Ba'leeve it, cause it's 'strue

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Kamanya

Andrew to most
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Feb 6, 2006
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Location
Cape Town, deep in the lentils
Bike
KTM 990 Adventure
Whilst doing some reseach, found this broek bekuking story;

He was on a BMW R80 GS KALAHARI


The south-western corner of Angola is an extension of the Namib Desert, and more breathtaking than I ever anticipated. Stark contrasts between barren desert and oasis-like freshwater inland lakes, inundated with fish, water lilies and water birds that seem as out of place as an oasis in the middle of the desert.
Rock and sand formations sculpted over eons by a great tug of war between desert and coastal winds manifest themselves as abstract reminders of our own insignificance.
Tombua (south of Namibe) is a fishing village and used to have a flourishing harbour that provided employment for hundreds of people, until disrupted by the civil war.
The whole coastal area is similar to the Skeleton Coast in Namibia, undeveloped and sparsely populated.
As we left Namibe on one of the best-surfaced roads in Angola, the unthinkable happenedâ?¦an accident involving four 4x4â??s and one motorbike (me).

On day number 7 leaving Namibe and heading East, I was riding 2nd from the back of the bikes, just ahead of the vehicles and truck. Absorbing the spectacular desert landscape stretching from horizon to horizon, I managed to fall about 1km behind.
As I entered a descending right hand turn heading down from a plateau towards an ephemeral river way down below, I noticed the doctor & his wife on their bike heading in the opposite direction!? At this point I was doing about 100km/h. As she frantically signalled with her hands for me to reduce speed, I immediately anticipated a stationary obstacle just around the turn and touched the brakes���.
The next thing I know Iâ??m viewing my bike sliding on its right hand side down the road away from me! Spinning like a merry-go-round I immediately used my hands to control my slide so that my feet face downhill. With my speed not reducing rapidly I realised that there was not a hell of a lot friction and then smelt the diesel fuel.
A fuel tanker had passed hours before and spilt diesel all over the pass.

My thoughts were interrupted by the realisation that there are vehicles behind me!
The first to pass me, while sliding on my ass, was â??Senhor Biggotâ?. Theo managed to pass to my left and avoid the diesel, and then I heard the screeching of tyresâ?¦the 4X4â??s were on their way!!!!
Consciously I canâ??t recall all the vehicles, 4 in total, sliding out of control past me.
What I can remember is watching (whilst sliding) the Pajero (passing on my left) swerving out of control, turning onto its side and smashing into my bike against the gravel embankment. Then the Landy followed, crashing into the belly of the overturned Pajero, followed by the Hilux, smashing into the Landy! At this point in time my speed reduced and I pushed myself onto my feet and continued with the momentum, running up towards the Pajero to establish if anyone was injured. While running I heard more tyres screeching and a Land Cruiser flew past, on my right this time! They missed the pileup by inches and I carried on up the embankment. It would be tragic to survive to now and then get run over!
With most of the danger out the way, I ran to the Pajero and help open the door for Terry to get out, no injuries, just dazed!
As I cautiously glanced uphill around the Pajero, I was treated to a spectacle only seen in moviesâ?¦.
The Isuzu bakkie with a TV crew from ATP, sped onto the scene and in an attempt to avoid colliding into all the emerging occupants, wildly swerved to their right, straight over a 7m drop!!! Like in slow motion, they flew 15m through the air before nose-diving onto the rocks below!! Nothing in life prepares you for situations like this! Running with a desire to help and save on one hand and a complete sense of trepidation about what you are going to find upon arrival, I made my way towards the Isuzu. The doctor was already at the bakkie and assessed that miraculously no one was seriously injured! Everyone were discharged from hospital that same night and slept at home.
As for me, I walked away with minor abrasions on my right calf, right butt cheek and a bruised shoulder from the impact with the road!
As if that is not unbelievable enough, I managed to go through all of that wearing shorts, T-shirt, sweater, shoes, light riding gloves, and wait for itâ?¦NO HELMET!!!!!!!!
So all in all I came off @ 100km/h, slid for about 50-60m, were passed by 4 out-ofâ??control vehicles while down, was not wearing a helmet and survived with minor abrasions!
How lucky can you be?




https://www.expeditiontracker.com/adventures/marius_swart/o_grande_desafio

 
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