Damaraland
Race Dog
The end of winter means only one thing - time for my annual pilgrimage to Damaraland.
Why this drawn-out love affair with Damaraland and Kaokoland? To be honest I cannot explain it fully. All I know is that it is my favourite place on earth and it, along with that last bastion of wilderness Koakoland, offers some of the best adventure riding that this planet has to offer.
There's the famed gravel highways that the South Africans seem to love so much. There's steep rocky ascents and descents. There's the rivers, offering some of the most challenging and fun sand riding that you'll come across. There's rocky plains, there's tweespoor. There's elephant and rhinoceros, Kudu and Springbok.
There's space.
There's dust and there's sun, there's sweat and frustration and the smell of exhaust. There's a challenge and a sense of accomplishment.
Peace.
There's a quiet desperation when you realize you still have 30km of riversand to get through. There's a lunchtime nap in the shade of a tree so that you can continue your assault in the afternoon. There's sleeping under the full moon in the embrace of the mountain, no tent, just a sense of timelessness and foreboding. Knowing that what is around you will still be there long after you are gone.
Insignificance.
There's friendships affirmed and new ones forged. There's being elated for your mate when he gets through a tough section.
I could go on and on, but I suggest you ride that area yourself and form your own opinion. Just be warned - it will become a lifetime addiction.
The plan was simple, get a couple of friends together, ride around the mountain, sleep under the stars and take on and tangle with the sandmonster again.
Day 1
Day 1 saw us slabbing it from Windhoek to Okahandja, 70km of shit and wishing time away. The road is being upgraded so it'll be a mess for the foreseeable future. Reached Okahandja, which is also a bit of a pit but the economy seems to be picking up, in no small part due to SAB opening up a massive brewery there. In Okahandja, as is typical in Namibia there is a huge gap between the very poor and the well to do's which is kind of striking as you drive through the town. Past Okahandja we got onto the D2110, a nice quiet gravel road offering good scenery. It passes south of Erindi and criss-crosses the Khan river.
First stop would be Omaruru for fuel and a bit of lunch at the local coffee shop. We left Omaruru on the D2315, which runs parallel and to the South of the Omaruru river. Not much to say, your typical gravel highway where the biggest challenge is to not zone out too much or get too impatient. From there we stayed on a series of D roads, continuing all the way west until we reached the Spitzkoppe, some 400km's later.
What a beautiful sight.
Spitzkoppe is pretty well-known all around, but there has been some nice developments recently. The campsites have nice clean longdrops, or as clean as it can be and there are also chalets to rent. I was pretty surprised to find that there's even a restaurant. We made camp, and just in time too as it started raining, which caught us out a bit as that part of the world is not known for rain that time of year. It costs N$120 p/p to camp there, whilst steep I believe it is worthwhile.
Cobus, Pierre (Vlakhaas) and Johan (Vossie72) hiding from the rain
My crap photo's does not do justice to the beauty of the place, so here is a prettier one I pulled off the net.
We knocked back a couple of beers and settled in for a good nights rest. Typically the first night of a trip is somehow always the party night, but we managed to exercise restraint. Tomorrow would be the longest sand stretch of the trip, we expected to do about 50km in the Omaruru river, so a hangover just wouldn't do...
Why this drawn-out love affair with Damaraland and Kaokoland? To be honest I cannot explain it fully. All I know is that it is my favourite place on earth and it, along with that last bastion of wilderness Koakoland, offers some of the best adventure riding that this planet has to offer.
There's the famed gravel highways that the South Africans seem to love so much. There's steep rocky ascents and descents. There's the rivers, offering some of the most challenging and fun sand riding that you'll come across. There's rocky plains, there's tweespoor. There's elephant and rhinoceros, Kudu and Springbok.
There's space.
There's dust and there's sun, there's sweat and frustration and the smell of exhaust. There's a challenge and a sense of accomplishment.
Peace.
There's a quiet desperation when you realize you still have 30km of riversand to get through. There's a lunchtime nap in the shade of a tree so that you can continue your assault in the afternoon. There's sleeping under the full moon in the embrace of the mountain, no tent, just a sense of timelessness and foreboding. Knowing that what is around you will still be there long after you are gone.
Insignificance.
There's friendships affirmed and new ones forged. There's being elated for your mate when he gets through a tough section.
I could go on and on, but I suggest you ride that area yourself and form your own opinion. Just be warned - it will become a lifetime addiction.
The plan was simple, get a couple of friends together, ride around the mountain, sleep under the stars and take on and tangle with the sandmonster again.
Day 1
Day 1 saw us slabbing it from Windhoek to Okahandja, 70km of shit and wishing time away. The road is being upgraded so it'll be a mess for the foreseeable future. Reached Okahandja, which is also a bit of a pit but the economy seems to be picking up, in no small part due to SAB opening up a massive brewery there. In Okahandja, as is typical in Namibia there is a huge gap between the very poor and the well to do's which is kind of striking as you drive through the town. Past Okahandja we got onto the D2110, a nice quiet gravel road offering good scenery. It passes south of Erindi and criss-crosses the Khan river.
First stop would be Omaruru for fuel and a bit of lunch at the local coffee shop. We left Omaruru on the D2315, which runs parallel and to the South of the Omaruru river. Not much to say, your typical gravel highway where the biggest challenge is to not zone out too much or get too impatient. From there we stayed on a series of D roads, continuing all the way west until we reached the Spitzkoppe, some 400km's later.
What a beautiful sight.
Spitzkoppe is pretty well-known all around, but there has been some nice developments recently. The campsites have nice clean longdrops, or as clean as it can be and there are also chalets to rent. I was pretty surprised to find that there's even a restaurant. We made camp, and just in time too as it started raining, which caught us out a bit as that part of the world is not known for rain that time of year. It costs N$120 p/p to camp there, whilst steep I believe it is worthwhile.
Cobus, Pierre (Vlakhaas) and Johan (Vossie72) hiding from the rain
My crap photo's does not do justice to the beauty of the place, so here is a prettier one I pulled off the net.
We knocked back a couple of beers and settled in for a good nights rest. Typically the first night of a trip is somehow always the party night, but we managed to exercise restraint. Tomorrow would be the longest sand stretch of the trip, we expected to do about 50km in the Omaruru river, so a hangover just wouldn't do...
