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The Roter Kamm!
- Thread starter Mortymoose
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Mortymoose
Honorary Master
Due to the ongoing drought the area was void of most any vegetation, so when there was a flowering plant to be seen, it stood out like a house on fire in the middle of Hout Bay!
For those of you following this thread, you will recall that the area has been off limits to Joe public for more than 110 years. The track we were following was actually the main route between the small town of AUS and the orange river back in the day. In the restricted years, the mine security department and the old SWAP (SWA police) would patrol along this road, first on Camel and later years with Jeeps. The track is unused and my mate get's to drive it once a year. The road to nowhere....
As I drove along, drowning in the remoteness , the arid beauty and the feeling of utter solitude, I let out a chuckle, turned to my mate and said, "Hey H, Get the irony of this, in exactly a week from now I will be stuck on the N2 in Cape Town on the way to the airport, bumper to bumper, surrounded by thousands of people...... "
Can't wait to get back from the Cape.....
For those of you following this thread, you will recall that the area has been off limits to Joe public for more than 110 years. The track we were following was actually the main route between the small town of AUS and the orange river back in the day. In the restricted years, the mine security department and the old SWAP (SWA police) would patrol along this road, first on Camel and later years with Jeeps. The track is unused and my mate get's to drive it once a year. The road to nowhere....
As I drove along, drowning in the remoteness , the arid beauty and the feeling of utter solitude, I let out a chuckle, turned to my mate and said, "Hey H, Get the irony of this, in exactly a week from now I will be stuck on the N2 in Cape Town on the way to the airport, bumper to bumper, surrounded by thousands of people...... "
Can't wait to get back from the Cape.....
grok
Honorary Master
What a privilege to experience something like this. Please keep up the commentary Monty, this is not unlike watching Top Gear's Namibia special.. without the joking around.
Mortymoose
Honorary Master
I was disappointed with the TOP GEAR Namibia special.... the continuity was way out, driving on the coast then suddenly in Windhoek, places never lined up......
Anyhow, Bushman candles were plenty to see...... H who did all the offroad driving was quite concerned with the Bushman Candles, reckon they can puncture a tyre quite easily when hardened..... something I never knew, nevertheless a fascinating plant....
Part of the track started to head downhill, coming off the sandy flat desert that I was use to from back home..... the terrain became rockier as we descended into a dry river bed..... what fascinated me and the photograph does not really capture that..... was the massive dune sea in front of us..... it was massive and stood out as a mountain of pure sand..... I saw the track heading straight for it.....
Mortymoose
Honorary Master
In the beginning we left the newly built tar road that runs along the Namibian side of the lower Orange River, linking the town of Oranjemund with Rosh Pinah, heading north on a fading track into the forbidden part of the Sperrgebiedt......
About half an hour of driving we stopped so that I could take a photograph of a dune to the right...... I then realized that the blue mountains behind those dunes are part of the Northern Cape in South Africa, forming part of the Richtersveldt National Park....
Not many folk realize this but deserts have different colour sands and the Southern Namib is no different. Below is a pic taken on the way to the "Rooi Duine" the desert sands turning from it's more regular yellow sands to a red hue...... later we wood see towering dunes all red in colour.... this photograph is looking west across the vlaktes...
About half an hour of driving we stopped so that I could take a photograph of a dune to the right...... I then realized that the blue mountains behind those dunes are part of the Northern Cape in South Africa, forming part of the Richtersveldt National Park....
Not many folk realize this but deserts have different colour sands and the Southern Namib is no different. Below is a pic taken on the way to the "Rooi Duine" the desert sands turning from it's more regular yellow sands to a red hue...... later we wood see towering dunes all red in colour.... this photograph is looking west across the vlaktes...
Nanfeishen
Executive Member
Wow, stunning scenery, thank you for the images and the info, keep them coming.
Quey_Quick
Expert Member
Nice!
Mortymoose
Honorary Master
Our local off road club organises a Saturday dune ride about five times a year. It usually lasts the entire day and consists of driving over massive dunes and sandy flats in the dune sea to the east of my town. We get folk from other towns that come up here to enjoy the unique experience. Besides bikes, there are quads, sandmasters and bakkies tha partake with the day ending down at the clubhouse for a few toots and a braai.... Next time they advertise, I will post the advert online.
There is a thread I posted about two years back when I went with a mate who had a draught machine strapped to the back of his bakie..... For what ot was worth, ot was mostly the Amarok drivers who got stuck...
Mortymoose
Honorary Master
As I mentioned above, our off road club hosts this major event every year, for two days you get to race through the Southern Namib desert in scenery similar to what I posted above.... any of you okes seriously interested in off road biking, here's your chance.... Club Chairman sent this info onto me...
I think I posted pics of the previous events a few years back , but cannot find them....
Here's a youtube link from last years event
And we are only an 8 hour drive North of CPT.....
I think I posted pics of the previous events a few years back , but cannot find them....
Here's a youtube link from last years event
And we are only an 8 hour drive North of CPT.....
Mortymoose
Honorary Master
Thanks HaaJeeKaa, At the moment the crate lays in the Sperrgebiet which is still forbidden to tourists, I do however believe the area will be opening to tourists in the next few years, controlled tour groups...
The entire Southern Namibia is a Geological paradise, have you been here b4?