agentorange
Puppy
THE TIME HAS COME FOR THIS YEAR’S ADVENTURE TRIP
15 August – 25 August 2014.
The route will take us from the south , passing through Windhoek, short leg to see Swakopmund’s beer gardens for Steve Prost and then on to Henties (fishing for enzo), through Grootfontein (for Roy) and up to Rundu , back down into Botswana and across to Maun, maybe with a little cut line(for Steve Coldron) just for good measure. (the cut line may have a little sand)
The trip:
Friday night 15th Affinity Lodge, Upington.
Saturday 16th leave Affinity ride through Namibia border to Koes Hotel 433Km.
Sunday 17th leave Koes ride to Derm to Camp 376Km.
Monday 18th leave Derm ride through Windhoek to Swakopmunt Hotel d Avignon 516Km.
Tuesday 19th leave Swakopmunt ride up the coast through Henties to Ousema Guest farm 447km.
Wednesday 20th leave Ousema ride up to Grootfontein to a campsite Mauri 295Km.
Thursday 21st leave Mauri camp ride up to Rundu to Kayora river lodge 402Km.
Friday 22nd leave Kayova lodge ride across the Botswana border to Drotsky’s cave camp 319Km.
Saturday 23rd leave Drotsky’s camp ride to Maun River Lodge camp 319Km.
Sunday 24th fly from Maun to OR Tambo
BACK UP CREW
Quentin Swanevelder
Greg Heuer
RIDERS
Stephen Coldron
Wayne Everton
Dirk Fuchsloch
Vincenzo Chiocchi
Dale De Villiers
Nico Alan Swanevelder
Roy Webber
Stevan Prost
Garth Prost
Adrian Nunn
Brett Swanevelder
Day 1
7 of the 11 guys made there own way to OR Tambo and all arrived on the bus taking them to the plane at the same time, this was the 11 o’clock flight to Upington, Dirk, Adrian and Enzo were to follow on the 4pm flight, a quick and comfortable flight found them in Upington in no time, Nico, Brett and Quentin where there when they landed. Collected by the Lodge owner of Affinity they arrived on the banks of the Orange River. Nice, clean and friendly. Steve Coldron proceeded to load all the GPS units with the routes and tracks for the week ahead. There was allot of hustle and bustle in the car park as the bikes were prepared and the last adjustments made. They rode into town and filled the bikes with fuel. A nice clean, little town with friendly people. From Affinity Guest house one could hear the roar of the 690′s riding through town. Once back pizza was ordered and everyone sat in the garden anticipating the next day …….
Day 2
Everyone was up by 6am and managed to get moving by 7h30 after final adjustments were made to the luggage and the bakkie packed, leaving Upington was very chilly even though they had clear sky’s and sun shine. They met at the dirt turn about 40km out of town, along the way Nico melted his luggage bag, but soon they were all together eating their breakfast. They were able to leave after jump starting Enzo’s bike as he left his lights on (Pink Shorts LOL), as they drove through the desert, very desolated country side, yet very interesting. Along the way Steve Prost had a petrol filter failure and lost all his fuel and was left stranded till the back-up vehicle arrived to re-fuel and fix the necessary. The next stop was Noenieput where there was a general dealer and petrol station. After awhile the last bikers arrived with news that Garth Prost bike had caught fire and had to be put on the trailer as the fuel tank had melted. Nest was Rietfontein where they had beer and then headed down to Hakskeenpan to see the pan, they rode on the pan a little and headed back to the border where they proceeded through and into Namibia. 30km into Namibia they had to pay the road tax at the office, filled up again and left for Koes Hotel. Arriving just before sunset to find friendly people with a great home cooked meal. Preparations and clean up where next on the list to get ready for Day 3 …
Day 3
Everyone was up at 6 local time, Garth finished the last touches on his burned bike, the rest packing and getting ready to leave, breakfast was then served and enjoyed by all. All did a trip past the filling station to refuel and the Back-up vehicle to get the destroyed tyre replaced, the wind was blowing really hard which made riding fairly uncomfortable, having left a little later than planned they decided to change the route, a suggestion of Sossiesvlei was agreed upon, however this would be a long haul, they refueled at Gochas, a small village in the middle of no where, they traveled along the Aroab river for a while, not really noticing as the land is quite flat. After filling up they headed out toward Sossiesvlei , though a small village for a beer and then over the escarpment which was very impressive. Arriving in the sesriem camp site just after dark, after putting up camp and a shower , pasta was made and hungry boys were fed after a long day, riding 500 odd kilometers for the day.
Day 4
Everyone up early for the game drive through sossiesvlei sponsored by Dirk, the 2 game drive vehicles picked them up at 6h30, drove into the park, once again a lunar landscape , vast open spaces, and game wondering around, there were springbok, gemsbok, ostriches, jakkels and a few other animals, the dunes were very interesting and some you could walk up, they walked to dead mans vlei, which was a dry lake bed in-between the dunes.
heading back quite quickly as they had to pack up camp before leaving, the packing up took around an hour and they were on the road again, going through the strangest terrain, they took some pictures of the most picturesque land scopes, they had to cover 300Km for the day to swakopmund.
Along the way Adrians bike started to splutter and Brett omitted to fill up and ran out of fuel.
They encountered a rolled land cruiser on the way the driver was not badly injured so they carried on our way.
Reaching Walvis baai around 16h30 and went straight to dune 7 where they played on the dunes for an hour or so, then they left going through Walvisbaai to their final destination in Swakopmund. Walvisbaai smells of fish from way outside town.They reached their hotel and got cleaned up ready for dinner , an interesting day was had by all.
Day 5
Ousema to Grootfontein.
They slept a little later as they did not have so far to go, had breakfast ,changed Roy’s tyre had a photo shoot with their hosts and left the farm for Grootfontein , the roads were fairly easy going and they made good time, the temperature increasing through the day, they decided to go a little further than the planned camp at Mauri campsite where a very unfriendly German chased Garth and Nico out, they pushed on to Roy’s rest camp where they pitched camp and cleaned up ready to braai some meat they got in Spar in Grootfontein.
Day 6
Swakopmund to ousema.
They all enjoyed a German style breakfast in the hotel d Avignon albeit a one star, it was a pleasant stay. First stop was to get tyres and ended up at the local Yamaha dealer where they stripped down Adrian’s bike that was not working, after replacing the fuel filter which meant dismantling most of the bike , they had the bike going again, a change of tyres for a few of the guys and loads of accessories bought to the delight of the sales staff. They eventually left Swakopmund around 11 o clock , the road to Hentiesbaai was a salt road near the water and they stopped to look at a wreck and feel the cold Atlantic water , the sea was not very inviting. As they proceeded toward Hentiesbaai Roy’s bike started to misfire and at the garage where they filled up they decided to head down to the beachfront to fix the bike, stripping the bike down and fixing some broken wires and cleaning the filters the bike was working again, by this time it was after 3 and they still had a long way to go, the road away from the coast was a constantly changing landscape and soon wthey were riding in the lowveld type terrain at their last fuel stop they still had 2 hours to go and it was getting dark, they pushed on, Roy in the meanwhile had got a flat tyre and had to be trailered. The roads were interesting in the dark and quite dangerous, a few encounters with jakkles and small antelope Steve C hitting a duiker luckily not taking him of the bike, Steve P had a close encounter with a black cow, finally they arrived at the guest farm and were met with such hospitality. Their hosts had made a 3 course meal , traditional German food, they waited for the backup crew and Roy who arrived just before ten. They all had a schnapps with their hosts and retired to bed.
Day 7
Grootfontein to rundu,
After a heavy night the group woke with fair hangovers, Quentin said the charge light had come on in the back up vehicle , so looking under the bonnet they found the fan belt had torn and the tensioner was destroyed, a trip of 50Km back into Grootfontein found them at the Ford dealer who by a small Miracle had the parts they needed, on the street they fitted the parts and were soon headed back to Roy rest camp, upon arrival things were packed only to find Nico had a flat front , they decided to trailer the bike as it was mostly a tar stretch, they arrived at the Kayova river lodge where the bikes were sorted out for the next day and a sundown cruise was organized , the people faded fast due to the previous nights party, and I guess a little anticipation for the next days ride.
Day 8
Rundu to Tsumkwe,
Up early, bags packed and in the restaurant for breakfast, bikes ready they left , reaching the turnoff to Khoudom park and there was the thick sand they had been waiting for, 200 meters and there lays Nico, he gets helped up and off they go an hour or so later they stop for a punctured Steve P and as the back up gets there they change the tube , and they are on our way , the back up is averaging 10km per hour at this point, the bikes wait at the entrance to the park which is just a sign in the middle of nowhere , the backup arrives and needs a gently push to get going, the bikes ride for another 10km and wait to make sure the back up gets there, by midday they had done about 80km , the back up had punctured a tyre and had to change the wheel as the side wall was ripped, no more spare wheels for the back up. Enzo’s bike decided to eat the safety switch on the side stand and the bike would go no further and was loaded on to the trailer, regrouping once again they moved onward stopping every 10 km to regroup , by now it was late afternoon and they still had 70km to go, suddenly Dirks bike stops and too has to be loaded onto the trailer , arriving at the bottom entrance to the park and got onto the main 4×4 road and eventually ended up in Tsumkwe and opted to stay at the country lodge, the chalets looked a little dodgy from the outside but inside they were clean and neat, dinner had been organized and they had a well deserved drink in the bar and a good meal. The bikes were looked at and they managed to make Enzo’s work from parts of Dirks which would not go. They were however 120km behind from where they should have been. Everyone slept very well that night.
Day 9
Tsumkwe to Maun
Everyone up early ready for the final day, kits were packed everyone had breakfast ,checked bikes new routes were loaded and off to the garage for fuel, all fueled and off they went,60km to the border , Roy had a great wheelie on the little stretch of tar that was the town, only to rip out the valve and leave us fixing a flat wheel 200meters out of town, pink pants were immediately donned by the pohm, we reached a very remote border post and proceeded through with little difficulty , no money changed hands. They were now in Botswana expecting sand tracks were surprised when they had a good dirt road, They reached the tar without incident and regrouped at the local tavern which was full of very drunk locals, Adrian tried to teach the local kids some new songs with limited success. They topped up the bikes with fuel and headed on to Maun were they reached the Okavango River Lodge and Enzo’s truck, immediately they loaded the bikes, set up camp and headed for dinner and bar for the fines meeting , abuse was dished out with great laugher, they had survived a great trip seen huge amounts of landscapes had ridden 3200km without injury or a serious crash , a combined total of 35000 kilometers only one bike not making the full distance, Up for breakfast on the last day saw the back up truck leave for home and the riders off for a short trip up the river, the taxis collected them for the airport and they were on our way back to Johannesburg. A great trip and will be remembered for ever.
https://rostoffroad.co.za/?p=1901
15 August – 25 August 2014.
The route will take us from the south , passing through Windhoek, short leg to see Swakopmund’s beer gardens for Steve Prost and then on to Henties (fishing for enzo), through Grootfontein (for Roy) and up to Rundu , back down into Botswana and across to Maun, maybe with a little cut line(for Steve Coldron) just for good measure. (the cut line may have a little sand)
The trip:
Friday night 15th Affinity Lodge, Upington.
Saturday 16th leave Affinity ride through Namibia border to Koes Hotel 433Km.
Sunday 17th leave Koes ride to Derm to Camp 376Km.
Monday 18th leave Derm ride through Windhoek to Swakopmunt Hotel d Avignon 516Km.
Tuesday 19th leave Swakopmunt ride up the coast through Henties to Ousema Guest farm 447km.
Wednesday 20th leave Ousema ride up to Grootfontein to a campsite Mauri 295Km.
Thursday 21st leave Mauri camp ride up to Rundu to Kayora river lodge 402Km.
Friday 22nd leave Kayova lodge ride across the Botswana border to Drotsky’s cave camp 319Km.
Saturday 23rd leave Drotsky’s camp ride to Maun River Lodge camp 319Km.
Sunday 24th fly from Maun to OR Tambo
BACK UP CREW
Quentin Swanevelder
Greg Heuer
RIDERS
Stephen Coldron
Wayne Everton
Dirk Fuchsloch
Vincenzo Chiocchi
Dale De Villiers
Nico Alan Swanevelder
Roy Webber
Stevan Prost
Garth Prost
Adrian Nunn
Brett Swanevelder
Day 1
7 of the 11 guys made there own way to OR Tambo and all arrived on the bus taking them to the plane at the same time, this was the 11 o’clock flight to Upington, Dirk, Adrian and Enzo were to follow on the 4pm flight, a quick and comfortable flight found them in Upington in no time, Nico, Brett and Quentin where there when they landed. Collected by the Lodge owner of Affinity they arrived on the banks of the Orange River. Nice, clean and friendly. Steve Coldron proceeded to load all the GPS units with the routes and tracks for the week ahead. There was allot of hustle and bustle in the car park as the bikes were prepared and the last adjustments made. They rode into town and filled the bikes with fuel. A nice clean, little town with friendly people. From Affinity Guest house one could hear the roar of the 690′s riding through town. Once back pizza was ordered and everyone sat in the garden anticipating the next day …….
Day 2
Everyone was up by 6am and managed to get moving by 7h30 after final adjustments were made to the luggage and the bakkie packed, leaving Upington was very chilly even though they had clear sky’s and sun shine. They met at the dirt turn about 40km out of town, along the way Nico melted his luggage bag, but soon they were all together eating their breakfast. They were able to leave after jump starting Enzo’s bike as he left his lights on (Pink Shorts LOL), as they drove through the desert, very desolated country side, yet very interesting. Along the way Steve Prost had a petrol filter failure and lost all his fuel and was left stranded till the back-up vehicle arrived to re-fuel and fix the necessary. The next stop was Noenieput where there was a general dealer and petrol station. After awhile the last bikers arrived with news that Garth Prost bike had caught fire and had to be put on the trailer as the fuel tank had melted. Nest was Rietfontein where they had beer and then headed down to Hakskeenpan to see the pan, they rode on the pan a little and headed back to the border where they proceeded through and into Namibia. 30km into Namibia they had to pay the road tax at the office, filled up again and left for Koes Hotel. Arriving just before sunset to find friendly people with a great home cooked meal. Preparations and clean up where next on the list to get ready for Day 3 …
Day 3
Everyone was up at 6 local time, Garth finished the last touches on his burned bike, the rest packing and getting ready to leave, breakfast was then served and enjoyed by all. All did a trip past the filling station to refuel and the Back-up vehicle to get the destroyed tyre replaced, the wind was blowing really hard which made riding fairly uncomfortable, having left a little later than planned they decided to change the route, a suggestion of Sossiesvlei was agreed upon, however this would be a long haul, they refueled at Gochas, a small village in the middle of no where, they traveled along the Aroab river for a while, not really noticing as the land is quite flat. After filling up they headed out toward Sossiesvlei , though a small village for a beer and then over the escarpment which was very impressive. Arriving in the sesriem camp site just after dark, after putting up camp and a shower , pasta was made and hungry boys were fed after a long day, riding 500 odd kilometers for the day.
Day 4
Everyone up early for the game drive through sossiesvlei sponsored by Dirk, the 2 game drive vehicles picked them up at 6h30, drove into the park, once again a lunar landscape , vast open spaces, and game wondering around, there were springbok, gemsbok, ostriches, jakkels and a few other animals, the dunes were very interesting and some you could walk up, they walked to dead mans vlei, which was a dry lake bed in-between the dunes.
heading back quite quickly as they had to pack up camp before leaving, the packing up took around an hour and they were on the road again, going through the strangest terrain, they took some pictures of the most picturesque land scopes, they had to cover 300Km for the day to swakopmund.
Along the way Adrians bike started to splutter and Brett omitted to fill up and ran out of fuel.
They encountered a rolled land cruiser on the way the driver was not badly injured so they carried on our way.
Reaching Walvis baai around 16h30 and went straight to dune 7 where they played on the dunes for an hour or so, then they left going through Walvisbaai to their final destination in Swakopmund. Walvisbaai smells of fish from way outside town.They reached their hotel and got cleaned up ready for dinner , an interesting day was had by all.
Day 5
Ousema to Grootfontein.
They slept a little later as they did not have so far to go, had breakfast ,changed Roy’s tyre had a photo shoot with their hosts and left the farm for Grootfontein , the roads were fairly easy going and they made good time, the temperature increasing through the day, they decided to go a little further than the planned camp at Mauri campsite where a very unfriendly German chased Garth and Nico out, they pushed on to Roy’s rest camp where they pitched camp and cleaned up ready to braai some meat they got in Spar in Grootfontein.
Day 6
Swakopmund to ousema.
They all enjoyed a German style breakfast in the hotel d Avignon albeit a one star, it was a pleasant stay. First stop was to get tyres and ended up at the local Yamaha dealer where they stripped down Adrian’s bike that was not working, after replacing the fuel filter which meant dismantling most of the bike , they had the bike going again, a change of tyres for a few of the guys and loads of accessories bought to the delight of the sales staff. They eventually left Swakopmund around 11 o clock , the road to Hentiesbaai was a salt road near the water and they stopped to look at a wreck and feel the cold Atlantic water , the sea was not very inviting. As they proceeded toward Hentiesbaai Roy’s bike started to misfire and at the garage where they filled up they decided to head down to the beachfront to fix the bike, stripping the bike down and fixing some broken wires and cleaning the filters the bike was working again, by this time it was after 3 and they still had a long way to go, the road away from the coast was a constantly changing landscape and soon wthey were riding in the lowveld type terrain at their last fuel stop they still had 2 hours to go and it was getting dark, they pushed on, Roy in the meanwhile had got a flat tyre and had to be trailered. The roads were interesting in the dark and quite dangerous, a few encounters with jakkles and small antelope Steve C hitting a duiker luckily not taking him of the bike, Steve P had a close encounter with a black cow, finally they arrived at the guest farm and were met with such hospitality. Their hosts had made a 3 course meal , traditional German food, they waited for the backup crew and Roy who arrived just before ten. They all had a schnapps with their hosts and retired to bed.
Day 7
Grootfontein to rundu,
After a heavy night the group woke with fair hangovers, Quentin said the charge light had come on in the back up vehicle , so looking under the bonnet they found the fan belt had torn and the tensioner was destroyed, a trip of 50Km back into Grootfontein found them at the Ford dealer who by a small Miracle had the parts they needed, on the street they fitted the parts and were soon headed back to Roy rest camp, upon arrival things were packed only to find Nico had a flat front , they decided to trailer the bike as it was mostly a tar stretch, they arrived at the Kayova river lodge where the bikes were sorted out for the next day and a sundown cruise was organized , the people faded fast due to the previous nights party, and I guess a little anticipation for the next days ride.
Day 8
Rundu to Tsumkwe,
Up early, bags packed and in the restaurant for breakfast, bikes ready they left , reaching the turnoff to Khoudom park and there was the thick sand they had been waiting for, 200 meters and there lays Nico, he gets helped up and off they go an hour or so later they stop for a punctured Steve P and as the back up gets there they change the tube , and they are on our way , the back up is averaging 10km per hour at this point, the bikes wait at the entrance to the park which is just a sign in the middle of nowhere , the backup arrives and needs a gently push to get going, the bikes ride for another 10km and wait to make sure the back up gets there, by midday they had done about 80km , the back up had punctured a tyre and had to change the wheel as the side wall was ripped, no more spare wheels for the back up. Enzo’s bike decided to eat the safety switch on the side stand and the bike would go no further and was loaded on to the trailer, regrouping once again they moved onward stopping every 10 km to regroup , by now it was late afternoon and they still had 70km to go, suddenly Dirks bike stops and too has to be loaded onto the trailer , arriving at the bottom entrance to the park and got onto the main 4×4 road and eventually ended up in Tsumkwe and opted to stay at the country lodge, the chalets looked a little dodgy from the outside but inside they were clean and neat, dinner had been organized and they had a well deserved drink in the bar and a good meal. The bikes were looked at and they managed to make Enzo’s work from parts of Dirks which would not go. They were however 120km behind from where they should have been. Everyone slept very well that night.
Day 9
Tsumkwe to Maun
Everyone up early ready for the final day, kits were packed everyone had breakfast ,checked bikes new routes were loaded and off to the garage for fuel, all fueled and off they went,60km to the border , Roy had a great wheelie on the little stretch of tar that was the town, only to rip out the valve and leave us fixing a flat wheel 200meters out of town, pink pants were immediately donned by the pohm, we reached a very remote border post and proceeded through with little difficulty , no money changed hands. They were now in Botswana expecting sand tracks were surprised when they had a good dirt road, They reached the tar without incident and regrouped at the local tavern which was full of very drunk locals, Adrian tried to teach the local kids some new songs with limited success. They topped up the bikes with fuel and headed on to Maun were they reached the Okavango River Lodge and Enzo’s truck, immediately they loaded the bikes, set up camp and headed for dinner and bar for the fines meeting , abuse was dished out with great laugher, they had survived a great trip seen huge amounts of landscapes had ridden 3200km without injury or a serious crash , a combined total of 35000 kilometers only one bike not making the full distance, Up for breakfast on the last day saw the back up truck leave for home and the riders off for a short trip up the river, the taxis collected them for the airport and they were on our way back to Johannesburg. A great trip and will be remembered for ever.
https://rostoffroad.co.za/?p=1901
