Re: An African Adventure - 1995
Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 9:16 am
Part 11 (Southern Namibia Leg)
Leaving Windhoek for the second time we headed south west towards Solitaire, unpaved roads and quite bad in places but the scenery is spectacular all day! From Solitaire we ride south to Seisriem and the views get even better in the afternoon sun with stunning deep orange colours of the sand. Wonderful.
We camp at Seisriem and then up early for the last 65km to Sossusvlei, what a place, surrounded by large dunes on all sides this is an oasis sometimes but currently dry. After 60km we decide to use the 4x2 car park not wanting to get stuck in the soft sand in the last 5km. We walked the last 5km into the park and ahead of us there was a strange chugging noise, as we approached we could see that it was a 2CV cleverly managing to negotiate the soft sand with amazing skill and patience. The driver said he had crossed the Sahara in the 2CV!
We had a lovely day walking around Sossusvlei and then headed south to Luderitz, another fine German style town on the coast. Close to Luderitz is the abandoned diamond mining town of Kohlmanskop and it is possible to walk around and see buildings that are now half buried in the drifting sand. In the 1950’s larger quantities of diamonds were discovered around the Orange river that borders South Africa.
After a day in Luderitz we rode to Fish River Canyon which is pretty impressive and not too dissimilar to the Grand Canyon expect there are not any tourists! We camped at the Hobas campsite in the park. From here it was south following the canyon rim and then a short hop into South Africa as we crossed the Orange River.
Statistics update:-
Days Travelling: 192
Distance ridden: 18,500km
Money Spent : US$ 4,100 (@ $21/day)
Leaving Windhoek for the second time we headed south west towards Solitaire, unpaved roads and quite bad in places but the scenery is spectacular all day! From Solitaire we ride south to Seisriem and the views get even better in the afternoon sun with stunning deep orange colours of the sand. Wonderful.
We camp at Seisriem and then up early for the last 65km to Sossusvlei, what a place, surrounded by large dunes on all sides this is an oasis sometimes but currently dry. After 60km we decide to use the 4x2 car park not wanting to get stuck in the soft sand in the last 5km. We walked the last 5km into the park and ahead of us there was a strange chugging noise, as we approached we could see that it was a 2CV cleverly managing to negotiate the soft sand with amazing skill and patience. The driver said he had crossed the Sahara in the 2CV!
We had a lovely day walking around Sossusvlei and then headed south to Luderitz, another fine German style town on the coast. Close to Luderitz is the abandoned diamond mining town of Kohlmanskop and it is possible to walk around and see buildings that are now half buried in the drifting sand. In the 1950’s larger quantities of diamonds were discovered around the Orange river that borders South Africa.
After a day in Luderitz we rode to Fish River Canyon which is pretty impressive and not too dissimilar to the Grand Canyon expect there are not any tourists! We camped at the Hobas campsite in the park. From here it was south following the canyon rim and then a short hop into South Africa as we crossed the Orange River.
Statistics update:-
Days Travelling: 192
Distance ridden: 18,500km
Money Spent : US$ 4,100 (@ $21/day)