The couple of days parked on the hard packed shell beach at Brand bay, interacting with Jihad, Albertus, the wives & dogs had a wonderful recouperating effect.
Gyppo's back… "Lets go, lets go, lets GO".
Nyati's in prime "fisherman's track" mode, soft tyres, low ratio box…
But I'm not… Not yet.
The traumatised muscles still remember.
"The only REAL mistake is the one from which we learn nothing".
So, after saying goodbye to our newest friends, & a turn past the salt pan to ensure they all KNEW I was genuinely grateful for their help, (These Peter Styvesants really work) Nyati hit the gravel road… Springbok bound.
A hard, bustling town built in-between granite koppies.
You're not going to have many town planning opportunities when your roads & buildings can ONLY follow rocky contours.
It was Sunday, traditionally "pizza night".
Try one… They're bloody BIG. Reminiscent of New York, a slice is challenging…
Springbok pizza, worth the trip.
Anyone who's driven along the Esplanade, past the yacht clubs, on a Sunday, will know the guy twirling sticks at the traffic lights.
Well Ricardo makes those things for a living.
He & Lee Anne, from Durban, are perhaps the last of the hippies, travelling, flogging their sticks… Interesting kids.
I'd had an unfortunate incident in Cape Town when I tried to update my cellphone contract.
It ended in tears.
The guys in Springbok though, were terrific.
Exactly the same amount of paperwork, but the RIGHT phone, with the RIGHT cover, & the RIGHT package with a hellofa lot more data…
Hey, hey…This should halve my monthly phone bill.
Thank you boys… What a difference a positive, can do, attitude makes.
I'd chickened out of the original idea of travelling along the beach to Port Nolloth, then North, Alexander bay & into the Richtersveld.
The risk of digging simply too high.
Springbok's as hot as hell, so the thought of returning to that cool Atlantic breeze's become irresistible.
Nyati could pick up the planned route there too.
A cold sea mist was rolling off the water when we arrived, straight out of the desert heat.
Wonderful, so romantic, read about, but never witnessed… Jeans & jersey stuff.
Flamingos & seine netters in the bay…
Straight out of a picture book.
Again… What a difference a few kilometres make.
Port Nolloth's where Lynette, of the BLV family in Upington, has holiday accommodation.
Lynn had offered me the use of a cottage, but being alone, quite honestly, I feel more comfortable in Nyati.
Thank you, the offer's appreciated though.
From Port Nolloth to Alexander bay the entire coastline's been raped.
Strip mining has left a legacy of mine dumps, devastation & huge areas of unreinstated vegetation…
The closer you get to the Namibian border, the worse it gets…
Dust storms.
Mars on a bad day.
The road to the Richtersveld National Park follows our old friend, the Orange river…
"Here we go again"… Across the river lays Namibia, all around its desert, scrubland, inhospitable, who would live here ?
Suddenly, looming out of the dust.
The board I've been looking for… "Brandkaros"… An oasis.
Previously, a thriving commercial farm, now a camp site beside the Orange, run by local Girl, Marikie…
Born & bred right here in the desert…
Eish… Question answered.
Set out, in this big, open, wild land…
Set amongst the trees…
Rondavels, beautiful campsites on watered grass lawns…
Everything's neat, clean, maintained & WORKS…
There's glass in the windows, toilet paper & soap in the ablutions…
The braais are intact… My God, with grids too !!
Guess what colour Marikie's eyes are ?
No surprise… Blue.
I've been getting somewhat peeved, at so often, having to accept very substandard, sometimes simply broken, facilities.
It's so unnecessary, pure lack of basic care…
Lackadaisical.
Look at "Ou Skip", "Chapman's peak", others, & now here…
Wonderful… Less staff, but all working…
Cheerful & smiling too.
Check out the management…
There's a common denominator…
There was another, special, breathtaking moment as the fiery sunset briefly lit up the desert sand & mountains across the river…
Dramatic Namibia… Oh yeah, we're back.
It's darkening now, getting chilly, the sun's long gone…
It makes me sad…
Then I remember…
"Don't cry because it's over.
Smile because it happened".
