Day 2 Marydale to Naute dam (Namibia)We had a nice rest without any incidents and were up early and ready for the road.
Today’s route would be from Marydale to Putsonderwater, Kenhardt, Keimoes, Kakamas, Lutzputs, in at the Ariamsvlei borderpost to Karasburg, Grunua and then the last stretch to Naute dam.
The long shadows, this would become the norm on this trip, we would leave early morning, when the air and bodies are still fresh and cool.
The gravel road was in fear condition, you just had to keep clear from the “middelmannetjies”.
This area has plenty of these group birds nest, also known as “versamel voel nes”. They are occupied by the sociable weaver that can get up to 16 years old. We will show you a variety of them throughout our trip.
Putsonderwater
“The Well “Without Water”
The back story of Putsonderwater goes back to the early 1880s and an old coloured man called David Ockhuis. He came to live at this spot and dug a well with his two sons, Hans and Gert. They found a good vein of water and were well set. But the problem lay in the streams of mostly-white trekboers who were moving all over South Africa during that unsettled era. In such a dry land, a water source would be a great attraction to nomads passing through. Ockhuis, not having a title to the land, was afraid that if everyone found out about the water, he would lose his farm.
So every time a trekboer arrived and asked about the well, he would say:
“Ja meneer, ek het ‘n put, maar dit is ‘n put sonder water.” (Yes, sir, I have a well, but it is a well without water.) So the place became Putzonderwater. In later years, the ‘z’ was dropped in favour of the modern spelling.”
One for JMOL
Photos on route to Kenhardt and Keimoes
In Kakamas we stopped at the Pienk Padstal for something to nibble, just to found out they do not serve any meals.
Instead, we moved on to a newly opened Petroport / station where we got these nice burgers.
After the nice cheese burger, it was on the road again, leaving SA behind us for a while and entering Namibia.
The gravel road started out to be in a very nice condition.
Not for long though, then it turned out to be a sand river I was ploughing through. This kept on for 45 plus kilometres. At stages the road would become better and at places it worsened. The bike was all over the road. We stood up, gave gas, looked up, looked down, lowered the tyre pressure, prayed, sweated, stopped, and dehydrated. This really became a nightmare, I rode in these conditions previously and although the road was sandy at places, it was nothing that I thought I could not handle, and this never happened to me before. I was wondering if the bike was maybe not over loaded, or maybe it was the new front tyre I fitted. I struggled for the remaining part of the gravel road and was exhausted by the time we connected with the N10 tar.
Other than that, there were nice scenery pieces also.
Once on the N10 towards Ariamsvlei I had to inflate the tyres again and catch my breath, sheeet, I was unfit, and I still had 8 000km ahead of me.
At the SA border post
No man’s land, the piece between Nakop and Ariamsvlei
High five, in Namibia
The sun was starting to set, the road was longer than anticipated, we wasted allot of time on the last piece of gravel and then time was also wasted at the border posts. We had no hassles at the borders, it just seemed to take a tad longer than usual.
We reached Grunua and we decided to call it a day and booked in at the houses next to the filling station. What a pleasant surprise, they were all newly renovated, self catering and posh furniture and bedding for a mere R200-00 pp. It was a bargain for a tired body and bike.
As I waited at reception for my wife to get the keys, I gently fell over. This would not be the last time....
That night we had a wors potjie and an early night.
Topic: IN FLIGHT WITH THE FISH EAGLES – NAMIBIA, BOSTWANA, ZIMBABWE (Read 18418 times)