Easter 2011 trip to the Richtersveld
With our time in South Africa drawing to a close the chance to travel to the Richtersveld Transfrontier National Park in the north western corner of South Africa and the border of Namibia with 5 other couples in convoy camping for 6 days was an opportunity too good to miss.
We knew only one of the couples (Vic’s cousin and her husband). As the couples all lived in Johannesburg we arranged to meet them in Augrabies Falls National Park on Good Friday. This in mind we set off on the Wednesday morning before Easter heading for Sutherland where we planned to camp the first night.
Sutherland is a small township in the middle of nowhere that boasts having the best night sky conditions for star gazing in SA and markets itself around this. We camped on the edge of town in a small private camp ground. As soon as the sun went down the chill set in as Sutherland is also known as the coldest place in South Africa in winter, so being tough Kiwi’s we donned our jackets and lit a camp fire, opened a bottle of red wine and settled down to star gaze and BBQ our steaks. The next morning we arose to -3c but a clear blue sky and sunshine. We continued our trek north stopping a little villages and townships along the way. One in particular was Middlepos, a must for Vic as they sell prickly pear syrup , which is delicious over ice cream (or so I am told). Vic bought their entire stock ,2 bottles. The prickly pear is the fruit of a cactus which local people pick and eat and make a syrup out of which is high in vitamin C.
At around 4pm and after many kilometers we arrived in Kamoes, on the banks of the Orange River, an area renowned for growing sultanas. Here we camped on a vineyard, and had the place to ourselves. It was delightful as it had originated as a small catholic primary school which had its own vine yard growing sultana grapes, also lots of history and charm. The weather here was much warmer and we were reluctant to leave the next morning but we still had a little way to travel before meeting up with the group at Augrabies Falls so around 11.30am we made our way back to the highway. Driving through this vast countryside with its huge paddocks, some with at least 4kms between fence lines. All have jackal fencing and unlike NZ lambing is done in April –May. As we drove on to the Falls the landscape was ever changing, one minute flat as a pancake, then rolling hills followed by mountains and then huge rocky out crops. We arrived at the falls at around 1.30pm where we were to stay 2 nights in well appointed individual chalets. Augrabies is always a busy place as the falls are well known and due to heavy rains in Lesotho this year, which is where the water originates and becomes the Orange River, the falls were full and truly magnificent.
Here we got to know the other members of the group around the camp fire, the weather was stunning and once again the days brought cloudless brilliant blue skies and warm sunshine, great for hiking and exploring the park area.
At 7am on Easter Sunday we headed off into the sunrise towards the Richtersveld where we would spend our first night at Sendelingsdrft. This is a full day’s drive stopping at various townships along the way. It was agreed that lunch would be in Springbok at a little cafe known to one of the couples from a previous visit, we then passed on through Steinkopf, Port Noloth on the Atlantic Ocean then up the coast to Alexander Bay. This area is well known for diamond mining. At this point we then headed east towards the park where we stayed the first night in chalets as there was no camping until further in the park.
It is probably a good time to mention that there are no animals in the park that consider humans a delicacy. The only thing we need to be aware of was scorpions ( they like to climb in your shoes if you leave them outside overnight) and the odd snake. I am pleased to report we only saw 2 scorpions and both were very shy. Sadly as we set off that morning one of the group had to pull out as there gearing selector failed and they need to head back to Springbok for repairs. After Sendelingsdrft we drove through this amazing landscape of red earth huge rock formations which look as though they come from another planet to the river campsite of Richersberg. Sadly this has been badly damaged by the flooding on the Orange River in January this year. A lot of the campsites are now under water of washed away. However we found a nice area for 5 vehicles under the trees which we later found out we were to share with a group of vervet monkeys who took great delight in stealing any food not put away or guarded, thankfully two of our group had catapults. Camping in this part of SA is rustic but beautiful, with the temp getting up to 34c we enjoyed swimming in the fast flowing Orange River while holding on to a rope attached to a tree. After 3 days we left the river and drove further inland doing some serious4x4 driving. One of the vehicles broke a shock absorber and we lost a side window, still these small mishaps did not deter us or spoil our fun. Finally we reached the Kokerbloomkloof camp, this is a dry camp, you have to bring in all your water even to flush the toilets however it is one of the most amazing places and the landscape and silence are breathtaking. Here we hiked, drove and took lots of photos, by early afternoon it was too warm to do anything but sit under the awning and read with a cold beer, thank goodness for camping fridges and freezes as there are no shops once you enter the park. In the evening as we sat around our camp fire the African Wild cat visited us. He is a tabby type cat, a bit bigger than a large household moggy and has pointy ears. He just watch us from about a metre away, possibly hoping for scraps of meat. After 6 days in the park it was time for everyone to pack up and head for home, at this point we said farewell to Julie, Stuart, Adele, Carlo, Helen, Peter and Beata and Vic ,I , Dianne and John headed to Vioolsdrift on the Orange River and Namibian border were we camped for the night before we headed back to Knysna and they headed back to Joburg.
As we headed south we stopped off in Calvinia to stay a couple of nights with friends Korbus and Petru Louw on their farm then home to Knysna and start the process of packing up after 6 months and getting ready to leave for Europe.
We say farewell to SA on the 26th May as we head back to Austria to pick up Moggy and spend a few days with Siegrid and Gerhard before we head east through Croatia to Turkey at which point we will continue our blogging so that you can continue to joins us on our travels.
In the mean time love to you all
Michele & Vic