Richtersveld - 5th to 9th April 2007 - by Morne Stevens Werner came over the radio; "I have a flat". The convoy stops and offers some assistance to Werner. The next message was said in pure dread; "I don't have my spare wheel lock key". Hours away from the closest town, the group set in for a long wait, finding shade where possible in the +40 degree temperatures. Greg set off with the damaged tyre to Steinkopf while some of the men took to the job of removing the tyre underneath the vehicle. Chris was a bit frisky with the repair crew, but being a chicken farmer, one needs to learn to tolerate his behaviour. : The tyre was debeaded underneath the vehicle, one bead brought over the rim, which eventually gave space to cut off the top of the locking pin with a hack saw. The sawing had to be done in 'relay' style with some bruised knuckles being unavoidable. After a hot two and a half hours, we got the tyre out and back on the vehicle with the cavalry arriving with a new tyre and a broken 29Mhz antenna, but that is another story. Day 1 The Midnight Run A few days earlier, a small party of night travelers, left the N7 Wimpy just after 18h30 on Thursday with Greg leading the convoy. The roads were busy with holiday makers and close to Clanwilliam we caught the tail end of a 40 vehicle convoy. With no room to overtake, we sat back and before long the convoy grew to 80 vehicles snaking with red tail lights through the mountains. At Klawer we picked up some more club members, before taking off on a much more open road to the bush camp near Steinkopf; where we finally arrived around 2 o'clock the morning. Day 2 The Sparewheel Lock Being a relaxed trip, the campsite started to stir only after 8h00. Ian and Veronica lazily climbed out of their 'penthouse suite' accommodation on their superbly kitted LandCruiser bakkie. Why they have no radio or an AC, remains a mystery. Something looked amiss at Christoph's campsite with his 'Arabian' style tent precariously tied up with bungee straps. It was only later, that I heard that due to some late night partying the night before, the wrong poles were packed for the small tent. The rest of the party were only meeting the midnight run party later that afternoon and with Greg in the lead, we went exploring the multitude of tracks in the South Easterly shoulder of the Richtersveld. Greg's knowledge of the area was evident as we tackled the tracks, looking for interesting landmarks and people. A particularly interesting event was meeting with a local herdsman that warned us of 2 puff adders that took residence in the date trees near a fountain. The tracks where the breeding pair entered the palm were still visible. We decided to leave the 'honeymooners' alone and visited a very disturbing grave site where 32 Nama children were slain in the 1800's by bushmen while their parents were in church. Immediately my thoughts went back to my children, Jared and Ethan that were at home in Cape Town. I prayed they were safe and healthy; but with no cell reception I swallowed my tears, thought happy thoughts about them. Later I heard they were making Easter bunnies for mommy and daddy but I digress. We finally meet up with the other trip members and Greg took us into the mountains. After a few hours of driving, the call came over the radio notifying the group of Werner's tyre disaster. With Werner operating on all 4 wheels again, Greg took to the task of finding us a different campsite because it was getting desperately late as a result of the tyre incident. A dry riverbed proved to be the perfect spot and we took to the task of setting up camp. My perfect level piece of ground turned out to have a festoon of red ants and I had to move camp while Cornè was already sipping his first beer. Susan's hearty laughter could be heard over the campsite as the sun set over the mountains. For the second time that evening, I managed to set up camp but still with enough time to see Peter struggling with his rooftop tent. Turned out his tent was mounted the wrong way round on his Disco. At this stage I noticed that Peter had 3 ladies in his car. He called them his 'harem' and it looked like he wanted to try one in each age group. They seem to span the 25, 35 and 45 age groups pretty well. "Silently, I thought that he was perhaps their slave, as he worked his butt off most of the time". The evening around the campsite was filled with the normal banter of a group that was getting to know each other. I took out the AstroLaser and did an impromptu Startgazing session with a small group, identifying a couple of star signs. Surprisingly we saw several shooting stars and I was starting to worry about how powerful this laser really is. Unfortunately the UV black light scorpion hunt turned out to be rather uneventful as all the scorpions were in hiding. Day 3 Mountain Passes The camp once again rose lazily after a good night's rest. The engines of our vehicles were hardly warm before we started climbing a beautiful mountain pass. With all the flies in the area, we promptly called it Musca Pass; named after the star sign that resembles the image of a fly (situated next to the Southern Cross). The scenery provided some excellent photo opportunities and we stopped regularly, making for an even more relaxed trip. The tracks were covered in sharp slate as we descended the mountain and one really needed to choose the lines carefully. It was during one of these descents that Werner announced that he had another flat; this time a sidewall cut of about 5cm. This time the tyre change was very quick but now Werner had no more spare tyres left. Greg produced the miracle of the day by providing a tea time stop with shade; a rare luxury in the Richtersveld. The terrain started to change again and granite rocks became more the order of the day. At midday, we reached an abandoned Granite mine with massive granite cutouts still waiting but never to be collected again. We also found a large number for Halfmens plants on the mountain slopes and it was a rare privilege to see the full gown and juvenile plants from so nearby. We reached the campsite with a few hours of sunlight still to spare. This was the most beautiful sight of them all, as the scenery was set on a flat gravel plain with massive granite boulders stacked on top of each other, as the backdrop. The warm colours of the setting sun created an aura of exceptional beauty as the night approached. The tyre repair team was once again on call, this time to their elbows in dirt trying to salvage Werner's damaged tyre. Some rather imaginative tyre repair techniques and desperate measures were used to get some air to stay in the tyre. That evening a considerably larger group of night sky enthusiasts got together to do some stargazing. We even managed to view some Nebulas before mist coming in from the ocean started to make stargazing a bit hazy. Unfortunately the scorpion black light hunt turned out to be once again rather uneventful. Where are all the scorpions? Earlier that evening, a gust of wind broke one of my awning poles and with a blunt force hit Alex on her leg. She was starting to suffer painfully after being badly bruised, but kept trying to keep a brave face. I was getting worried. Day 4 Dessert Sands and the Gariep The morning saw George and Susan packed before we were done. I was quite impressed. Perhaps the strange sounds coming from their campsite the night before, aided in that. But alas, this is a public website and sometimes things will just have to remain in the granite hill. Unfortunately, George's early start was not enough when he realized that he had a bit of a soft tyre. I took the lead, following the careful instructions that Greg gave me and promptly missed the massive mine on the hill. (Can't even claim night blindness for that blunder). The fluorite mine visit was very interesting, despite the tiresome climb. After been rather proud of my splendid climb, I could not find Greg that was waiting for us at the mine entrance. Looking back, I realized that he waiting for us at the much more accessible entry point.... much lower down the mountain. The track started to get really interesting with some very thick sand. At one particular point, Christo with the Fortuner, had to be recovered after the Fortuner did a belly flop on a granite rock while navigating a track through some thick reeds. The sandy conditions became worse after that. Some even had to stop, to deflate their tyres further. During this sandy section, the 'harem' owner managed to loose his table and a couple of chairs from the Disco's roofrack. A quick recovery and he was back with the group, looking a bit dusty though. This was followed by a short stretch of tar and we were driving next to the Gariep again. The visit to the petroglyphs was particularly interesting, just a pity that some idiots drew graffiti in the same area. We arrived at the river camp fairly early. George and Susan annexed the perfect campsite next to the river on their own private beach. Not holding back, Susan with leg in cast and all was floating in the particularly low Gariep river. The rest of the team quickly joined them sitting in the middle of the river in 40cm deep water. Chris had the brilliant idea of providing us with a floating bar. The downside was that it got empty very quickly and he was more out of the water than in it, to keep it stocked. Cornè and Erica made use of the low water levels and visited Namibia without having their passports stamped. That evening, around the campfire the "hoenderboer" was in full form and had us in stitches with his antics. Everybody stayed up fairly late, (compared to other evenings) as we realized that this would be our last evening together in the Richtersveld. Gloria surprised us all with some Easter Eggs and by now I was really starting to miss my boys. I hoped that they were doing well. Day 5 Going home Ziiiiiiiiiiip. Bang, bang, phoeweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. It's the middle of the night and someone is using an electric pump to inflate an air mattress. I'm ready to go and push a knife into that 'someone's' tyre but Alex manages to keep me in the tent. Well restrained, I tried to fall asleep again. "It's going to be a long drive back home this morning...." Alex and I break camp in less than 30 minutes. It's an all time record. We say our farewells and hit the road. At Clanwilliam, not wanting to be outdone by our journey a few days ago, we hit a 100 vehicle convoy. Eight hours after leaving our campsite we arrived home to be greeted by two expectant boys with Easter egg bunnies that they made themselves for mommy and daddy clutched tightly in their hands. We are glad to be home but we will be missing the splendour of the Richtersveld. Farewell my dear Richtersveld, until we meet again next year.