alanB
Grey Hound
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2010
- Messages
- 6,776
- Reaction score
- 10
- Location
- Johannesburg
- Bike
- Husqvarna (all models)
This is cheating a bit, but one of the guys who was with us on a fantastic trip through the Kaokoveld last August, has written a blog.
https://lagus-adventure-saurus.blogspot.com/2010/08/tribulations-of-landy-driver-in.html
The navigation is on the right hand side of the page, it runs bottom to top, so the first day is on the bottom.
I was the only guy on a bike, the rest in 4x4's. They carried my fuel, food, tent etc. And I only started riding once we got to the Kuwareb Schlucht so it wasn't really a 'hard core DS" trip.
But it still was probably the best trip I have ever been on. Namibia is a hauntingly beautiful country, just sorry I rode through it so fast. Next time, I'm going stop and smell the roses every ten minutes thats for sure!
Because I only carried about three litres of water with me and whatever fuel was in the tank, I set up a "safety system" alluded to in the blog in which we set various rendezvous GPS points every day (2 or three a day, ie a stop for tea and lunch). Each vehicle could take their own time and even route etc as long as we all met at each successive point. We couldnt go on to the next point until we all had arrived. That ensured that if anyone got lost or got stuck the others would know they must be between the current point and the last point. And would know where to go look (although radio contact made that a non-event). It also ensured that I couldnt get too far ahead and then run out of fuel or water or something in a spot that others couldnt find me. And that the vehicles would be available to periodically during the day for food and water and fuel.
I was typically 50-100ks ahead of them on most legs, well out of radio contact, because you can go a lot faster on a bike than a 4x4 over that sort of terrain :thumleft: (I carried a little hand held radio that had a range of 10-20ks in good conditions, but you had to get it out and assemble the thing before you could use it so I only talked to them once or twice a day on radio). They all had serious radios so they could chat to each other all day long.
It was a fantastic trip, need to get back there :ricky:
If I get time some day I'll write up the RR properly.
https://lagus-adventure-saurus.blogspot.com/2010/08/tribulations-of-landy-driver-in.html
The navigation is on the right hand side of the page, it runs bottom to top, so the first day is on the bottom.
I was the only guy on a bike, the rest in 4x4's. They carried my fuel, food, tent etc. And I only started riding once we got to the Kuwareb Schlucht so it wasn't really a 'hard core DS" trip.
But it still was probably the best trip I have ever been on. Namibia is a hauntingly beautiful country, just sorry I rode through it so fast. Next time, I'm going stop and smell the roses every ten minutes thats for sure!
Because I only carried about three litres of water with me and whatever fuel was in the tank, I set up a "safety system" alluded to in the blog in which we set various rendezvous GPS points every day (2 or three a day, ie a stop for tea and lunch). Each vehicle could take their own time and even route etc as long as we all met at each successive point. We couldnt go on to the next point until we all had arrived. That ensured that if anyone got lost or got stuck the others would know they must be between the current point and the last point. And would know where to go look (although radio contact made that a non-event). It also ensured that I couldnt get too far ahead and then run out of fuel or water or something in a spot that others couldnt find me. And that the vehicles would be available to periodically during the day for food and water and fuel.
I was typically 50-100ks ahead of them on most legs, well out of radio contact, because you can go a lot faster on a bike than a 4x4 over that sort of terrain :thumleft: (I carried a little hand held radio that had a range of 10-20ks in good conditions, but you had to get it out and assemble the thing before you could use it so I only talked to them once or twice a day on radio). They all had serious radios so they could chat to each other all day long.
It was a fantastic trip, need to get back there :ricky:
If I get time some day I'll write up the RR properly.
