Ok, as promised
Thursday the 29th March saw a heavily laden Pumbaa, heading from Table View on it's way towards Springbok where we were to spend the night at Annie's Cottage. It was the first time we had done a proper long roadtrip with all four of us since our son was born last February. So a 10 day camping trip with a 3yo and a 1yo kiddie was venturing into the unknown. Anyway, after a long haul, umpteen roadblocks near Piketberg which cost us over an hour and umpteen repetitions of "Beautiful Me", we got to Springbok. As a side note, I can highly recommend Ed Jordan's "Beautiful Creatures" albums - adult friendly childrens songs which don't drive you nuts. Annie's Cottage was ok, but given it's 4 star grading, the self catering cottage was nothing to write home about.
We left the following morning from a damp, cold Springbok, having had their first rains in 8 months. The drive was a wet one, with some particularly heavy rain around Port Nolloth. Was this to be a sign? We filled up again in Alexander Bay where, just like our last trip, the station was busy and manned by only one sour old petrol attendant. Tempers were flaring at the wait, and mom and daughter who were grabbing some of the sun which had appeared, decided it was safer to sit in the car. We then said goodbye to the tar road outside Oranjemund and made our way through the destruction that is Transhex Mining towards Sendelingsdrif. Every time I see this place I am saddened, and always wonder if there is no way to rehabilitate this area. Possibly! But at what cost?
We got into Sendelingsdrif mid-afternoon, filled up our water tanks, and topped up the fuel again. This 15l top-up was to prove crucial as we were to discover later in the trip. We then made the short journey to Potjiepram, where we were to meet the rest of our party and spend the next two nights. These were family in a Scooby Forester with a Echo3 in tow, a Hilux 2.8D SC, and an Isuzu 2x4. We lazed away the time at Potjiepram by going for walks, fishing and swimming in the Orange. I ventured out to go hunt a geocache in the afternoon. Geocaching 101: 6m of horizontal distance can equate to 50m in vertical height. The cache I was looking for was at the top of the cliff, and not the bottom, and took an hour of scrambling to get at it. That night I was to try some experimental startrail photography, but the moon wasn't playing ball with full moon due in about 5 days time.
After two nights at Potjiepram, we packed up, and headed towards Kokerboomkloof where we were to spend the next three nights. We stopped off at the "Hand of God" for the obligatory photograph and then started the haul up the Akkedis Pass which the Scooby and Echo managed with ease. I've always been impressed with the Forester, but this trip showed just how good a softroader it is, even with an off-road trailer.
Early afternoon proved to turn into a late afternoon. We had to firstly make our way though a largish convoy of vehicles who were really doing things slowly - one of the vehicles had in the passenger seat a woman in curlers
I kid you not!! But we left them behind and stopped briefly at the top of the Domorogh Pass for a photo shoot. Unfortunately the convoy caught us up and we had to wait again for them to make their way down the pass. Not having done this pass before we were a little surprised at why they were taking so long to get down... it turned out that Domorogh is a sphincter-tightening descent with a fair side slope, leaving the Scooby driver and his passengers somewhat white knuckled and short of breath. It was at that time we decided we weren't using this route to head back out the park - there was no ways the Scooby was going to safely tow the trailer back up this pass
We grabbed a bite to eat of wors-rolls in a river-bed after finishing Domorogh Pass, and it was at this stage that someone noticed a slight smell of fuel near my car. Thinking it was just the fuel tank breather I just ignored it. Soon after lunch we ended up missing a turn we should have made. This caused me some confusion because the road we were on looked nothing like the ones I had done before. It eventually transpired, after much poring over maps and GPS screens, we were on the Ganakouriep loop, which was on none of the maps we had and which added about 20km and a couple of hours to our journey.
As a result we arrived at Kokerboomkloof just after 6pm with tired and grumpy kids and mom, and still having to pitch the tent as it slowly got dark. But a couple of G&T's and a bath for the kids cured the grumpiness but it meant supper of lamb shank was going to be late.
Unfortunately the evening was marred a little by one of our party falling ill - the heat had eventually taken its toll - and he retired to his tent for the night. There were no showers here at Kokerboomkloof and the water that was available was suitable only for a flush loo - so it was going to be a dry and slightly dirty couple of days in the absence of water.
The next day was again one of general laziness - it was too hot to venture too far from camp and the little shade we had. Other than a couple of short walks the most energetic things the adults did was reach into the fridge for another beer. The kids however were in their element. While still hot they still had fun playing in the sand. Even the most camping averse amongst us gave up trying to keep their little daughter clean. That afternoon we took the short drive down to the cliffs above Springbokvlakte to admire the view, and then onto the viewpoint above Tatasberg for a bit of sundowners.
It was at this point that we realised that the fuel smell coming from Pumbaa was not a simple matter of a breather pipe, but something more ominous - a leaking fuel tank. We could not see the leak itself and the drip rate was very slow. I worked out if the drip rate continued at that rate for the rest of the trip I'd lose about 5-10l of fuel - not serious enough to warrant removing the fuel tank plate which would be quite a mission. We then left it as is.
As the heat had again caused our ill family member some further distress it was decided they would head home back to Cape Town via Helskloof in the morning. After supper I decided to try some startrail photography again, heading off to bed with the camera clicking away happily every 30 seconds for the next 6 hours.
Day three at Kokerboomkloof saw the departure of the Hilux and another fairly lazy day. A geocache was installed somewhere up in the kloof above the camp. In the meantime my drip had stopped and I drove down to Springbokvlakte together with the Isuzu to admire the desolation and give the batteries a chance to top up.
I then headed off to find a suitable location so I could do a short video shoot I had promised to do for the 4x4 Community. The rest of the afternoon was generally a little lazy, the only effort being to drive to the one and only place cell phone reception was available (one can just see Aussenkher Farm on the Namibian side from some strategic spots near Kokerboomkloof) to see how the other party member was doing.
After yet another spectacular sunrise the following morning we grabbed a quick cup of coffee before striking camp and heading off on the short journey to Richtersberg. It was going to prove to be the most stifling day of the trip with various temperature guages agreeing with each other at over 47 degrees. Our fridges were going to undergo some severe testing. After picking up a geocache halfway through the drive I perhaps made my only 4x4 mistake of the trip. As the only "pukka" 4x4 in the party I was not in front as I should have been. The Scooby was ahead of me, only to come to a grinding halt in a rather short but steep and narrow kloof - there wasnt enough traction to get the trailer up the hill. Coming down the section was a Disco and Fortuner. Not a crisis - the Disco quickly reversed back up the hill, turned around and quickly pulled the Forester and trailer up. What made my blood boil was the holier-than-thou attitude from the driver of the Fortuner, who not only critised me for not being in front but also told the Scooby driver to buy a proper 4x4 if they were coming to places like the Richtersveld. The fact that it was a woman made the condescension even worse. Yeah true, I wasn't at the front as I should have been, but it would have been a simple matter of reversing the trailer back into a gap, unhitching it and I could then get around and pull the trailer up the hill. The problem would have been solved and we then go on our merry way.
Anyway, we eventually arrived at Richtersberg, only to find the only patch of grass to at the riverside was wall-to-wall 4x4, so we headed off to find the other campsite, only to discover it has been washed away. Parks Board, please take note - don't take bookings for camps when you know you can't take the numbers because of missing camps. We however settled on a large sandy patch with some half reasonable shade from the trees and pitched camp. The heat was stifling and some of us were taking strain. Even the water from the trailer tank was hot enough to brew tea in, but still it was wet and welcome. Having got the tents up we didn't even bother unpacking the rest of our stuff, instead making a bee-line for the cool of the Orange River, and cracking open a cold beer or two. The heat had caused us some strife in the beer, gin and wine department - we had seriously underestimated the amount of the stuff we would go through and were on rations for the rest of the trip. Thankfully there were fully functional showers supplied from the river so we had no excuse to stay fresh and clean - not than anyone need an excuse to head for a shower at any time of the day.
After lazing in the river for the rest of the afternoon we settled in camp for the evening, where it cooled down to a slightly more tolerable temperature of just under 40 degrees. Late that evening around 10:30pm as we were all about to head off for some kip, we noticed the late arrival of our friendly Fortuner driver. With just a little satisfaction we couldn't help but wonder why they arrived so late at Richtersberg, having only met them about 8km from the camp. Perhaps they spent the day towing softroaders around the park.
During the next two days we spent most of the time lazing in the camp and next to the river, nursing whatever was left of our booze. We also went in search of a geocache that someone had asked we repair near De Hoop, some 10km away through some very rough 4x4 track and some thick fine sand. I always find that section quite fun, and Pumbaa showed my passengers just how at ease a "pukka" 4x4 is in the rough stuff. I think the thick sand would probably have just been too much for the Forester with trailer in tow.
It was on the last day at Richtersberg when the temperature had dropped to a quite pleasant 36 degrees that I opened my final Guinness. It was probably the best tasting Guinness I had ever drunk - better than in any Dublin pub! It did prove to be a somewhat stressful time. The fuel leak was worse than I thought, and it was getting to be a case of trying to nurse the fridge batteries by doing a little driving and offset that against the risk of running out of fuel. I had one more night to worry about it.
We struck camp fairly early the following morning, and made our way slowly to Sendelingsdrif. The fuel gauge was hovering ever so slightly above the empty mark, and we had just under 80km to go. I wasn't a happy camper at that stage, and was terrified of running out of fuel in the Akkedis Pass. Doing so could be complicated. As it was I made it over the pass with huge relief, but waiting for that cough and splutter would still sit with me for another 20km or so. And so we got to Sendelingsdrif where I could breathe again, and found our way to the chalets where we would be spending the night.
It was then in search of the shop which was closed until 5pm. Bugger. We managed to persuade them to open the bar where we cleared them out of all the cold beers they had (hoping the locals wouldn't mind
). The rest of the afternoon was spent showering, lazing around and announcing to friends and family that we were back in civilization safe and sound. We then settled down to a fine dinner of fillet and a debriefing about the trip. The kids then had a late night Easter egg hunt, with UV torches and luminous Easter eggs. We then turned in for the night, saying goodbye to the family in the Isuzu who were heading back to Johannesburg via Augrabies.
The following morning I put in enough fuel to get me to Alexander Bay (oh joy), on the way picking up a geocache not all that far from Alexander Bay.
In Alexander Bay I realised just how bad the fuel leak was. After filling up the fuel was streaming back out the tank. Oh just great - what a waste. I'd have to keep an eye on things and see if I can make Van Rhynsdorp without a fill. But it turned out to be OK. We stopped to pick up another geocache in Port Nolloth, and made our way to a cold Van Rhynsdorp, where we were spending the night at Namaqua Country Lodge. I'm not sure when the lodge was built but the décor hasn't changed for at least 40 years, but it was clean and comfortable with good food.
After a wholesome breakfast we headed off back through the roadworks saying goodbye to the Scooby in Malmesbury from which they were heading onto Somerset West, and us on to Table View.
We eventually arrived home early afternoon, tired and still dusty, but happy.
All in all, an excellent trip.
Just a few notes:
1) I had prepared for this trip on the assumption that I would manage OK with the fuel I had in a full fuel tank, which ordinarily would have been 100%. I worked out that I had lost 25 litres of fuel. I will now ALWAYS carry an extra jerry of fuel on this kind of trip, even if I wont need it.
2) Don't understimate the amount of drinking water that will be needed especially when it is extremely hot. Rather too much than too little. We had around 350 litres with us in the 4 vehicles with 8 adults and 6 kids. There wasnt much left at the end of the trip.
3) Don't assume your solar panel will be able work 100% flat out every day. We had one with us which stopped functioning the moment a cloud came past.
4) Don't go below 1.5 bar in this park. No matter how robust, your tyres will take a hammering at anything lower than this. If you go any higher you might struggle in the thick sandy sections.
5) Make sure you have a proper stock of booze - we didn't
Some photos courtesy Bruce Niland
