Mortymoose's Backyard!

[Mortymoose]

So with the Sea Wall keeping the pounding Atlantic Ocean out and at great cost to the Mining Company, the experts came from Portugal, Spain, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The moaned and complained that the time frame was way too short to do a proper excavation, they had been given three months to do a job that should have taken years....

A treasure trove was unearthed. Canons,Gold Coins, Copper Ingots and Elephant Tusks.









In the early day's of the discovery, theories were abound in the mining town's pub's, where had the wreck come from? Where was she going? How had she gone down?

 

[Mortymoose]

After three months the wreck area was flooded and returned to the ocean..... The experts reckon that the boat was the "Bom De Jesus" and went missing in a storm around 1525.

There is a theory that some of the sailors made it to land, barren desert land...... and more than likely started to walk north due to the fact that they had just come down the coast from Angola. The men would have perished in the desert.....

Ironic thing being, if they had walked south , a mere 30 km away, they would have come across the Orange River Wetlands..... from the sea, the mouth of the Orange River is not visible due to the rolling sand dunes and the Sand Bar.....







For those of you that might find this fascinating, here is a link to the last official documentation with all the facts!

LINK: http://www.igespar.pt/media/uploads/dans/TheOranjemundShipwreck.pdf

 

[Indigogirl]

Let's get back to my backyard and where we left off on this topic towards the end of last year.

Yippppppeeeee! Thanks!!

 

[Mortymoose]

Meant to post this on Monday, busy week.....

This past weekend, The Moose clan spent the weekend at MacDougalls Bay, just South Of Port Nolloth.....

This awesome coastal dorp is a mere hour's drive south of the border and very popular with Namibians from the Southern parts...

When we reached the border on our return journey, HO suggested a detour of some 200 km, a drive back in time , to places we both knew twenty years ago... So instead of crossing the Oppenheimer bridge back into Namibia, we headed east along the dusty track down towards a special place called Beauvallon..... Before independence, this was a private farm, owned by the DeBeers group, boasting the best fresian diary herd in Africa..... they produced everything at this farm......

For HO and I , the campsite was what we wanted to see, the same campsite that our folks had often taken us to when we were youngsters growing up in Oranjemund.

We were sorely disappointed to see how after the farm had been handed back to the locals how it had been run into the ground....



The long route we took home...



heading down to Beauvallon



Looking across the Orange to Namibia



The Mine use to run a fully fledged farm, stores, dairy, school and township out here.... now....just about nuttin'

 

[Mortymoose]

There was also a piggery at the farm....



The Old Store....



Interesting to see that the Lucerne crop circles were still productive...



The dusty road to Brandkaros...



The river near Brandkaros

 

[Mortymoose]

If you like big skies.....this is the end of the world for you....

Last time I drove on this road, it was in the back of a 10 ton truck, back in the day's before we had a border post between the two countries, we borrowed a Greek mate;s truck, built a make shift bar in the back with a genset and fridge, packed in the beers and meat and 15 guys headed out to a stunning site along the river called Bloedrift...... another Moose tale for another day.....



We arrived at the entrance to the Richtersveldt/Ai-Ais Transfrontier Park......... Hot , dusty.......



There is still a lot of diamond mining happening along this part of the mighty orange river..... with mining plants scattered all over the place... Spotted this plant next to the road as we headed into Ochta.....



Heard about the pont crossing at Sendelingsdrift...... found out it cost a mere R160 , so HO instructed her man to drive the clan across..... very friendly border folk could be found on both sides of the mighty brown Orange river....



Looking back up the cliff whilst crossing the Orange, I spotted the building up on the cliff. This is now the SANP Offices, but I know that this building was the OCHTA recreation club back in the day when the mine was still going great guns....

 

[zizo911]

Amazing pics there!!! Hope you and the family enjoyed it!

 

[supersunbird]

Want to visit Namibia next year, will have about 14 nights available, so much country, so little time.

 

[ajv]

Thanks for sharing

 

[dualmeister]

Love your stories Morty. Keep them coming my man!

 

[flarkit]

Want to visit Namibia next year, will have about 14 nights available, so much country, so little time.

That's barely enough to see 1/4 of the sights. I suggest doing 3 spots max!

 

[Hemps]

Want to visit Namibia next year, will have about 14 nights available, so much country, so little time.

I'd suggest - Fish river canyon, Windhoek, Etosha (Okaukuejo camp), Swakopmund, day drive to Henties Bay, Walvis Bay, Sesriem canyon and Sossusvlei then back home.

 

[Mortymoose]

We encountered the Namibian Customs post about 800m up the road into Namibia from the pont....

I google earth'd this road after the trip as it fascinated me that the Namibian customs post was so far away from the actual crossing and out of sight..... if you wanted to and you knew the area, there is actually a back road to the west that would allow you to bypass the customs....

Anyhow, the officials were very friendly and we had no issues , I had to encourage to customs official to come and check my chariot, But he was too busy lounging in the midday sun, laughing at me, telling me to drive on.... just go......

The landscape around here is harsh, dry..... we decided to head on up to Rosh Pinah, a mere 20 clicks to the north....

This is the narrow road out of the Orange River Valley...



It's round this stretch that you can head east and continue along the Northern bank of the Orange to head further into the Ai-Ais National park..... I plan to take this route next weekend...... another memory ride for us....

The empty road to Rosh Pinah....

 

[f2wohf]

Amazing pictures and explanations. Thanks a lot for allowing us to know more about your wonderful area !

 

[Mortymoose]

So we took the clan into Rosh Pinah, for an ice cream and a cooldrink......

After a quick tour, we headed back down the road to enter the Souther Sperrgebiedt gate at Sendelingsdrift.....



Once our security cards had been clocked in , we headed into our back garden, the restricted diamond area..... in 90km we should be home.....

Rules for this area are strict, no speeding, no offtrack riding and above all, no stopping........ there are hi res camera's, solar driven monitoring the entire route, at this point of the journey home, you may feel alone in the desert, but be rest assured there are eyes from the Security Department Control room watching you.....

The scenery is awesome along this road....... to an extent , unspoilt....



Most of the area to the north of this road is now falls under the Sperrgebiedt National park, untouched, pristine, but off limits...... due to all the red tape, in fight and concessions....... this area is still off limits to tourists....

About 20km in , we approach the famous Red Dunes....



From higher elevation, one catches a glimpse of the Green Orange, snaking it's way through the stark landscape.....

I would give my left leg to be able to camp along this Northern bank....

 

[Ockie]

Gosh ... I am dehydrating just looking at those pics.

 

[spiderz]

One of these days I'm going to make a road trip to Morty ...

 

[ToxicBunny]

Morty Morty... why do you tease us so?

You live in what many of us would call paradise, and we envy you for it.

Never stop sharing it, it gives us something to look forward to

 

[Mortymoose]

Whilst driving West along the North bank Road, HO took a photo across towards the Richterveldt..... Only once I had come home and reviewed the photo's , i realized that she had snapped one of my favourite camping spots, Bloedrift.....

I was last at Bloedrift about twenty odd years ago..... It's a geological spectacle situated on the South African side of the mighty Orange River.... A sharp, solid piece of rock that has not wavered over the millennia , forcing the corrosive Orange river to rather flow around it....

I have spent many a weekends camping at this remote spot..... fantastic weekends, a memory stirred in me when I saw the photograph and for those of you who might be interested in my drunken rambles, I shall endeavour to post my tale....

This is Bloedrift taken from the Namibian side.... Bloedrift is the sharp looking dark rock jutting towards the sky...



The story of Bloedrift!
------------------------

How It began:
------------

Back in the hazy days of the early 90's , The mine had moved their security control gate from the South African end of the Oppenheimer bridge

and relocated it in Namibia, just next door to the newly established Namibian Customs Office.The old Consolidated Diamond Mine security gate

had been in place since 1940.
Back in those days' no private vehicles were allowed to drive into the Sperrgebiedt and nobody got across unless you were working for the

mine. On departure you were gonna be x-rayed!

I guess the Times were a changing.Prior to Independence we only had to contend with the mine security department, now we had dual customs

posts.

Like the Moose, most apprentices on the mine had a little to do , but drink yourself into a stupor on the weekends. The nearest "Big Lights"

being down in the Mother City and it was not uncommon for Apprentices to squeeze five into a car on a friday at 16h00 , and drive the 8 hours

flatout down to the Cape's intoxicating nightlife..... only to shoot back up to the mine late on sunday afternoon, arriving in time for work on

Monday morning......

The other popular activity was to go camping, well sort of camping ..... in retrospect, I guess it was just another excuse to get pissed out of

your skull but with a different setting......

Now, back in the day I had a Greek pal, who ran a local cafe. He owed me a favour and one drunken night I came apon a wise idea.....

Whilst hugging my 7th beer that damp Friday evening surrounded by a few fellow apprentices and the likes thereof at the local watering hole,

aptly named, Palm Court, I suddenly had the most cleverest of idea's....... I asked all gathered at the bottle laden table who wanted to go

for a camp on Saturday in the Richtersveldt?

Off course it seemed like a good idea at the time, why would'nt it?

Everybody was in agreement, Moose would arrange transport and the gang would source the important tools & beverages .....we were to meet at the

crack of dawn outside The Moose's single quarter room.

We represented quite a diverse lot...... I recall feeling pretty proud of the fact that I had initiated such an adventure in such a short

time.... Off course it helped that none of us had girlfriends or wifes to reign us in.....

We were quite a motley crew indeed...

There were two Nederlanders, Three Scots, One Irishman, One Indian, One Cape Coloured, A Jew , Three South English South Africans and Three

Afrikaaners..... It could have been a sketch from a Monty Python act.

The Moose quickly downed his drink and scurried off to his pal, Spiros The Greek to call in that favour......

......

 

[Mortymoose]

The truck belonging to Spiro's The Greek looked similar to the one indicated below..



An old photograph of the Ernest Oppenheimer Bridge, The longest Privately owned bridge in the Southern Hemisphere....