Oranjerus 30 July 2021

 

 

Greetings from Oranjerus!

 

Last night we were camping at Camel Rest and Peace, near Vryburg. What a nice campsite this was, especially because of the owners. Immediately upon arrival we were warmly welcomed by one and we were asked where we came from and so on. It ended with him offering us stuffed loaves of bread that night because he was making them for a number of contract workers who stayed at the campsite. Those men were building a factory and came to stay with him every night in a caravan/tent.

Of course we said yes to this offer and we almost regretted it. His partner brought us a full blown bread stuffed with spinach, onions, bell pepper and so on. Lovely just but luckily the contract workers had arrived by now and helped us get rid of our surplus without any problem. They were hard workers by the way because they came home at 5am and by 4am they were up again.

 

Our night’s sleep was much warmer and better now with two duvets although it was just 4 degrees outside with a fantastic starry sky (yes I had to pee). We slept until 8.30pm…. lovely just.

 

Then in the car on the N14 towards the West. What struck me is that it was very busy, a lot of trucks especially and that made you lose time (for whatever it is worth). The car is excellent. Where the Landcruiser is a workhorse that gets everywhere but doesn’t really offer comfort, this is a travel car that can be less useful in the terrain. We were driving 60 mph without a problem.

 

As we moved more West, the landscape changed with a bit more hills and fewer trees. The daytime temperature is lovely, 24 degrees and a clear blue sky. But as soon as the sun goes down, it gets cold quickly.

 

On the way we bought an extra staircase so that we can get into our bed a little easier.

 

Now we are on the Orange River near Uppington. This river is brownish (orange) and that is because the sand of the Kalahari is carried to the sea. The estuary is on the border between  Namibia  and  South Africa  near  Oranjemund  (yes yes) and from there the sand is fed North through the Gulf Stream and dumped along the Namibian coast and there it forms the  Namib  desert.

 

The campsite is just beautiful, see the pictures. There is a restaurant and they serve curry. I think I’m going to live here…..

On the other side of the river there is a large solar energy plant. One like you see in movies with mirrors and a tower in the middle where water is boiled

We don’t know what to do tomorrow.