My wifes first time in Namibia.

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Chrisl

Teelhond
Joined
Jul 23, 2007
Messages
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Location
Southern Cape
Bike
BMW R1200GS
December 2001 my wife bought herself her first bike as a christmas present. Phoned all my friends to find out if the XT was
a good buy. I only found out when she stopped with bike on trailer at my house.Spent the next year doing weekendtrips
and making her a capable rider. She has never ridden a bike before she bought the XT. She wanted to visit Namibia
since she met me and I decided April 2003 we are going. Sorry about the picquality but all I had was a "mikendruk".
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First day we left CT through Bainskloof, Ceres and the Cederberg and set up camp at Algeria.
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Day two was spent on tar all the way to Fiddlers Creek on the Orange River. Ive been here before a couple of times
and have always enjoyed it.
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Turning off to Ais-Ais were we filled with fuel and kept going to Hobas.
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I like this road all along the Fishriver Canyon.
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The viewpoint at Hobas. This is one of the spots in Southern Africa that one should visit. The view
changes from sunrise to sunset making stunning material for photography.
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Amazing what water and time can do.
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Friends on the way back from the Easter Desert Run joined us at the Hobas campsite. We had a good
braai and stories around the fire.
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My wife loves animals(how else would she cope with me)and she likes feeding birds. NOT allowed in
campsites!!!
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Packing becomes routine every morning. My advice to her at the start was. If it fitted nicely in the bag
yesterday DO NOT move it to a new position the day after. You might regret it the whole day.
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The turnoff to Seeheim.
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Shes kicking up dust!!
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From Seeheim we kept on tar to the turnoff to Betanien. Behind the bikes the little "town" of Goageb
Its only a little hotel, fuelpumps and a small store.
We stayed on the C14 through Betanien and Helmeringhausen. We turned left on D831 that runs into
D826. I had to show her Duwisib Castle. The castle was built by Baron Hermann von Wolff and his American
wife.
They were deported just before the first world war. She went back to USA and he to Germany to fight in the
war and were later killed.
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The caretaker that runs the place. It even had a winecellar. Everything except the stone needed for
the building were brought by oxwagon from Luderitz.
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The view from the frontsteps.
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We stayed at Betties camp 19 kms further down the road. There was a bad wind blowing and we could
not put up the tent on the upperdeck behind the canopy.
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If you want to see stunning sunsets go visit Namibia.
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Of course I had to stop here so we could watch the birds. We had a lot of Springbuck on and next to
the road to Sesriem. They did not like the bikes.
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This is what people come to Namibia for. "nothing" as far as the eye can see! I like watching that "nothing"
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Jip shes at it again feeding the birds!! Spent some time just watching the dunes close to Sossosvlei.
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Between Sesriem and Solitaire.
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As I had to kickstart the old donkey with my left leg I felt something was wrong during the day.Jip
dirty aircleaner. We had a nice braai and a warm evening around the fire.
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Sun going down over the mountains around Solitaire.

My eyes are "skeel" from all the scanning!
Will do the rest tomorrow.

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The next day we took our time getting to Swakop. Stopping a lot and looking at all the "nothingness"
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At least we have one pic that has both of us on thanks to a german lady. At the Kuiseb Canyon.
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Just before Walfishbay we turned right and Amanda walked up the back of Dune 2. Our bikes are parked
in the shade of the palmtrees to the topleft of pic. She was one tired lady when she got back!
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Taken from the top of Dune 2.
The last 100kms to Walvis we were running into a VERY bad headwind. We got to the tar and turned
right towards Swakop at the circle. About a kilometer down the road I looked in my mirror. O sh!t no Amanda!!
Turned around and went back. She was OK!! Ran out of fuel. The headwind made the XT drink more.
Difficult part was to get the fuel into her tank with the wind howling. Her exstra 5L can did not have a funnel.
Fuel got blown all over the bike!
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We stayed in one of the fishermans houses in the campsite. Did our washing, walked around in the curioshops,rented
quads, went to the oceanarium, took a ride through to Walvisbay and ate too much at the coffeshops and Kuckis restaurant.
We had two glorious days on the coast. Amanda liked Swakop a lot. I have warned her though that if the Easterly wind
blows for two weeks nonstop it is not the nicest place on earth!
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We took the C28 to Windhoek. This was the lunchstop. We got ONE vehicle on the road the whole day!!
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This is the lunchspot for the Bike SA Desert runners every year. This road is one of the must do roads in
Namibia. On this trip was the third time Ive done it but the first time doing it from West to East.
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Climbing up from the desertflat to the twisty Khomas Hochland.
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Forty kms before Windhoek is an old German fort. All the German soldiers that drank too much were sent here
to dry out!! That facial expression says "im afriad very afriad"!!! Reason being the whole ceiling of the building
were full of "perdebyneste" dunno what you call them in English sorry.
We camped at Arrebusch lodge and we spent the next day exploring Windhoek.
It was an early morningstart to Koes about 580 kms away. Took the tar to Rehoboth and turned off on C25
to Stampriet. Ive done this before and it is much nicer than sitting on tar to Mariental.
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We stopped a lot and ate in the shade of a tree. Had a cooldrink at the lodge just before Gochas and before
we knew it the shadouws started getting longer.
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When we got to Koes it was dark and we booked into the hotel. Only other option was pitching our tent
on the schoolrugbyfield. We were tired and lazy!!!
The next day we went to Keetmanshoop past the kokerboomforest and back to Fiddlerscreek.
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Amanda will kill me if I add a pic of her in a bikini so this is the best I can do!! We spent the day rowing, swimming
on the river and eating too much. We wanted to stay longer.
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Just checking the bikes. They ran faultlessly the whole trip.
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The last night we camped at the warmwater spa at Citrusdal. Got there in the dark and it being a
longweekend no facancy. We camped next to the little runoffstream from the main pool. The next
day was a slow start. We knew the trip was finished and we had mixed feelings about that.

This was Amandas first long trip and she passed it with flying colours. None of the roads were difficult and she
could ride while seeing the country and that is what she wanted to do.
We were away for 2 weeks and rode -+ 4800kms.

If you have been to Namibia once you are doomed for life.....
you WILL go back!


Thanks for reading.

 
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