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Published: September 10th 2013
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A stunning valley.On 5
th September our African adventure was well into week 3 when considering that we had entered Kgalagdi on 15
th August.You may well wonder if there are any signs of travel weariness or is there the possibility of a bit of “cabin fever”or a creeping gatvol factor amongst the four of us?We must be a very chilled and relaxed foursome as there have been zero tense moments or raised tempers.Being cool and relaxed are essential ingredients for an extended camping trip.
Leaving Aus was symbolic as we were for the first time heading in a southerly direction more or less aiming at Cape Town which was then about 1200km’s away.Fortunately our destination was a lot closer and about 150km’s of beautifully tarred road brought us to a town with the odd name of Rosh Pinah.Odd in the sense that you would expect to find it in some Spanish speaking country.The second oddity is the tarred road,bearing in mind we were in a remote corner of Namibia,but that was quickly answered by the extensive mining operations in the area.Diamonds,zinc,tin,lead and silver are all being gouged out of mother Earth and where you have mining you have wealth.Lots of prefabricated homes and
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No bridge but a pont.Africa! a smart shopping mall to boot.The terrain is shaped by craggy hills and mountains with virtually no sign of vegetation on their rocky slopes.It is these jagged and bizarrely shaped hills that are being mined and all considered it is a bleak landscape of varying shades of grey,red and black rock face.But stunning nevertheless.
Other than the usual fuel top up and quick raid on the SPAR for wood and wine(which on a beautiful star studded night complement each other perfectly),it was time to meander down to Senderlingsdrift which is the Namibian entry point into the Richtersveld National Park.En route we entered a valley which is almost impossible to describe but it’s beauty was awesome.In fact it was the stand out sight of the trip to that point.In a nutshell the road wound down a short pass into the floor of the valley which was surrounded by small,sharply pointed and contorted mountains each seeming to have it’s own unique colour in a spectrum of light blending darker shades of grey,silvery blue and rusty red.Hopefully the picture does it some justice.
There was also a sense that some great geological shaping had occurred ahead of us.The craggy mountains seemed
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Conundrum.Think like a fish? to have been pushed back to create some space for what must have once been a mighty,surging river rushing towards the Atlantic Ocean.Today the Orange River is much gentler and more placid due in no small way to the huge Gariep Dam built upsteam in the Karoo by South Africa.Nevertheless it was stunning to see a river with running water bearing in mind that every river bed we had seen thus far was bone dry and many never see a drop of rain.There is no bridge across the river so both vehicles were loaded onto a pont run by SANParks which duly deposited us onto the opposite bank back into South Africa.Getting into any SANParks facility seems to involve a hell of a lot of paper work despite the gentle hum of computers at the work stations.So having filled and signed many bits of paper we were finally cleared to proceed to our camping site at Potjiespram located about 10km’s from the park entrance.
A quick fact file on the Richtersveld.It is regarded as the only Arid Biodiversity Hotspot on Earth with a great variety of plant,animal and bird life much of it being endemic.Many species are specially adapted
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Beautiful shady campsite at Potjiespram. for survival with temperatures reaching 50 deg C in mid-summer.With the formation of the Transfrontier Park it now spans about 6000 sq km’s and interestingly there is a local Nama tribe numbering about 100 who continue to tend their goats in true nomadic style thus maintaining a centuries old lifestyle.The scenery is breathtaking with a 360 deg vista of jagged mountains thrusting skywards.It has that hostile,brooding feel and seems to almost send out a subtle warning to be alert and careful.
Our chosen campsite on the banks of the Orange River was delightful.Beautifully sheltered and shaded by Casuarina trees which somehow have found their way there all the way from Australia.They have obviously been washed down from the hinterland and are flourishing along the banks.Without them there would be virtually no shade as even the hardy Acacias were missing in action.
We were warned about baboons and monkeys raiding camp sites and soon after arrival we heard of a camping group upstream from our site who had their tent shredded by baboons looking for food.The secret is to ensure all food is kept in vehicles and not in tents.Unbeknown to these apes of the Orange River was that
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Great fire and chilled wine.Bliss! we had arrived suitably armed.Ian Prior had on a recent camping trip to Gonarezhou in Zimbabwe been harassed by baboons and he was told that the trick is to lob a “big bang” cracker at them.He had thankfully tipped us off,bought us stocks and as soon as these belligerent buggers arrived we launched the missiles.End of problem.Thankfully deep in their psyche is an association with a bang meaning a possible bullet.
The decision to visit the Richtersveld was strategic in the sense that Bruce and I needed to see what the yellow fish stocks were like in the Orange.So the fly rods long neglected thus far were whipped out and within nanoseconds we were fishing some magnificent rapids and riffles.Looking up river at the moonscape surrounding us left me thinking that we probably have some of the best fishing locations in the World.The yellow fish proved fairly elusive but we managed to catch about 20 between us and inevitably we spent a lot of time trying to figure out why they were so reluctant to chase the flies we were presenting to them.The flyfisherman’s conundrum.
The birding was superb and a number of species not seen thus far
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A never ending landscape of moon like mountains. were added to the tally which numbered 107 by the time we left the Richtersveld.
Evenings around the roaring camp fire just seemed to get better and we were a long way off resorting to canned bully beef or instant noodles.Good hearty meals washed down with suitably chilled wines at a candlelit table was the standard evening rigmarole.Doesn’t get better.Sue and Megan have undoubtedly smashed all known records for the number of games of Spite and Malice(cards)played and they had successfully coaxed Bruce and I into playing Rummikub which by then had become a regular after dinner activity.
Not too many creepy crawlies or scary animal sounds but Bruce was a whisker away from standing on a nasty greeny,yellowy scorpion on one of the evenings there.A quick search on Google confirms that there are only three of our 160 scorpion species that have caused human fatalities and generally most medical centers will carry the antivenom.As a rule their neurotoxic venom affects the nervous system and causes heart palpitations amongst other nasty side effects.This was our second sighting of a scorpion and it is one of those relatively small creatures that strikes instant fear into us humans.
The
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The roof top tent stands proud in Norotshama. Richtersveld is a very rugged park and not conducive to spending too much time driving around.The next closest camp site to where we were located is De Hoop some 40km’s away but we were told it took between 2-3 hours to get there due to the state of the roads.
On day 3 of our stay the westerly wind picked up and,not forgetting the Atlantic is not too far from there,it became decidedly colder and on the day of departure we had a cloud blanketed sky.So what you may ask?Well,these were the first clouds seen in exactly 3 weeks of travel.
The route continued in a southerly direction flanking the Orange River for about 100km’s.Our destination for a two night stop was Aussenkehr where our intrepid travel guru,Bruce,had spotted a camping area by name of Norotshama.This area proved to be a revelation.Huge grape growing orchards as far as the eye can see along the plains of the Orange River in the middle of a desert like environment was a real surprise.Nestled in the vineyards was the Norotshama River Resort which was like an oasis in the middle of nowhere.Camp was struck for the last time in a very
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Norotshama.An oasis on the Orange River. pleasant grassy camping area on the banks of the river.
Being avid fly fishermen it didn’t take us long to establish that there was a very special fishing area about 20km’s away in a diamond mining area.Special permission to enter was secured and within something close to nanoseconds we were on the banks looking at some of the best river fishing waters to be found anywhere.Pulses racing we set about trying to catch the elusive yellowfish.In a nutshell the conundrum was now reaching crisis point.No fish in a four hour session of hard fishing.The usual soul searching questions as we wound our way back to camp but our conclusion was that the cold weather had cooled the water and the fish weren’t feeding.That’s our theory and we will stick with it!The absolute beauty of looking across the river into the Richtersveld mountains more than compensated for the lack of fishing action.
Trip time was now slowly dissipating and discussion started to form around which would be the shortest way home.Luckily the SA map showed a promising detour just short of Kakamas which would enable spending a night at the SANParks Augrabies Falls National Park.With the internet anything is
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A sundowner and toast on the last evening.Fitting end to a great travel experience. possible and without too much effort two chalets were secured.
On our final night at Norotshama we sat on the banks of the Orange River for the obligatory sundowner session watching the sun slowly sink into the Richtersveld mountains.A toast was made to a wonderful travel experience and there was unanimous consensus that a trip needed to be planned for 2014.
The rooftop and trailer tents were duly lowered and folded for the last time as we needed to set off on a 2000km journey back to Durban.With no need to rush the plan was to spend a night at Augrabies and then we would stop in Kimberley before heading to Johannesburg to see our girls(all three of them)and their boys for the week end.Bruce and Megan will spend a night in Bloemfontein and then carry on to Durban.
And now it is time to dream and plan for 2014 as it is these travel experiences that add a wonderful dimension to our lives.
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Barrie Irons
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Barrie and Di
Tim and Sue I have loved your travel bloggs - you have had a wonderful trip. Loved the photos too. We leave tonight for Abu Dahbi - snow on mountain and heading fro 40 odd degrees. Love to be on your next trip away.