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Brief Trip Report ~ Namibia Dec 2009

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Mar 9, 2010
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south_africa
Trip Participants;

  • Keith Richardson + Nephew Charlton Hewitt ~ 105 Series
    Alfred Hilton + 2 x Nephews Dylan and Zane ~ 105 Series
    Mark Seele + Jurgen Seele ~ 79 Series
    Jan van Deventer + Daan ?? ~ 80 Series GXL

Day 1; Pta/Jhb to Zelda Lodge Nambia
All went well until we got to the ZA-Bots border, there we had a 3.5hr wait while everyone got highly frustrated waiting for Bots 3rd Party and Road Permit.
Then a similar delay was experienced at the Bots-Nam (Buitepos) border post, however this delay was only 1.5hr
We got to Zelda Lodge after dark.

Day 2; Plan was Zelda to Kamanjab/Khowareb Gorge.
But, , , , instead we ended up towing Jan's 80 Series from 35km north of Gobabis into Windhoek, after he developed a very nasty grinding noise in the front diff. (We also discovered that at the prvious service some horses @r$e filled the transfer case with ATF ???
In Windhoek, we phoned Adolf who gave us David van Breda's number.
We contacted David and he guided us to (a) a campsite in Windhoek and (b) a service center where they will attempt to repair Jan's front diff.

Day 3; Windhoek to Khowareb Schlucht
Jan decided that we should push on, and after his repairs had be completed he would meet us in Sesfontein.
We left Windhoek at about 10;00am and took a slow drive, we stopped in Otjiwarongo to purchase firewood and had lunch in a lay-by.
We filled up with fuel in Kamanjab and drove through a few rain showers.
Set up camp in the Khowareb river by about 16;00.

Khowareb River Camp
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Day 4; Khowareb Schlucht
Took a slow drive through the Schlucht and set up an early camp
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Day 5; Khowareb Schlucht to Huarib River in search of the Desert Elephants
Left the Schlucht and headed for Fort Sesfontein. At Sesfontein we filled the fuel tanks and the water tanks and had beverages on the lawn while the kids had a swim.
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We then proceeded through the dust bowl and into the Huarib River bed, where we came upon this.
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We set up camp on the banks of the Huarib after seeing quite a few desert elephants immediately after we went through the "Poort"
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That evening we decided that I should bake a chocalate cake - here's the proof ( a 4 Mars Bar choc cake)
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More Trip pics can be viewed here
http://cid-723aa2936aa0873d.skydrive.li ... bia%202009

Day 6; Huarib to Palmwag Concession
We left the next morning and drove as far west as we could go along the Huarib River, we got as far as 20km from the Atlantic and through the Gui-Uri Swamp
Along the way we saw the abundance of game that reside in this desert oasis
We also found a very fresh set of Lion tracks at the waterhole
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We then headed South through the Palmwag Concession towards Wereldsend.
This track is very very rocky (I shredded 1 x BFG Mud) and extremely remote, but well worth the huge detour
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That night we set up camp in a dry river bed, just after we killed a HUGE black scorpion
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Day 7; Palmwag concession to Huab River
Upon trying to exit the concession at Wereldsend there is a privately controlled vet gate where a very strange character by the name of Clive Owen-Wilson gave us a long lecture about why we were not supposed to be there etc etc, but he eventually conceded and allowed us on our way. Apparently you can get a permit proveded you exit at the vet control gate at Palmwag.
We then made it all the way to the HUAB River were we went 1st to the windpomp and filled our water tanks.
We then proceeded to find a campsite, on the way we passed what looked like a small herd of elephants.
Then after we had set up camp this herd of elephants wanted to come past us. It turned out there was 27 elephants in this herd.
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Two juveniles then decided to have a bit of a power struggle
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Our Huab River campsite
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More Trip pics can be viewed here
http://cid-723aa2936aa0873d.skydrive.li ... bia%202009

Day 8; Huab to Brandberg
We left the Huab early and proceded to follow river tracks and mountain tracks all the way to Brandberg.
We decided to bypass Brandberg - just after Mark shredded 1 x BFG mud.
The driving in the river beds was very heavy going as the sand was extremely soft.
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We then stopped off at the Organ Pipe rock formations.
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We then climbed a huge mountain and traversed some very remote tracks
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This is Brandberg in the distance.
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We then set up camp in a dry river bed somewhere inbetween Omaruru and Brandberg
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Day 9; Branberg to Harmas Lion conservancy- we camped the night.
The trip here took us along all the back roads from Omaruru above Gobabis then on to the Harmas Lion and Cheeta Conservancy.
We camped the night
Here they had a tame giraffe roaming the camp
and enclosures with lions and baboons
The lions and baboond made so much noise this night that nobody got any sleep.
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Day 10; Harmas to Kalahari Rest Camp
We got a late start after having brekkie at the lodge
The track we took brought us out North to South along the Nam/Bots border close to where Jan Joubert was killed a few years ago.

The border crossing went without incident, we camped the night at Kalahari Rest Camp
We had a great dinner at the camp restuarant that evening

Day 11; Kalahari Rest Camp to Home.
We got an early start, heading home
Border crossing went without incident.
We stopped at Wimpy in Zeerust for Brunch
I arrived home at about 2.30pm

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More Trip pics can be viewed here
http://cid-723aa2936aa0873d.skydrive.li ... bia%202009
 
Fantastic, I have got to get down there, the more pictures I see the more I want to go.

Steve
 
Thanks for the excellent pictures and write up.
 
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