Namakwa Eco Trail to Swakopmund
Posted: 10 Jan 2017 20:12
Hi all
Well another December done and with the crazy season over, I will quickly post a review of our December trip.
5700km total according to GPS: Vehicles in convoy were the 4.8 Patrol, a TD5 Defender 110, a 2.4 Defender 90, and a Suzuki SJ140 powered with a 1.2l Nissan motor.
Start of the trip began in JHB, and our first stop was at Witsand Nature Reserve. This leg of the trip also gave me the best fuel consumption @ 7.8km/l from Benoni to Klerksdorp. 7.6km/l and 7.4km/l were the following two readings and by then we had started hitting dirt roads with deep sand and terrible corrugations (Olifantshoek to Groblershoop @ 5.8km/l). Witsand was as usual, an absolute relaxing and great start to the trip.
We left for Augrabies two days later and so far all was running well. We met up with the Suzuki at this point. We left Augrabies and headed to Pofadder and the beginning of the Namakwa Eco Trail. We spent 4 nights on the trail, but not without issues.
Our first night on the Eco trail we stayed at a date farm (-28.913458, 19.001147) Karsten Boerdery. Another well deserved thumbs up for the farm as they made sure there were dustbins nearby, and on the first day there, a tractor dropped off two portable toilets, even though it was just the 4 vehicles and we left early the next morning.
We then set out for our next spot, and that's when we ran into our first major issue. A broken universal joint on the rear prop shaft of the TD5. We were around 130km from Pofadder, so we loaded the prop shaft up and headed to Klein Pella farm ±26km's away. Although it was Friday 23rd December, and around 1pm, the last of the farm workers sent us to their workshop and they managed to repair the universal joint for us! We were grateful that we didn't have to head to Pofadder.
We managed to get the prop shaft back on the Landy and headed to a camping area near Kraphol Island (was as bad as the name suggests! -28.848767, 18.753922). We were bombarded by fierce winds and baboons all night long.
End of Part 1
****
Well another December done and with the crazy season over, I will quickly post a review of our December trip.
5700km total according to GPS: Vehicles in convoy were the 4.8 Patrol, a TD5 Defender 110, a 2.4 Defender 90, and a Suzuki SJ140 powered with a 1.2l Nissan motor.
Start of the trip began in JHB, and our first stop was at Witsand Nature Reserve. This leg of the trip also gave me the best fuel consumption @ 7.8km/l from Benoni to Klerksdorp. 7.6km/l and 7.4km/l were the following two readings and by then we had started hitting dirt roads with deep sand and terrible corrugations (Olifantshoek to Groblershoop @ 5.8km/l). Witsand was as usual, an absolute relaxing and great start to the trip.
We left for Augrabies two days later and so far all was running well. We met up with the Suzuki at this point. We left Augrabies and headed to Pofadder and the beginning of the Namakwa Eco Trail. We spent 4 nights on the trail, but not without issues.
Our first night on the Eco trail we stayed at a date farm (-28.913458, 19.001147) Karsten Boerdery. Another well deserved thumbs up for the farm as they made sure there were dustbins nearby, and on the first day there, a tractor dropped off two portable toilets, even though it was just the 4 vehicles and we left early the next morning.
We then set out for our next spot, and that's when we ran into our first major issue. A broken universal joint on the rear prop shaft of the TD5. We were around 130km from Pofadder, so we loaded the prop shaft up and headed to Klein Pella farm ±26km's away. Although it was Friday 23rd December, and around 1pm, the last of the farm workers sent us to their workshop and they managed to repair the universal joint for us! We were grateful that we didn't have to head to Pofadder.
We managed to get the prop shaft back on the Landy and headed to a camping area near Kraphol Island (was as bad as the name suggests! -28.848767, 18.753922). We were bombarded by fierce winds and baboons all night long.
End of Part 1
****