Driving through the utter devastation between Alexander bay & the Richtersveld National Park is a depressing experience.
Unless of course you're a mine owner…
Looks like they don't need to reduce the bottom line with rehabilitation expenditure.
Just shape the dumps to look like hills.
Then, the real thing…
The Richtersveld…
Huge, imposing, rising out of the desert.
I still can't get over how this geography changes so suddenly. One moment Nyati's happily cruising along a flat desert road, the next, we're down to third, on a steep mountain pass…
No gradual foothills, nothing…
Flat sand. Steep rock…just like that.
Sanparks have done it again.
The staff, right from the entrance gate, are a happy, cheerful bunch, well trained in their own particular function.
Very pleasant & quite efficient to deal with…
The park, on the other hand, is quite magnificent.
WOW, seems to be the most appropriate description…
This is truly wild country, with breathtaking views from almost everywhere.
Again, I wished I could read between the lines of differing rock formations…
A geologists dream… Botanists too.
Driving through the Richtersveld's quite an experience. Visitors're warned that only high clearance, 4×4's are allowed in. The "roads" are basically all 4×4 tracks, & include some really nice mountain passes, steep with VERY narrow, VERY tight "hairpin" bends & serious drop offs.
Any "normal" all wheel drive vehicle, driven carefully, would easily cruise around…
The Suzie would excel here.
The thing is, Nyati's not in the "normal" category.
Nyati's bloody wide & VERY long.
Oh, but I just LOVE this truck !!
Nyati simply walked through, in, out, up, down & around, with a lot of over, EVERYTHING…
Engine ticking over like a metronome, vacuum brake snorting, Nyati didn't miss a beat…
Ah, but I did…
You see, we just didn't FIT.
Piddling little rovers, cruisers & stuff like that would squeeze through. The track's made by, & for, them.
Nyati's outside track's 2.200m…
A cruiser's 1.800m…
With a shorter wheel base than Nyati by 1.600m too.
With the forward camera spotting potential disasters, & the side mirrors showing just how close to the crumbling edge Nyati's 10tons was, we slowly drove on. Nyati totally unaffected, me with my heart pounding in my mouth.
The gypsy notably absent.
I'll have to find a woolworths somewhere…
They stock jockey briefs.
Nyati DID settle early, to wait for the rising of the full moon, besides the Orange river, in the lee of a Namibian mountain…
Idyllic…
I love this, living life, & watching it all go right.
Before lighting the mbaula, I gave Nyati a kiss… Right on the bonnet.
I'm sure I heard, "wait 'till tomorrow, we'll do it all over again, this time, higher, narrower & steeper… Hellskloof pass".
That's the moon reflecting off Nyati, not a camera flash.
Wow! That is really breathtaking! I am so proud of Nyati. The Gypsy was truly tested. Love reading your Blog Paul. I have shared it on my Facebook and have had many “likes”. Love taking the credit. 😉 Listen to the Gypsy……. There are no Serengeti Lions there. I love the Moon on Nyati. Safe journey.
Ja, that bloody gypsy causes me lots of headaches… Must be female ;-)))