Desert Boy
Pack Dog
Namibia still celebrates Ascension Day on 13 May. This year it fell on a Thursday so a long weekend was enjoyed by many. My friend Volker had recently bought a new 990R (like mine), so it was a great opportunity to dash across the desert to Swakopmund, testing the bikes along the way and to see a few places that we don't often go to.
The bikes were packed on Wednesday evening and we were ready to set off on Thursday at 09h30.
My 990 packed and ready, posing in front of the "New State House". No-one quite knows what that complex is costing but I don't think there will be much change from a Billion bucks once it's done.
We met up at the Engen in Olympia and we were soon on our way. We decided to take the C28 to the coast, past Daan Viljoen Game Reserve, down Boshua Pass, into the Nature Reserve and on to Swakop. It's about 340 kms, sadly too much for the KTMs without fuel back up. I took my usual jerry cans fitted to the pannier racks and Volker took 2 5l plastic cans strapped to his carrier.
Along the way, we stopped at the old "Spookhuis" on Farm Neu Heusis about 40 kms West of Windhoek. The house was built around 1911 by the "Karl Liebig Company"who owned over 200 000 hectares of land to raise cattle. The house was occupied by Liebig Company Managers.
The old house is obviously very run down and dilapidated, but one can easily conjure up images of good living in early colonial times.
We checked that our stuff was still firmly strapped down and off we went.
To be continued....
The bikes were packed on Wednesday evening and we were ready to set off on Thursday at 09h30.
My 990 packed and ready, posing in front of the "New State House". No-one quite knows what that complex is costing but I don't think there will be much change from a Billion bucks once it's done.
We met up at the Engen in Olympia and we were soon on our way. We decided to take the C28 to the coast, past Daan Viljoen Game Reserve, down Boshua Pass, into the Nature Reserve and on to Swakop. It's about 340 kms, sadly too much for the KTMs without fuel back up. I took my usual jerry cans fitted to the pannier racks and Volker took 2 5l plastic cans strapped to his carrier.
Along the way, we stopped at the old "Spookhuis" on Farm Neu Heusis about 40 kms West of Windhoek. The house was built around 1911 by the "Karl Liebig Company"who owned over 200 000 hectares of land to raise cattle. The house was occupied by Liebig Company Managers.
The old house is obviously very run down and dilapidated, but one can easily conjure up images of good living in early colonial times.
We checked that our stuff was still firmly strapped down and off we went.
To be continued....
