READER’S STORY
They managed to squeeze in an epic journey, says Terrence and Debbie Cook from Warner Beach, Amanzimtoti, just before everything went into lockdown.
Early last year, the Cooks went on a road trip and made their way to Namibia for their first visit. They didn’t know it then, but they did it just before the Covid-19 lockdown. Terrence tells us more… We left our home on Thursday, 6 February 2020. We had a late start as we had to stop in Springfield Park for a quick repair to our home for the next three weeks (our rooftop tent) at Canvas Safari Tents. Nelson, the owner, who I have known to always go the extra mile, assisted us and within no time we were on the N3. I wanted to get to Bloemfontein for an overnight stop and had booked at the River of Joy caravan park just outside the city. We only reached our destination after 19:00 and as we did, the heavens opened up and it started to rain. Bertha , the resort’s manager, was waiting for us, we settled our account and she told us we could choose any stand. The park is clean, and we felt safe. We set up our rooftop tent in no time and then settled down under our awning to braai. Through the course of the evening, the campsite’s friendly cat and ducks came to say hello.
AS WE LEFT
a busy Bloemfontein on the Friday morning, we set our GPS for Sandgat, a campsite on the banks of the Orange River near the Van Der Kloof dam. We did not know what to expect, as we’ve not been there before. I had been talking to the owner Lisa on WhatsApp, and she had sent our stand number and pin code to be used at the gate. Once again, the heavens opened as we passed Koffiefontein and Luckhof, and the heavy rain made it difficult to see the potholes in the road. By midday we were at the gate and drove a short distance on a dirt road to the camp. To say Sandgat blew us away would be an understatement. The green grass, the spotless modern ablutions, the farm dam swimming pools and the owner’s creative touches visibly make Sandgat a truly special destination. Being a weekend, the park was busy and the local primary school also had their yearly excursion there. We were on stand 4, only 10 metres from the river and could not have asked for a better one. Being coastal people, we are not too familiar with river fishing, but a fellow camper soon put on the right track with mielie bombs. Well, between Debbie and I we had never caught so many fish from a river. The yellow fish were small, and we released all of them to grow bigger in the clean water flowing past us. The river made us of think of the ocean as it also has “tides”. The sluice
gates at the dam wall are opened every day at 6 am and again at 6 pm, raising the river by a about metre in the mornings and evenings. After two nights it was time to move on. Aan-die-Oewer at Orania was our next stop. The drive was not long, about 40 km. We have stayed at the Oewer before and it did not disappoint. The camp is clean, safe and always busy. It’s a popular stop over for caravans. Our next day was a long drive via Hopetown, the dirt road to Douglas, on to Campbell and then the tar road to Griquatown. The turn-off to Witsand Nature Reserve is about 80 km after Griquatown, followed by a 40 km dirt road to the park. Here the white dunes meet the red Kalahari sand. It was our first time at the park and the neat camp site and spotless ablution facilities impressed us. The swimming pool near our camp site made for welcome relief from the afternoon sun. A storm brewed that evening and we set up camp near the ablution block. We slept through the storm and rain falling on the hard shell roof, interspersed by occasional wild-animal howls during the night. The next morning was another early start, the 40 km of dirt road after the rain proved interesting, with the Hilux sliding across some of the muddy patches. I always place the bakkie in “4 H” while driving on gravel roads and deflate the tyres. I enjoy dirt roads but must admit that I was relieved to get to the tar road heading to Groblershoop. We passed Groblershoop and Upington but quickly stopped at the Kalahari Vleishuis in Keimoes and the Pink Padstal in Kakamas. After this it was us and the N14 to Pella. We decided to try Klein Pella as we had never been there before. The Klein Pella guest house on the Karsten’s farm did not disappoint us at all. We met Glenda in the office who showed us their camp sites. Lush green