haven’t a clue! And if Andrew knows, he isn’t saying…

After riding though the narrow coastal plain eastward along the Indian Ocean, and spending a night at a 18th century Dutch cattle farm, we mounted our trusty steeds

View over the Ceres valley. Gary: ” I hope there’s a cup of tea down there”

and turned north into the southern ranges of the South African mountains. The scenery began to open up, as well as the skies! We pressed on ever higher into the torrential rains, buffeted by 60 mph gusts of side draft winds. We paused at the summit to take in the grandeur of the fertile Ceres valley below, with it’s manicured vineyards, and snap some quick shots of some grazing mountain baboons by the roadside. As we pushed off to our destination, appreciating the respite from the rain, we entered a particularly perilous stretch of winding climbing road with no guardrails (Bain’s Kloof). Bain was the engineer who built many of the mountain passes around here. At the same time, when we thought it couldn’t rain any harder the skies opened up to prove us wrong… as I rode along in the pelting downpour I was reflecting how wonderful my gear was performing, warm and dry, cocooned in my biosphere, grinning and chuckling behind my face shield. A truly remarkable ride.

We had planned to push on further to the Cederburg but Andrew heard that the gravel roads we were going to be on had turned to mud. So discretion suggested we shorten the day and stay at Ceres. And dry out…

View from the cottage near Greyton. Looming clouds forecast the rain

Today is Gary’s day to write of his experiences.

Wow! What an incredible start to our adventure. We hit the road south of Cape Town with our bikes loaded and our imaginations soaring. And then road reality hit us – hard. Huge gusts of wind as we rode south and east on a national highway.

The south east coast of South Africa is incredibly diverse. After leaving the national highway we headed along the coast called the Whale Trail. It was a long, smooth ride up and down the coast mountains. Given my fear of heights, I was happy that our left hand side of the road driving hugged the cliff rather than the ocean side.

From the Whale Trail we headed through an inland section of the coast that was both otherworldly and strangely familiar. We passed between massive glacial deposits and landslides. Curtain like clouds on the mountains, burned out vegetation routed in white sand. The low cloud and feel reminded us of places such as the Redwood Coast in California and the Frank Slide on the Crowsnest Pass.

After lunch on the water in Kleinmond (a town you would never think supporting a thriving restaurant industry), we rode on mainly gravel roads until we reached our stop for the night on a large farm in the middle of nowhere. We all thought that the terrain reminded us of the Okanagan. Simply stunning.

Stunning but wet. Very, very wet. We hit one storm cluster after another. We were thoroughly soaked but at least it wasn’t cold.

Our great guide Andrew Vaughan of Ride Down South told us he was was going to cook us a BBQ dinner so we stopped for beer and wine before we rode to the farm for the night.But unloading the bikes contained a big, disappointing surprise. I think my situation was the worst so I’ll tell my story.

I bought a large bottle of beer and a bottle of wine (to share). When I opened my carrying case that contained my clothes bag and the bottles, the beer bottle was in pieces and my clothes bag was floating in barley. Very, very disappointing.

And now, as we sit down to a delicious feast in an unbelievably beautiful, bucolic setting I bid you adieu.

In signing off, I just want to tell you that I’m with four others plus Andrew and the van driver Jim. Our group was created out of whole cloth by my Mayne Island neighbour Allen Slade. I am so happy to be travelling with such a diverse, friendly, supportive, fun group almost all of them I’ve never met before.

This will be quite the adventure.

Gary Caroline

Today’s post is written by Brian, as we are trying to share the experience.

Posting from Allen

All of us finally got togetherness today.

Thursday, our first day together as a group, started at the Zeitz Mocha museum on the water front. The structure is a magnificently re-purposed grain silos and the exhibition telling the story of Zimbabwe through eyes of artists.

The planned boat trip to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were kept in confinement, was cancelled due to strong winds and rough seas. Such a disappointment as we were all looking forward to this visit, which by all accounts is very interesting and tells the story of apartheid (on the drive back to Camps Bay we could see the swell and white caps). We settled on a very nice cold beer on the waterfront to discuss our options.

Brian and Gary went off exploring the Victoria & Alfred docks which is a very tastefully refurbished tourist area full of local craft shops, restaurants and stores of great variety. The rest of us Ubered back to Camps Bay to rest and ready ourselves tomorrow’s adventure as we set out to explore the Cape on our bikes with Andrew our guide keeping us on the correct side of the road and a time for us to get used to the bikes (750cc Africa Twin).