BOSMAN’S BUSH TELEGRAPH – 16 MARCH 2000
Hi All
After our night in the Ambassador hotel last Monday we headed
for |
|
|
Pen at Struisbaai |
The Start |
The Lighthouse at |
We then headed
north and spent two nights in Beaverlac in the Cederburg which was completely deserted and as stunning as
always. We swam, walked and read and
prepared ourselves mentally for the rest of the trip. We also tried out all our very new camping
gear - some of which was still in its packaging! By this stage Nev was getting very keen to
get going as our GPS kept telling us that we were a mere 187km's from Cape Town
- an easy 2 or 3 hour drive back.
The sun setting
over the Cederberg at Beaverlac
We had decided that
before going into Namibia we would visit the Richtersveld
National Park which is in the very north western corner of the country so on
Friday we headed north reaching Springbok in the late afternoon. We passed some real gems that you only ever
hear of in urban legend - Garies, Kamieskroon,
the turn off for Poffadder
etc. Springbok turned out to be a really
interesting place. Despite my
preconceived ideas the people were really friendly and helpful
- a bit misguided perhaps - the pharmacist, on enquiry, having
sworn blind that Nedbank was part of the ABSA group. We were able to restock and refuel and draw
money from the only ABSA/Nedbank joint venture in the whole of SA. There also seems to be a high concentration
of Rastafarians - in Springbok? What’s
up with that? We decided to stay in the
Springbok hotel before making the big push for the Richtersveld
after discovering that the local campsite is merely a dust bowl on the side of
the N7 highway!
We headed for the Richtersveld on Saturday via Port Nolloth
and
We reached the Richtersveld in the late afternoon and camped at the Pootjiespram camp which is he camp closest to the entrance
at Sendlingsdrift and which is situated on the
The Richtersveld is only accessible
by 4x4 and the roads are terrible and have been worsened by the recent heavy
rains and flash floods. We heaved and
coaxed our very over laden Land Rover over mountain passes, through thick
sand and over corrugations. |
Breakfast
in the Richtersveld |
|
Richtesveld Tough Terrain |
Chilling out in the desert |
Kokerboom / Quiver Tree |
The Richtersveld is only accessible by 4x4 and the roads are
terrible and have been worsened by the recent heavy rains and flash
floods. We heaved and coaxed our very over
laden Land Rover over mountain passes, through thick sand and over
corrugations.
We spent the last
night at an inland desert camp called Kokerboomskloof
which was the highlight. We camped
amongst the rock formations and quiver trees that characterize the desert. We walked up to the top of one of the rock
formations and had a sundowner while we watched the sun set over the
desert. There were also far too many
creepy crawleys for my liking - we saw the most
massive scorpion - it was more like a small dog - yuck! I had to "knyp”
the whole night as I was too scared to get out of the tent for fear of being
carried off by a giant bug.
Nev and the Land Rover near Kokerboomkloof |
Our Campsite at Kokerboomkloof |
Flowers in the Richtersveld,
near Kokerboomkloof |
We are currently in
Springbok but will cross the boarder later today at the Noordoewer
crossing and will head for Ai-Ais - which
incidentally is part of the same park as the Richtersveld
but just on the other side of the boarder.
We will camp there for a couple of nights and then head for the
I hope that you are
all well - we will send more news soon.
Penny
PS: We are having difficulty with our Hotmail
address as we have to work online which is just too slow and expensive on the
cell phone - we have therefore decided to retain our old home address - so
please send us mail on the following address – nevbos@gmail.com [updated March 2010]
p