Cape Town to Swakopmund

[MarkASmith]

Hi All.

I am planning a trip from Cape Town to Swakopmund middle of July 9-19th and need some advise as to the best route to follow. I would like to travel along as much of the cost line as possible.

Can anybody recommend a route and what permits are required bearing in mind I will be travelling alone (one vehicle, unless someone would like to join us).
Would you advise taking my trailer tent or just my two man tent?

Looking forward to you advice.

Regards,
Mark

[Tinus lotz]

I cant help you with routes but can tell you that if there is a lot of sand it might be a good idea to put your trailer tent on your roof.....ask on the community forum mabe there are some one that can help with that

[David]

Hi Mark

I did this a few months ago and tried to avoid the main routes as far as possible.

Your route actually starts at Elandsbaai where you take the road next to the railway line'
Then Doringbaai, Lutzville, Groenrivier, Hondeklipbaai, Kleinsee.
At Alexanderbaai you can take the road to Luderitz via the 'Spergebied' if you do not enter Oranjemund but even the border officials aren't very sure of this so try to get a permit otherwise you will have to go via Sendelingdrif which also isn't bad as far as borders go.
From here you go to Aus, Helmeringshausen, Sossusvlei, Sesriem, Walvisbaai, Swakopmund.

I towed my 6ft Venter with no problems. There are however a few places with loose sand at Groenrivier but it poses no problem with slightly lowered tyre pressures. (I did the whole trip @ 1.8 bar)

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Enjoy!

[MarkASmith]

Thanks for the advise Tinus and David.

Regarding towing a trailer, I was thinking the same and putting my tent on the roof as it does make life a lot easier but now I have opened a can of worms and decided to replace my trailer tent with an Oryx which may really throw a spanner in the works.

Just curious Tinus, what were you towing when you did the route and what were you towing with that you found the sand a problem?

[Peter Connan]

Mark, my dad pottered around there a couple of years ago and around Groenriviermond and the caves he found two guys stuck with Fortunas. One had a caravan, the other nothing, but both were pretty overloaded.

He recovered and turned around the one with the van, then recovered the one without the van but had to tow him up the dune before the caves. Both vehicles at that stage running 0.6 Bar, so I think the sand can get quite loose at times.

[Tinus lotz]

I go moz a lot there the sand can get very loose I am not familiar with that side of the world but a venter like dawid one sould not be a problem big camping trailers and caravan might be a problem
Big trick is to get tire pressure correct some times when sand is really loose after a couple of hot days in moz we have to go to .5 bar but normally 0.8 or 1 bar works fine
Also keep your trailer and car as lite as possible overloading do t work well in sand

[David]

Yes there are a patch of loose sand at Groenrivier. Guys in front of me got stuck and forced me to stop in a very loose patch. When they eventually got out after lowering their tire pressures and some digging I immediately felt the anker I was towing is holding me back. I just gave a little foot and with all 4 wheels slowly spinning the 4.8 slowly picked up speed and after about 20 m it had enough momentum to stop ploughing through the sand and started to ride on top. I think most of the guys getting stuck there are due to a lack of ground clearance and I don't think it is a massive challenge for a Patrol as long as you keep your momentum.

[MarkASmith]

Thanks for all the advice guys.

You all seem to be saying the same thing and that is that correct tyre pressure it very important. I learnt that lesson a long time ago at Stanford when driving down to the beach. Somebody that passed me said “you better deflate your tyres to 0.5 bar as the sand is very soft today”.

Cocky me, thinking I know it all replied mine are a 1 bar so I will be fine. 300m down the road I was down to my diff and stuck there for over an hour (with no spade) until a fisherman with a 2x4 running 0.5 bar pulled me out. Lesson learnt !!!

Anybody out there tow the Oryx through thick sand that has thoughts on this? More I think about it the more I am thinking I should just stick my tent on the roof and leave the trailer at home

[MarkASmith]

20140718_142214.jpg (165.01 KiB) Viewed 5454 times

So I did my 10 day trip up the west coast to Alexander bay then on to Sendlingdrift, Luderitz, Sossuvlei, Mariental and back to Cape Town with my new Conqueror Commander in tow. I lot of people asked me if its heavy to tow but with a 4.8GRS it was a dream. Even in the soft sand of the Namaqu National Park with tires deflated to .8 bar it was a walk in the park. Very impressed

[Tinus lotz]

Nice one what did the feul consumption work out with that trailer and the sand combo ?