Kamieskroon – August 8

We have just arrived in Kamieskroon, a town along the N7 about 200 km south of the border with Namibia. It all turned out very differently than what we thought!

Saturday morning we left Springbok. Although the campsite was fine, it started to blow and we were too far from the village to do anything. In addition, I had a sore foot that needed some care. So we decided to drive north towards Richtersveld national  park. Because this park does not have a single shop or gas station, we first had to stock up in Springbok and that was a bit  slow….but ultimately successful. Lisa also got me some diclofenac  in case my gout played up again.

Then we left north on the N7 right through Namaqualand. This area can be described as a  barren  desert with granite rocks that are sometimes up to 300 m high. It is a plateau with the occasional settlement. Every year around August a miracle happens here and the whole desert is in bloom. Beautiful flowers rise due to the, very minor, rain and give the area a beautiful view. In the north this is not yet the case, but where we are now the flowers are now starting to bloom.

At the town of Steinkopf we turned left towards Port Nolloth. Through the desert area with mountains (it looks like northern Norway) we descended towards the sea where we immediately ended up in the fog with temperatures that were 12 degrees lower. This is due to the cold gulf stream along the coast. After filling up the tank we left north towards  Alexanderbay. The route went right through diamond extraction areas which is done simply by digging sand and then filtering it. It is a completely desolate landscape, sometimes yellow in color but often reddish-brown. Very occasionally the sea is visible.

Alxeanderbay is nothing and we drove on towards Sendelingdrif. After a few kilometers, the paving of the road stopped and the road got worse. Vineyards are present along the Oranjerievier, in the middle of the desert. It is a beautiful sight to see trees growing in the middle of the desert. After about 25 km we reached our destination, camping Brandkaros where we were the only visitor. Although the road was not bad, I still asked the manager what the state was like further on because Sendelingdrif  (Richtersveld) was still 60 km further. He said the road was very bad in that direction after about 10km and the tyres would suffer the most. The road was recently maintained until that place and then not (this year).

It was very cold again so we were in bed very early (8am). In the morning we decided that we are going south and will not try to reach Richtersveld. After all, it’s vacation.

So today we drove the same route back after a good lunch in Port Nolloth. This place is known as a free-spirited place.

Tonight we sleep in Kamieskroon on an organized campsite with small camping pitches. Very clean.