High Quality
Open the downloaded document, and select print from the file menu (PDF reader required).
DRIVE OUT
JUNE-JULY2008
23
DRIVE OUT
JUNE-JULY2008
www.driveout.co.za
22
THE NAMIB: EAST TO WEST
You might have driven the Lüderitz-Walvis Bay route in the Namib desert,or at least heard of it, but have you always wanted to traverse the desertfrom east to west? Then come along with
Barnie Louw
and photographer
Dawie Verwey
for 5 days and 550 km, east to west.
Best time:
Mid-Jan- mid-May
Stay at least:
5 days
Experience:
An adventurebeyond compare,silence
Distance from:
Cape Town± 1 600 km; Jhb ± 2 000 km
Sound like a boffin:
TheNamib Desert is believed tobe the oldest on the planet.
Fast facts
H
o
t
!
Golly, but it’s big.
The Namib is appa-rently the oldest desert on the planet – about80 million years old. The average annualrainfall is between 15 and 90 mm, and thesand temperature can reach 75 °C.
know one is not supposedto drink before morningtea, but these are hardlynormal circumstances. It’searly morning and I’m sittingon a dune in the Namib Desert,trying to gather my wits, and Ineed a little fortification. A lot,actually. And looking at theashen faces of the guys aroundme, I get the impression theyalso need one (or two).We’re peering way up in thesky to where one vehicle afteranother carefully nudges itsnose over the lip of Long Drop.Had we been closer, we wouldhave witnessed the widening of the driver’s eyes, fine beads of tropical sweat appearing on hisupper lip, the deathly white of his knuckles. And that’s beforehe’s even started moving …
After a few beers, you’dprobably describe Long Drop toyour buddies something alongthe lines of, “Man, it’s this @#$%huge dune we had to go down .”
But during Sunday afternoontea with your in-laws, you mightdescribe it like this: “We hadto drive down this particularlyhigh dune – I reckon it’s about30 storeys high. I was verynervous, because one misstep,and you’re done for.”
Long Drop is but one of thedunes in the Namib that separatethe boys from the men. There’salso Slingshot and Land Rover’sGraveyard … and many morenameless mammoths.I’ve read many stories aboutthe Namib – of cars rolling downdunes, of destroyed clutches, of parts having to be flown in andpeople with burst appendixeshaving to be flown out.Small wonder then thatwhen our group of 20 guys in10 vehicles gathered at Solitairefive days ago, I braced myself mentally for a cameo in an ArnoldSchwarzenegger action movie.But it’s not the action youremember afterwards. Whatlingers is rather the vastness andthe vistas of the oldest desert onearth, the dizzying silence, thepoignant diamond history, andthe freedom and peace of thisenormous sandpit, which calmsyou as a Sunday afternoon inthe countryside.
In short, the Namib fills youwith awe.
How ’bout a Texanplain?
The plan is to set off from
I
DRIVE OUT
JUNE-JULY2008
25
DRIVE OUT
JUNE-JULY2008
www.driveout.co.za
24
THE NAMIB: EAST TO WEST
Catch a few dune driving tips that will make theother guys on tour think you’re an old pro.
I’m watching you …
Wait untilyou can see the vehicle behindyou before driving on. You are theeyes and ears of the guy behindyou, because he can’t see what’sgoing on on the other side of thedune. Also watch the vehicle infront of you.
Pssst.
Deflate your tyres to atleast 1 bar – depending on howheavily your vehicle is laden. Ifyou still struggle, deflate more.
Like Habana.
Pick a gear tomaintain momentum and speed,rather than slow power. Firstgear, low range for example,won’t work for speed andmomentum. Rather pick first orsecond gear high-range, or thirdand fourth gear, low range.
This one doesn’t work.
Gearselection varies from vehicle tovehicle. Experiment on the smallerdunes to find the right gear.
Take it easy.
Always expect aserious slip face on the other side.Don’t overdo it; rather do it over.
Down, down.
Don’t stop on anincline – try to stop on a levelstretch or a slight downhill. Thatmakes it easier for you to pullaway again. Don’t pull away withtoo much power – the wheelsmight start spinning.
Rock ’n roll.
Drive forwards andbackwards in the car’s track afew times if you struggle to pullaway. This compacts the sand,making it easier to pull away. Ifyou get stuck, use low-range and“rock” forwards and backwardswithout spinning the wheels.
Straight up.
Keep your vehiclesquare down the slope of a dune,otherwise you can tip over. Ifthe rear starts drifting, countersteer and give a little gas. Useengine compression to brakewhen descending a dune. If youstart sliding sideways, accelerateslightly to straighten the line.
Do the dune hop.
It takes a finebalance of momentum and powerto crest a sharp dune peak. Toomuch and you fly; too little andyou don’t get to the top.
Dune driving 101
But it’s a desert ...
In thepre-Namib you can encounterphantom trees such as this.
Fishing expedition.
It takes afine balance of momentum and powerto crest a sharp dune. Too much andyou fly, too little and you hang like this.
Desert water.
It’s a rareoccurrence to see the KuisebRiver flowing through theKuiseb Canyon (above) like this.When the river flows strongly,you can even cool down init, like here at Homeb (thisphotograph).
Solitaire and follow roughly thesame ox-wagon transport routeof old to Walvis Bay, up to whereit crosses the Kuiseb River. Then we will cross the sea of dunes on the way to ConceptionBay, turn south to one or twoabandoned diamond miningsettlements before headingnorth again along the coast,past Sandwich Harbour and onto Walvis Bay.
Five days. 550 km. Not aroad, gate, Ultra City, tap orSteers in sight. In fact, not evena tree worth mentioning. Justthe desert.But what distinguishes thiseast-west expedition throughthe Namib from the traditionalsouth-north route from Lüderitzto Walvis Bay? South-northis all about sand, dunes andadrenaline, our tour leaderJurgens Schoeman explains.But east to west you experi-ence all the Namib’s moods.
The desert has alwaysstruck me as formless andempty, even hostile, but onlya few hours out of Solitaire,my warped impression of thedesert has already been turnedon its head.
Firstly, I never knew a desertcould be this green (granted,we visited after unusually abun-dant rains), and secondly Inever realised there is so muchlife in the desert. The veld is teeming withvibrant life on the first day. Onthe way to the Kuiseb Canyonwe drive through fields of whitedesert lilies, past herds of boisterous gemsbok, prancingspringbok and prim zebras.
Gobsmacked, we drivethrough a forest of phantomtrees (
Moringa ovalifolia
), pastfairy circles, around pans brim-ming with water and over verdantgrassy plains. The Namas, whonamed this stretch of sand “Thegreat nothing”, were clearlysmoking !Nara pips.
Five hours later we stop forlunch. Distance covered? A full50 km. The reason? The land-scape is so spectacular thateverything (and I mean
every-thing
) just has to be photo-graphed. Little did I know thewhole trip would be like this.
Wherever you look in theNamib there’s a postcard. Hereyou don’t need a point-and-shoot, you just need a shoot.(And never before have I heardso many guys use the word“beautiful” so often – I laterfelt I was on a
Visi
or
House &Leisure
reader tour.)
Systematically the landscapestarts changing from the pre-Namib’s gravel desert to the firstsmall, reddish dunes separatedby dune streets. This is the first encounterwith dune driving for most of us, and the first time we engageserious 4x4 mode. Somewhatinsecure, nervous and verycarefully we cross these firstsand-appetisers. Little do weknow their big brothers (whohave been shaving and smoking Texan plain since Grade 8) arestill awaiting us … The Kuiseb Canyon comes asa big suprise. Not only becauseof the contrast between the reddunes on this side and the blackmoonscape across the way, butbecause there is running water inthe desert.
We peer down the blackcrevice that seems to havebeen torn out of rock. Waydown below the Kuiseb Rivershimmers. Lush green treesgrow in the riverbed. If you holdyour breath, you can hear theriver gurgle.
This is harsh country; incon-ceivable that anything butgemsbok can survive here. Butthat’s exactly what two Germangeologists, Henno Martin andHermann Korn, did at the startof World War II.
Fearing that they might beinterned, they survived in thiscanyon for two-and-a-half years, like Robinson Crusoesof the desert. (Martin laterpenned an account of theirhardships in the book
TheSheltering Desert
.)
Away from the canyon, onthe way to our first campsite,the dunes increase, and growbigger. The first guys get stuck,and the first lessons of dunedriving are learnt the hard way.“Dammit!” or “Yikes!” graduallystarts replacing “beautiful”.
It was a long day, but noteveryone sleeps peacefully,because tomorrow it’s us andthose dunes with the packet of Texan plain in the shirt pocket …
K u i s e b
C 14
SolitaireHomebLangewandEduard BohlenHolsatiaCharlottenfelderWalvis BayConceptionBaySandwichHarbourCamp 4Camp 3Camp 2Camp 1
DRIVE OUT
JUNE-JULY2008
27
DRIVE OUT
JUNE-JULY2008
www.driveout.co.za
26
Solitaire
S23.89410 E16.00663
Start of route
S23.61827 E15.83617
Homeb
S23.63828 E15.18243
Conception Bay
S23.91677 E14.50013
Holsatia
S24.15428 E14.61705
Charlottenfelder
S24.19640 E14.62172
Eduard Bohlen
S23.99562 E14.45598
Langewand
S23.57275 E14.49188
Sandwich Harbour
S23.39386 E14.49365
Sandwich Camp
S23.36102 E14.51475
Walvis Bay
S22.95370 E14.50333
Day 1
Solitaire to the Kuiseb Canyon (± 160 km)
Day 2
Kuiseb Canyon to somewhere in the sea of dunes (± 90 km)
Day 3
To Conception Bay and the diamond villages (± 120 km)
Day 4
The diamond villages to Sandwich Harbour (± 120 km)
Day 5
Sandwich Harbour to Walvis Bay (± 60 km)
How we drove
±10 kmTarDirtJeep track Route followed
Just so you don’t get lost
Teamwork.
In the dunes you are theeyes and ears of the driver behind you,because he can’t see what’s waiting onthe other side of the dune.
Desert bonding.
The campfire is thefocal point at night. At the back a wind screenhas been erected to prevent desert winds fromblowing everything to kingdom come.
An expedition through the Namib isn’t an experience,but rather a range of experiences ...
Just you wait ...
This maylook high, but there are much higherdunes in the Namib than this one.
THE NAMIB: EAST TO WEST
Breastfeed a crocodile
The Sahara might be bigger,and the Gobi more desolate,but the Namib is the oldest. Themother of all deserts. And thisold lady knows how to makeyou sweat. The terrain: dunes. Lineardunes, star dunes, transversedunes, parabolic dunes, dunestreets, moving dunes, roaringdunes and slipfaces. The experience: Up, up,up, over the top, down, down,down, through the dip, over,get stuck, around, give it stick!,through, oops! @#$%, reverse,try another angle, give gas,dammit!, try again, slowly now!,up, up, down, down, halfwayup … (repeat 134 times).
The description: “The desertis the great equaliser … thisplace keeps you on your knees.”(Marius van Zyl, our guide)
When they’re not searchingfor a way over or around a dunelike a fox terrier sniffing out afield mouse, the guides areadvising you about the best lineup a dune and the best speedand gear ratio.
Gradually our confidencegrows. After only a day or soyou develop a feel for yourvehicle, what it can do, whichgears are the best for whichkind of dunes. You soon learnthat, like ball possession inrugby, momentum is the goldenrule of dune driving.
Not that everything alwaysgoes your way. One time oranother you
will
get stuck.We’re halfway to the sea,and according to Jurgens andMarius, we’re now in the heartof this vast desert.
The absence of other tracksin the sand is initially quiteominous; it’s as if you’re thefirst one driving here. Lookingback, your tracks carve up thesand like deep knife wounds,but ahead … ahead there’s notrail showing you which wayyou’re heading.
At the back of your mindyou know tracks in the sand arequickly erased by the wind, butstill … You also know if your vehiclebreaks down here, parts haveto be flown in, or someone willhave to tow you out. Forgetabout your AA membership;here you’re on your own. And if you were to get ill, well … haveyou ever flown in a helicopter?
The closer we get to the sea,the thinner the hardy grassesgrow in the dune streets, thewhiter the dunes become. But just when you decide the desertlooks like a large bowl of whitechocolate mousse, you have toreconsider.
Like a woman trying onoutfits for a sexy dance atsunset, the desert changesher looks hourly: red, pink,apricot, orange, maroon– every colour imaginable.
An expedition through theNamib isn’t an experience, butrather a range of experiences:the early morning sun on thedunes surrounding you withan avalanche of colours; theafternoon’s heat when the sandburns your feet; the excitement,ecstasy and relief of dunedriving; the calm when the sunstarts crumbling; the sweetsleep under stars as bright asfireworks.
The days in the desert followroughly the same routine: get upbefore sunrise, stretch out andsmile involuntarily as you lookout over the dunes, chat aboutthe stars shining so brightly lastnight, have coffee and ruskswhile the sun lifts its head, brushyour teeth and wash your facein half-a-cup of water, roll upyour sleeping bag, shake thesand out of your shoes, packup and make sure everythingis tied down, take your place inthe convoy, check the two-wayradios … the guide takes thelead and off you go, deeper intothe desert. Up, down, up …
Lunch is a quick sandwichof cold meat, even with veggieslike tomatoes and lettuce. Up,down, up …
Late afternoon you stopat the campsite among thedunes. Everyone finds a spot topitch their tents or roll out theirsleeping bags (usually behindvehicles or wind screens where
Add a Comment