Breakfast only served from 08h00 resulting in us only getting away
at 09h00 and with another 600km trip and two border formalities we thought we
had left it a bit late.
The first leg was to Springbok and what struck us was the difference
travelling this road in early spring and early winter; the last time we were on
this road the flowers were a spectacular display, truly one of natures wonders
of the world, now it is stark and barren, coupled with the fact that the West
Coast is going through a drought, Clanwilliam dam is only at 10% and there is
water rationing in the town as well as load shedding!
It is an interesting route nevertheless for instance did you know
that in the town of Garries, between Clanwilliam and Springbok spawned the
infamous Adriaan Nieuwoudt who started the Kubos ponzi scheme where you were
encouraged to buy a sort of milk culture that you cultivated at home and sold
the smelly powder remains back to the mother plant at exhorbitant prices, the
scheme collapsed in 1984 a few made a fortune and a lot lost everything.
Did you also know that in 1931 there was a heist of diamonds worth
£80000 (Millions in today’s money) that were locked away in the Bitterfontein
station ready to be transported to Cape Town by rail, they never solved the
case to this day.
We filled up with petrol in Springbok at R13.84 per litre, but we
were grateful to get there as we were 10 litres from running dry, driver error? (Denise was driving, but she claims that the navigator was responsible)
We had lunch on the pad to sustain us over the border, on our last
visit to Namibia
they wanted to confiscate 20 litres of fuel in a jerry can, and they wanted the
serial numbers of all camera’s, computers and binoculars, this time we were just
waved through.
We gained an hour today as Namibia has daylight saving we made our
stopover at Canon Roadhouse at 15h00 and had time to visit the Fish River
Canyon and watch the sunset. Had a very nice meal and needed no rocking,
electricity works here, but they had no network connection, I think they use
satellite phones in this area.
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| One of the many antique vehicles inside and outside the Canon Roadhouse |
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| Love of my life on the edge of the Fish River Canyon |
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| The Canyon just before sunset |
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| Sunset at the Fish River Canyon, Southern Namibia |
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