The Snail, the Tortoise and the Big Red Pig

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Beserker

Grey Hound
Joined
Sep 10, 2007
Messages
5,024
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167
Location
Skelmbosch
Bike
AJS (all models)
Big Red Pig, that is me, or rather my bike, an XR650R.

My trip to Namibia started two years ago when I went for a spin on a mateâ??s just purchased KTM 950. So impressed I was with the bike that I started looking around for a second hand one. Speaking to a guy in PE, he incidentally asked me where I saw the add for his bike, in the Autotrader or on the Wild Dogs siteâ?¦.Wild dogs WHAT??

I browsed on over, and like they say, the rest was history. The following two days I read Ride reportsâ?¦ I was hooked!

I quickly realized that my budget would not support a KTM as well as the trips, and when I came across the XR650 (having ridden XRâ??s since the first Prolink XR 200 was released in South Africa way back in â??81) I snapped it up and kitted it out.

I had to convert it from a Super Mortard to a dirt worthy long distance hauler, great fun.

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During this time I spoke with Danie, and being a veteran of a couple of Nam trips, he immediately bought in, and the planning started gaining momentumâ?¦.we committed to a September/October date.

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As a sidebarâ?¦Danie achieved â??Blik Boudeâ? (Iron Butt) status before I started shaving. How does PE to Cape Town via Baviaans, in a single day, on a â??76 XT500 grab youâ?¦?

Three weeks before due date, Gideon also decided to join, and swapped a whinch off the Land Cruiser for a DR350â?¦.taking it apart in his garage, it revealed itself to be a dud. He reverted back to to Plan Bâ?¦.the DR 250.

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Still actively racing enduro at a national level, he decided to re brand it as a Donners Rof 250, the first of many name changes during the trip.

Thus, not as eloquently written as those by  https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=13428.0

Or as daring as those by MetalJockey https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=10359.0

I hope this ride report will serve you in the same manner as the above did me; to motivate and enthuse you for a trip to Namibiaâ?¦..itâ??s there and should be considered a sin not to go ride it, whatever you expect from it.

Taking into account the ecclectic mix of riders making up WD forum,  Iâ??m sure everybody reading this report will identify with some aspect of it.

Planning, day 1 to 3

Planning consisted of two intense sessions, the first lasting all of  ten minutes, with everybody affirming that they were â??inâ? before we retired to watch Rossi kick some arse at Laguna Seca.

The second session followed the same agenda, with the exception of Danie, who with foresight shouldered the brunt of the planning. He managed to come up with a plan, which at first seem to be difficult to read, but once you get used to the idee that relational distances were shunned in order to depict a circular route with suggested waypoints, it became quite elementary.

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The plan was seconded (literally within seconds) and ratified. Wih an anonomous â??Ayeâ? to indicate we were all still commited, and the bikes ready, we retired to watch homeboy Tyla wrapping up the 250cc world championship. Appropriatly fired up by his victory, we cast our departure date in stone, and went home.

The last two days prior to us departing from my house entailed scurring around to sort out detail like finishing luggage racks, buying provisions, finishing off at work and trying to spend time with the family.

As it was, we departed without me even once doing a final fitment of my soft luggage, or trying to pack it. A big thank you for Amanda at KTM  Cape Town for making sure that I got my stuff in time (Ordered on the Monday, got it on the Thursday, left for Nam on the Friday)

We decided to trailer our bikes up to Windhoek as we have all done the N7 from Cape Town to Windhoek before. Going by bakkie meant that we could do the drag at night, gaining a day or twoâ??s worth of offroad riding.

Finally, packed!

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We were on a fairly tight schedule as Gideon had to be back by a specific date for a relay race at Piketberg with his son, but more importantly, Danieâ??s wifeâ??s brotherâ??s  only niece (something like this) had her Portugese wedding two weeks hence,  and if Danie did not show up at church in time, with his Sundayâ??s best, there would be hell to pay.

As it was, the trip up was not without incident, as we managed to sieze the bakkie engine about 15 kays outside of Citrusdal.

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A swop was made, costing us half a day to get a replacement bakkie and arrange for the freshly deceased Caddie to be towed back to Stellenbosch. Ironically, the Corsa 1.4 rivalled the total capacity of the bikes combined, 650 + 500 + 250 = 1.4

Waking up the next morning in the back of the bakkie, and seeing Danies bike ogeling me from the outside gave me quite a â??skrikâ?â?¦

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Sunrise over the plains quickly dispelled the trepidation I felt on seeing Gideons Pooratech fabrications, and was replaced by a sense of anticipation.

In Windhoek we quickly packed, stored the bakkie and hit the road.

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The idee was to go up on the western side of Etosha, and having a look see at the places where we were stationed during our time in Namibia, courtesy of the SADF twenty years ago..

Iâ??m glad we did, otherwise I would allways have wondered, but we all agreed that  we will not go via our chosen route again â?¦there is better riding to be had than the strip of tar from Windhoek to Ruacana via Othiwarongo, Tsumeb and Oshakati. Oshakati in particular had that sprawling, next to the main road african suburban landscape so typical of other places in Africa where the infrastructure could not keep up with the urbanization of the rural areas.

Oshivelo is now a police traing camp, with only the white road still visisble.

One thing to be said of the route though, there is not a shortage of kooka shops, and the ice cold beer did a lot to alleviate the XR seat induced numb butt, that alternated with the burning butt that I suffered those first two  days of riding, having not done substantial riding for the previous 12 years .

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Completing the 900 odd kays to Ruacana also served to get our riding patterns sorted, and by the time we hit the gravel towards Swartboois, we were in sync. A few rivercrossings to get rid of the dust saw us bushcamping next to the Kunene. That night were for us the real start of the trip, we were on the threshold of going offroad into a remote area that is as harsh as it is beautiful, and before falling asleep under the stars, I re-read, in my mind, the various reports on the Kunene river road.


Day 4

Swartboois to Epupa.

After an early start, partly due to the fact that the heat was allready making itâ??s presence felt, we stopped of at Kunene river lodge. We had a quick Coke on the deck overlooking the river, chatting to a guy that has just completed the 90 odd kays from Epupa by 4x4â?¦.took him twelve hours. One of the Kunene river lodge managers also gave us a quick warning on the roadâ?¦according to him we should expect about 8 hours in the saddle, and the bikes will take a beating.  We decided to shake a leg, as it was allready eleven-ish, and by now the tempreture was soaring.

As it turns out, most of the fountains in the area was still flowing, changing the normally sandy drifs (river crossings) to real river crossings, a welcome relief from the heat.

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Stopping for lunch under some palm trees, I befriended a Himba herdboyâ?¦.amazing, the kid is about 10, walking around in the middle of nowhere, herding cattle.

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With me having a nice chat going, Danie and Gideon decided to push on. As I have been out-running them and stopping frequently in order for us not to lose each other, the intention was for me to catch up.

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I had hardly started down the trail, when rounding a bend, I saw the hill (https://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114743&highlight=kaokoland) that have been imprinted in my memory.

Maybe a mental thing, but halfway up I managed to hook neutral and toppled over, with the bike on top of meâ?¦for better or worse, I was stuck, and I could feel my knee going numb and stiff under the bike.  I took me about 20 minutes to dig my leg out from under the bike by removing the rocks and pebbels under me, and by the time I was hopping around on one leg, I was drenched in sweat.

After I took all my kit off and managed to lift the bike onto the stand I kitted up, and swinging my stiff leg over, managed to hook it into the luggage and I toppled over to the other side. The silver lining, this time I was on top of the bike and managed my kit of for a second time.

This time the XR was lying downhill, and by the time I had it on the stand, I was shaking from the heat and effort. Kitting up, I took care swinging my leg over, and proceded to kickstart a very hot and flooded XR from a precarious stance. When it fired up after about the twentyith feeble jab at the kickstarter, I hardly had the strentgth to pull the clutch and take offâ?¦.only to slip and â??donner neerâ? for a third time barely 2 meters furtherâ?¦fa-a-a- rk.

Realising that by now Danie and Gideon must have noticed me not catching up, and not having the strenth to pick the bike up, I carried my kit to the top of the hill to act as a marker for my comrades. Slipping down the hill with my MX Boots on, I sat in the some â??shadeâ? for ten minutes and drank some water.

I have just managed to hoist the bike up when Danie arrived at the top of the hill. Walking down to me he kickstarted the Pig, and I managed to take off without incident. Riding, the airflow cooled me down, and after a couple of kays I was as ready as a rocketâ?¦and what enjoyable riding it wasâ?¦.

Some random pics

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Apart from getting slightly lost (we found ourselves on the Onkwati road and had to backtrack about 15 km) we made Epupa without incident after about 5 hours of riding.

What a first day, I can recommend the route anytime.

Arriving at Epupa, we quickly made camp, and like they say, got our sh!t sorted.

Taking of my boots, I realised the numb knee from the fall and the squelshing in my right boot  was relatedâ?¦Something glanced of my knee and punctured my calf muscle and my boot filled up with blood. I quickly cleaned the wound, and sticking it closed with super glue, we agreed that we will for the next day, have a Paris Dakar style restdayâ?¦it will give Gideon the opportunity to try out the fishing rod that he has been lugging around.

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Epupaâ?¦what a place


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To Follow: Epupa to Van Zyl's and beyond
 
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