Sandveld Exploration and Namaqua Eco-Trail - 26th April to 3rd May 2008 This trip between the 26 April and 3 May 2008 was arranged at very short notice and ended up with ourselves under the leadership of Philip and Leslie Scott. What a great trip it proved to be. We started off by meeting at the N7 Engen garage and the first stop was the bustling metropolis of Koringberg for breakfast. Then the first of many surprises. We visited the old forge which is now the Post Office. The rest of the building houses the most amazing collection of antique tools and machinery, parts of old vehicles and general bric-a-brac. Literally thousands of items all just lying around collecting dust. Martha, the postmistress, honorary custodian and doyen of the Koringberg social set will happily spend all day telling you the history and the latest scandals to rock the town. Eventually tearing ourselves away we went down the main drag (about 50m) to visit Hennie ‘Trekker’ who has a collection of antique tractors, farm machinery and ancient vehicles and again all the time in the world to tell you all about each item. Korinberg has sort of been ‘discovered’ and several of the old buildings have been yuppyfied and painted in attractive bright colours. Otherwise it is like time has stood still and Koringberg is a sort of time capsule. It is well worth a visit. We wound our way to Aurora where we purchased some items from a local community initiative to produce items such as Rooibos soap to provide employment in a chronically poor and dysfunctional society. From there we camped at Klein Tafelberg which must have the best ablutions and facilities of any 4x4 trail. The only criticism is that the showers have a hot water supply only and you either freeze or scald. Rather strange. Next day we set off to our next amazing surprise, Donkieskraal. This is a 5 star resort built in and out of a rocky koppie in the centre of a 2000 hectare well stocked nature reserve. There are several Fred and Thelma Flintstone cave like rooms, an attractive conference centre and pool, a very well appointed communal kitchen and braai area, some tented accommodation and a nice grassy camping area. All laid out and constructed with superb taste and in wonderful harmony with the natural surroundings. Also well worth a weekend visit. We camped high up at Castle Rock which has some rather challenging 4x4 routes and obstacles and resulted in some remodelling of my left running board. Then next day firstly through very scenic surroundings in the Citrusdal area on to Pofadder via the R358 which is a 300km dead straight, dead flat, dead boring very dusty dust road. After fuelling up we hit the start of the first part of the Namaqua Eco Trail about 10km out of town. This route takes us past the historic Pella settlement down to the Orange River to the first of many wonderful camping sites next to the water. This part of the Eco trail is well signposted and the going is easy and the river never far away. The dates purchased from the Klein Pella guesthouse are superb. The only blot was a party of about 10 Gautengers with a collection of caravans and trailers crawling along at about 30kmh on a decent stretch of very, very dusty road. We were stuck behind them for about 30km until they eventually stopped in a narrow stretch of track leaving all their doors open and totally oblivious of us. This part of the trail is about 310km and ends up in Vioolsdrif. For anyone intending to do the second part of the trail note the following: There is no fuel in Vioolsdrif. The closest is Noordoewer in Namibia with all the cross border hassles or otherwise backtracking to Steinkopf. We were extremely lucky to procure 50 litres from the very helpful proprietor of a river rafting company at Oewerbos. Secondly there are virtually no direction markers at all on the second trail and literally hundred of tracks and roads and forks going off in all directions. Do not even think about going unless you have the trail correctly plotted on a GPS. Without getting lost, from Pofadder to the Alexander Bay refuel is 610km of off-road driving, the second trail requiring considerable first and second gear work. The second trail consists of mostly badly corrugated and incredibly dusty tracks mostly in comparatively rather uneventful scenery. We had a further strange encounter with another group of Gautengers who literally just stopped on the track and set up shop for the night in the middle of nowhere also with caravans and all the gear. We had some interesting manoeuvring to get past them! Our last night was spent on the trail at Bakkranse with a braai in a handy cave due to threatening rain. Neither the weather nor the Brandkaros camp site at Alexander Bay were particularly appealing so we headed for the long journey home. All in all a great trip particularly the Sandveld surprises and the first part of the Eco trail along the river. Thank you Philip and Leslie for organising and navigating so well and for the pleasure of your company. Richard & Leah Poulter