FIRST NATIONAL BASH BY THE VIS ARENDE (KALAHARI)

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Vis Arend

Bachelor Dog
Joined
Nov 14, 2010
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Location
King William's Town
Bike
Honda CRF-250 Rally
When the National bash was announced to be held in the Kalahari we jumped at the opportunity to attend this one as the Kalahari is one of our favourite places to visit.  We were lucky to get our leave approved over that period and beyond for a day or two.  
We decided to attend the bash with the Karretjie instead of the S10.  The reason for this was that we are planning a lengthy trip to Namibia during 2015 with the Karretjie and needed to test it properly before the Nam trip.  In doing so we would give her a proper test run.  

We had more or less a route to the bash but the route back from the bash was to be as we felt and according to the time to our disposal.  Our plan for the route was roughly from King William’s Town to Adeliade, over the Winterberg to Tarkastad on to Hofmeyer, Steynsburg, Colesberg, Petrusville and end the days trip at Van Der Kloof dam where we would camp.
The following day’s route would be to Orania, Hopetown, Douglas, Campbell, Kuruman, Hotazel and eventually Van Zylsrus for a camping spot there somewhere.
The 3rd day would be a short ride from Van Zyls to Molopo.  Instead of the straight route to Ashkam, we would take the track along the Botswana border to Molopo.  

The 1st 4 days’ photos are not of the best quality as the camera was on an e-mail low pixels setting and we only discovered it later on in the trip.  

DAY 1 – KING TO VAN DER KLOOF DAM

The day arrived and we were as usual ready for the road at first light.  The rain gods however had other plans, but we were not deterred by the rain and still left just after 7.  The rain was pouring at times, so smoke breaks were kept to the minimum.  We briefly stopped in Adelaide at the butchery to purchase some boerewors.  While being served, the owner chatted to me and enquired about our route.  I told him we are heading for Tarka and eventually the Kalahari.  He warned me not to take the Winterberg road over the mountain to Tarka.  He struggled with the same road and got a couple of times stuck over the weekend, that nogal with a 4X4.
We slightly deviated from our planned route via the black stuff to Cradock and eventually on our planned route.
Ready for the road.


Dark clouds behind us with a little better view to the front.




Once we passed Cradock we had one last burst of rain and then the clouds made space for some beautiful blue skies.  


The first gravel road for the day between Steynsburg and Colesberg.  The gravel road was like a highway and without much to see, the distance to our destination for the day shrinked quite considerably.  



A couple of photos from our route between Colesberg and Petrusville.







 
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