Waking up we shower, which is welcome after a few days in the dust and have a relaxing coffee. They must water the bushes near our tent as the bonnet is a bit wet and I absolutely eat shit off the bonnet, A good start to the day, we are off to the shop for a large restock as we plan on another 6 days out bush. One thing we do is buy our veggies from the locals as they are always fresh and are natural. Delish. We failed to buy amarula which will haunt us. But we did get fresh fat cake. I pull into the petrol station, 40L in the jerry cans, 55 in the AUX, and 55 in the main, we arrived with 15L left to spare, that’s plenty close enough for me, but also allows us to really map out what we are capable of.
We decide since we aren’t going far we will just head for camp. That road.. was horrid, it’s a main tourist corridor and rough, rough enough that I pull off the road, put a waypoint on the gps and start crossing the sand to our camp. This also cuts about 20kms off our drive. We arrive early to camp and setup. The locals running it offer laundry so we strip the sheets out of the tent and send them for a wash, all up with our clothes we pay 170N We spend the afternoon cleaning the wagon and repacking the boxes with our shopping. Making the most of our room as usual. Asareh whips up corn in a cup, which is corn, with mayo, salt pepper and what ever other spices you want, very popular form our trip in Turkey (blogs to follow our Africa trip) Its an early night for Asareh and I sit under the stars chatting with a local. A good day overall.
Waking up early I get brekky started, the bacon smell lures the little straggler from bed. We pack up and head to the main tourist points. I get 1 km down the road and spin around and find a back track to avoid the rough roads. Seriously, air down… please.
Stop 1:
The Organ Pipes, pretty cool rock formations that are all splintered in a sharp triangle patter. Of course the photos talk them up a bit more, still pretty cool to see.
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- Still cool to see in person
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- Asareh enjoying the sun
Stop 2:
Burnt Mountain, the place is pretty cool looking, a good chance to experience geology, as a bonus we meet a Austrian family who’s father is a geo and explains some of the stuff. We met because as I was walking back I noticed they were taking a rather interest in my tyres, so why not strike up a conversation, upon discovering they had a serious blow out on a new tyre and were wondering how mine were holding up. Very friendly people. Gave them some suggestions on air pressures and even aired down more myself.
Apparently I took no photos.
Stop 3:
Rock carvings, this was super cool, we went on a guided tour for about an hour and see all these cool rock carvings all over. Even the oldest form of maps. I rather enjoyed this part. This one costs 160 if you are from SADC. Asareh loves it, mainly the fat elephant carving. There is even an old house from 1946 left behind due to the area drying out.
Tomorrows Blog Will cover driving to The Brandberg range and a day in town.
