13 January – Hondeklipbaai

This is our last night in Namibia. We now sleep on a campsite in the middle of the sand desert at about 1 km from the border between South Africa and Namibia near Alexander Bay. After a day of rest yesterday at the campsite in Aussenkehr we drove through the Ai-Ais/Richter Field National Park to Rosh Pinah and then to Oranjemund. What a fantastic ride this was through a landscape which made me think of Death Valley but then with a river and for 250 km. The Ai-Ais/Richter field NP is located in South Africa as well as in Namibia and is exceptionally lonely and rugged as can be seen in the pictures. The first stretch to Rosh Pina (120 km) was over a good, unpaved road that followed the Orange River. This is the longest river in South Africa (2200 km or so) that has been working for centuries to bring the Kalahari’s sand (and diamonds) to the sea where the Benguala stream then throws it back on the coast of Namibia and South Africa. And then it is called the Namib desert, and there are diamonds!

The road through the Ai-Ais/Richter Field Park was narrow but fortunately not busy. I think we have encountered two cars. You can see some places where diamonds are mined. It is also strictly forbidden to leave the road or to search for diamonds. Halfway there was a bridge over the Fish River, the same that the beautiful canyon made. As you can see, the river was completely dry.

Rosh Pina is a mining town where zinc, copper and lead are mined by digging in a mountain. From this town a new road leads to Oranjemund. Until a few years this place was not accessible because of the diamond extraction but now it is and the road goes through a landscape that is beyond your wits. Red Dunes, black mountains and sometimes sand hills that seem to be gold-colored. For me, this is the roughest landscape I have ever seen and yet it is full of life. Lisa suddenly discovered a whole herd of ‘spiesbokken’ and that is very special to see those animals in this landscape. Later we came across 1 in Oranjemund and at the camp there is also 1 round. They are not harmless with sharp horns of a meter length.

Tonight we go ‘braai’

Now we are at our new campsite in Hondeklipbaai. Really and the campsite is called Honne-hokken. Where this place derives its name, I do not know but we are there.

We had some experiences last night with the camping Oryx. It was pretty tame but still has sharp horns and they are pretty aggressive so beware. The beast continued to stalk us, all night and evening. I had to hide in the car several times and Lisa sat down on the roof. Even during the night the beast was there and to go to the toilet was a joint operation with flashlights and lookouts. In addition, there was an incredibly annoying bunch of mosquitoes. Sleeping was so laborious.

In the morning we hoped to get breakfast at the lodge but it was Sunday, so everything closed. Also in Oranjemund, everything closed. Then just cross the border and that went smoothly except that the Southafricans wanted to have all our fresh fruit and vegetables. PFFFF, luckily they didn’t look in the fridge and also our liquor stock was not found. Ha ha. Alexander Bay, on the other side of the Orange River was extinct so we drove to Port Nolloth where we could withdraw money (well, dollars, Pula’s, Rand, I’m so happy with the euro!) and we could eat. The road there was beautiful but through a dull (sand) landscape. Then we drove to Kleinzee where we wanted to camp. That road was terribly bad with huge ridges. Along the way we were overtaken by 5 police cars that drove as idiots on that road. Kleinzee was also a place of nothing but more important was that both campsites were closed. Outside the village there were hundreds of people camping wild. These were probably diamond seekers we think.

We decided to drive southwards over an excellent road to Koingnaas. It was clear that this road was built for a diamond company because the last piece to Hondeklipbaai was awful.

We are here for 1 night and then go towards the Cedar Mountains where we hope to arrive in a day or 2