Embedded Files
Departure: Nieuwoudtville
Destination: Augrabies
Date & Time
2019-12-29 06h40
2019-12-29 15h26
Odometer (Philip)
Start: 110,477 km
End: 110,963 km
As with most nights, one gets up to go to the toilet. The evening skies in EL YOLO, De Hoek & Nieuwoudtville were fantastic with the milky way paving the night sky.
Crows woke us as 05h00 and it was already 22C. I made the usual coffee and rusks to get us going. Sean's packing had improved and I was now rushing to keep up with him.
We stopped at Louriesfontein as this was the last fuel stop on our planned route to Augrabies. At 07h22 everything was still closed. After finding someone who was awake, we were informed that the fuel station only opens at 09h00 and we should rather take the R357 via Brandvlei as the gravel road was better and there were no fuel stops to Augrabies via our planned route - This was stretching our luck with the Triumph's fuel range, especially if the roads included thick sand. Further, we did not wish to open and close farm gates for the next 332 km with warning signs like the picture.
The gravel roads to Bergvlei are long and straight. We refueled at Bervlei and enjoyed breakfast at Die Windpomp. This must be the main attraction along the R27 when travelling between Calvinia and Keimoes as everyone passing appears to leave there cap behind.
After breakfast we continued chasing the horizon that was teasing us at the end of long straight roads.
We were about 50km from Keimoes when we noticed a tall tower on the horizon with a bright light shining as bright as the sun. I suspected it must be a Sun Farm.
The contrast between the dry desert and the farms along the Orange River was a huge contrast between the dry landscape and the lush green farms.
The temperature had reached 40C and it was humid. We stopped at a cool lush restaurant near Kakamas for a light lunch and a refresher. We refueled in Kakamas before heading to Augrabies.
The last 30km to Augrabies felt long due to the heat and humidity. We arrived at Augrabies reception and Sean sat in the cool air-conditioned restaurant while I stood in the queue at reception to check in. We finished a refreshing ice cold beer before heading to the camp site. By the time we had pitched the tents we were drenched in sweat so we went for a swim in one of the two pools at the resort for "residents only". We took a walk along the Orange River gorge to the Augrabies waterfall. By the time we got to the waterfall we were hot and sweating. We headed straight to the restaurant and sat on the shaded veranda and enjoyed ice-cold beers.
By the time we finished our delicious dinner at the restaurant, it had cooled down so we took the newly opened bottle of red wine to the camp site to enjoy the rest of the evening.
A Quiver Tree which is common to the Northern Cape.
As with all nature reserves in South Africa, baboons and monkeys are the main security threat. Augrabies was no different. Luckily the little food we had was well secured in the panniers.
Google Sites
Report abuse