The Not So Sh**ty Route To Namibia

GS1200 landing strip near Luderitz

With three weeks’ notice Jan the accountant suggested we do a trip to Namibia, this was his way of closing off the books on his working career. Using his skills to balance the books he convinced us that traveling light and sleeping in an airconditioned room is better than traveling heavy and sleeping in a dirt cheap tent. He audited a green route, strewn with B&B’s that would take us through the North West province, Northern Cape, Namibia and back, with a little bit of dirt road thrown in between. It wasn’t the right time in the budget cycle to afford new knobblies hence more tar than dirt.

Day 1

At 08h00 on a beautiful blue Saturday morning the three of us saddled up our iron horses, me on a BMW R1200GS, Rainer on his Honda Africa Twin and Jan on his Triumph Tiger. We kicked dust in Randburg’s eye and headed west, to the R24 past the Olifants Nek damn en route to Groot Marico. The Zuma totem pole at the entrance of Herman Charles Bosman’s town wasn’t anything to dance around. We followed the N18 to Vryburg after paying a painful R75 toll fee, and just before sunset we steered our steeds into a lovely lush green saloon called Kameelboom lodge.

This is truly an oasis with green lawns, swimming pool, big screen TV, manly liquid refreshment and good old family hospitality. The rugged décor inside the pub comes from one half of a huge Kameeldoring tree, the other half stretches itself outside the pub providing shade for the stoep. The menu was simple: Rump or T-bone!

Day 2