Namibia on the cheap on a KLR

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shanti

Race Dog
Joined
Jan 27, 2009
Messages
1,185
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54
Location
Harkerville Knysna
Bike
Honda CRF-1000L Africa Twin
                                        Namibia on the cheap
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A year ago I made a promise to myself, to spend my birthday under the stars in a foreign country. I have just returned from Namibia having fulfilled that promise a happy, relaxed and contented man, this is my story..
May was approaching and my promise to myself was looking very far in the distance, finances had not been so good and Lotto is just poverty tax. I had spent the previous year slowly buying second hand DS equipment for my journeys , my bikes shocks where upgraded and I had made myself a bash plate and pannier rack – ready to go just needing some cash . Just before Easter my luck came in and I sold a sculpture so now I could go – my budget would be low so I planned to self sufficient as much as possible and free camp where I could
CAPE TOWN TO SPRINGBOK
The ride up to Springbok was a pleasure ( as is any outward bound journey ) – I had managed to secure some work for when I came back , my dogs had a house sitter and I had the first of many full tanks of petrol and a heading of north . Full moon was approaching and the journey was on to see it rise in the desert
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I planned to free camp somewhere near Springbok but when I arrived there I was tired and I couldn’t see anywhere that I could hide my bike and tent and camp freely so I stayed at the Koekerboom ? Guest house in the campsite. That night was bitterly cold and there was ice on my seat in the morning. I got up the next morning very early, packed my bike and headed off to the border post.
My plan for the day was to cross the border and head towards Ai Ais – I had heard about the hot springs and after my cold night in Springbok that seemed like a heavenly place to go. The border crossing was easy and no fuss – have your passport and bike papers and through you go .
I filled up with fuel just past the border post and took the D212 towards Aussenkehr – this is a reasonably good tar road with no painted lines and quite a few signs telling you this fact. Very soon you are in a desert environment and I couldn’t resist following some tracks off the road heading towards some mountains in the distance – the tracks disappeared in a dry river bed  , must have flooded recently with all the rain ,
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I followed the river like path for a while and it too ended, I was in the middle of nowhere with no sign of human existence – bliss
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As it was still early I decided to remember this place for a campsite on the way out and with the warm thought of a hot spring I followed my tracks back out – I rode in the river bed with the thinking that when more rain came all trace of my tracks would disappear leaving the area ‘ untouched ‘ .
Ai Ais campsite and hot springs is a great place – A little expensive for me – tried to buy some meat to braai but two chops at the campsite shop where $60 ( Namibian ) – Buy before if you plan on cooking . After talking to the security guard I found that I could buy meat at the back of the kitchen for much cheaper - $25 for a ‘ braai pack ‘. The hot spring indoors was a bit sterile but it was good to warm up there. After supper I went to the big outdoor round pool – this was great if you found where the hot water was coming in through a pipe and a perfect place to hang out in the evening with some ‘ herbs ‘
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The next day was my birthday so I planned to be ‘free under the stars’ further north. I rode past the Fish River Canyon and paid the $60 to go to the viewpoint – the canyon is incredible and the Fish River was in flood – earlier that week some hikers had to be rescued from the canyon because of floods and it was presently closed for hiking – I think it’s true beauty could be found hiking along the river course.
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Further along the road ( the C 37 ) I came across the canyon roadhouse and stopped for some beer , I had one and left – somehow the stops I made away from people in the middle of nowhere where more pleasurable – solitude in open spaces was my quest . I took the C12 up to seeheim and then followed a windy path of D roads towards Helmeringhausen – namely the D432, D431, D430 and the D417. It was on the D417 that I found a place out of the way to camp and spent my first free night under the stars.  A crazy thing had happened earlier in the day – I got stuck and fell down in heavy mud – I was riding happily along and ahead was a ‘shiny ‘30m section – I looked up and accelerated only to have the rear wheel drift right as if it was tired of being last and now was determined to overtake – After various weird sounds in my helmet the bike and I went down. It became almost impossible to stand so slippery it was and my boots where getting larger and larger in a straw bale kinda way – The bike was over and I was struggling to stand so picking it up eventually left me laughing and slipping all over the place . Sometimes things just must get done so after a while I did eventually succeed.
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The night was beautiful and I was up early determined to see full moon rising over the Dunes at Sossusasvlei. I rode up the C14 to see Duwisib Castle on the D826. Had a small walk around and the place was beautiful in a sad kind of way – maybe I just wasn’t wanting a ‘people ‘experience. At Betta I joined the C27 and was in heaven, the road through the Namibrand National reserve is one of the most beautiful roads I have been on – here are some images
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There is lots of buck next to the road so if you turn your engine off and coast near to them you can get quite close
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The road is beautiful and you should give yourself the whole day to ride along it
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The above images where taken on my outward and homeward journey. On this road I found the best sign – hopefully one day we can learn to live in peace and share our beautiful planet
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I am a big fan of rest stops and have a huge collection of images of them
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I got to the sesriem campsite only to be told that there would be NO way I could ride out to the dunes and would have to hitch so see them – apparently bikers in the past had wrecked areas and ridden all over the dunes – nice one idiots ! . The campsite is beautiful and the parks people took pity on my plight and organized a great place for me to camp – amazing how far a smile gets you in life.
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The next morning I wandered round the campsite looking for a lift – I managed to find one with two amazing people – Amanda and Brian. We headed out to the dunes in the afternoon – here are some images – just surreal
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At Sunset I got what I wanted and more – A moonrise over the dunes
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Later on with the aid of some herbs I encountered many moonrises, over my bike seat, over my wheel etc
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Next day I was determined again to keep it real and keep it cheap so I headed out looking for free camping . The first place I came across was Solitaire – for a person like me with my love of herbs to come across a bakery in the middle of nowhere was a budget wrecker – I left there with chocolate brownies, chocolate cake. apple tart – in fact almost my whole tank bag was packed with various munchies – they say never shop with an empty stomach, well...
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I had taken the C19 to reach Solitaire – very good road and now was on the C14 heading to Walvis Bay. Along this road you will encounter the Kuiseb Pass
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It was in this pass I found a beautiful place to camp for free – you cross the Kuiseb River twice , on the second crossing – a bridge after a weird tar bit you will notice a small road off to the left , this goes down to the river and if you continue up the river on the banks you will find a campsite – probably used by locals there is a fire pit there and lots of wood – the river was flowing fast and you could walk upriver 200m jump in , lie on your back and be back to your campsite in seconds – amazing .
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I made a fire and settled in for the night. Later on that night I heard strange high pitched noises and to be honest I thought they were a weird bird so ignored them. After putting my fire out I climbed into my tent and went to sleep – I was woken hours later by more of those noises – only closer – then I heard paw steps and strange breathing noises – I unzipped my tent and was looking at a hyena about 2m away – in fact a few of them where skulking around . Quickly I zipped my tent up and sat in fear for a while – then the not knowing got to me so I decided to try and scare them away, don’t ask me why (It made sense that night) but I strapped my head torch on and made the light red, grabbed my axe and burst out of my tent shouting – they all ran away. I relit my fire and even though I didn’t see them again I stayed awake just in case , I listened to baboon and bird noises till the sun came up . After a morning swim and breakfast (I had a small cooler bag so was able to transport eggs and meat safely – it folds up when not in use) I headed out again – destination Swakopmund.
After the Kuiseb Pass the world opens up, the skies become big and if you stop and look you will notice life happens on a very small scale
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I got into Swakopmund in the afternoon and checked into the desert sky hostel – there a group of Germans where making an abortion of a fire so I helped them and we had a braai, we all chipped in with something – mine was baby potatoes with herbs and butter wrapped in tinfoil and placed in the fire – they had never seen this done which struck me as strange – you learn something everyday I guess.
I Didn’t want to hang in Swakop so I left early and headed up to Henties Bay and took the C35 to Uis – on this road I had unexplainable problems with my bike – my bike had been running fine but now was displaying signs of petrol issues – it would suddenly start to misfire and loose power, I checked everything I could but couldn’t locate the problem – still don’t know what it is. Figuring it was something to do with the carb I pulled into Uis – there while talking to the petrol attendant he mentioned a guy in the township that could possibly help. He did help – he helped me drink lots of beer and have a good laugh – on bike matters I quickly understood that he didn’t know too much and would do the same thing I was planning to do – clean the carb.
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I decided to give it a day and see if the problem manifested again so that afternoon I left town and headed for the Brandberg to camp – I rode back towards Henties for a bit and took the D2342 towards the Brandberg – It’s a deeply spiritual place and in the back of my mind was a strange quest – find the elephants. I made camp near the foot of the berg and decided to scout around (essentially to find wood)
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It’s a beautiful place and if you camp there – LEAVE NO TRACE, respect where you are at and tread gently.
Spent two nights there but didn’t find the elephants – on bike issues – bike seemed fine even after lots of deep sand slow hot engine riding. Seems my bike doesn’t like to go consistently at 5500rpm on hot days??????? And I have to keep on stopping to let it cool down?? It loves cold days riding at 5500rpm all day and hot slow technical sections??? I don’t know maybe one of you guys have a word of wisdom in this matter. Anyways on with my journey.
 
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