Country TRAX Angola and Namibia Expedtion 2012

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SGB

Race Dog
Joined
Feb 4, 2006
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Location
Bloemfontein, SA
Bike
BMW R1200GS
We are back from another expedition of that wonderful riding area in South Western Angola and North Western Namibia.  Let us start with a little bit of background.  We love riding our bikes.  We know that the best way to enjoy the ride is on a bike without luggage.  Therefore, a team comprising bakkies and bikes do the trip together.  There are pro's and con's to all the philosophies, but we like it this way.  There is an element of achievement in doing this kind of trip without backup, but you have to adjust your attitude and riding to ensure that man and machine arrive in one piece.  Our expedition was about great riding and an amazing part of Africa.  Jan instigates these expeditions.  For this one, the group was made up of 13 bikes and 4 bakkies - 21 men in total.  It sounds too many for an expedition of this nature.  I had my doubts if this was a good idea.  Jan also admitted that he might have bitten off a little too much.  This fear was killed very soon after the group assembled.  If the right guys get together, it works.  This worked.  Jan has a hidden ability to assemble teams that gel.  There is no science behind it.

The planning stage was typical Jan style and attitude.  The answer to most questions is / was: "I don't know".  I put together a rough plan for a route, and we knew how many we were and when the departure date was.  And who was coming along.  That was enough.  We wanted to do the "Doodsakker" in Angola and Van Zyls pass in Namibia.  And it would be a bonus if we can find the desert elephants.  We have not heard of another group who have done this combination on bikes in one trip, so we thought it would be a good one to "achieve".  That was the plan.

The riding team:
Jan, James, Nico - 950 SE
Me, Alwyn - that famous guy from Tzaneen, Trevor on 990 Adv's
Gert - 690 Rally (The one Iain Stephenson did the Dakar with 2 years ago).
Coenie, Francois, Johan, Francois (yes another one), Abie, Louis - 690's.

The backup crew was made up from a couple of Jan's farmer friends and neigbours, and their friends.  They became our friends.  
Hilux 1 - Riaan, Dirk
Hilux 2 - Johan, Danie
Landcruiser 1 - Martin, Edmund
Landcruiser 2 - Sweis, Martin (Another one).

We assembled at James's brother Chris's farm outside Zeerust where they treated us to a good meal in the evening.  Farmers are generally nice people and these ones are no exception.  We had the 4 support bakkies and 4 more to tow all the bikes to the start of the ride at Omaruru.  I have family there, which made it easy to arrange for the vehicles to stay there whilst we were away for 2 weeks.  The trip through Botswana and Namibia was uneventful.  We left Zeerust early in the morning to be the first customers through the border post in the morning.  Arrived in Omaruru after a full day's driving.

The next morning we packed the support vehicles and got the bikes ready.  We were good to go at about 10:00 after breakfast and a "briefing" session at the Omaruru Rest Camp.  The expedition was finally under way.

The photos in this report were all taken by the various members of the group.  I am unable to credit each individual picture - so herewith a blanket "thank you" to all for the pics!
 
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