Again at Springbok Caravan Park, Springbok, Northern Cape, SA – 159 km

Tuesday, May 6, 2014. Again at Springbok Caravan Park, Springbok, Northern Cape, SA – 159 km

One of the most interesting weather phenomena happened last night. As we mentioned the wind was howling enough to rock the motorhome last night and it was cool – we even had the heater on. When we went for a walk we were bundled up in our jackets, bending into the wind and blowing sand.

When we awoke it was 26C with a slight offshore breeze! There were flies everywhere – especially on the beach during our morning walk. It was very pleasant being able to walk in shirt sleeves, upright and not fight the blowing sand. Doug was enjoying poking through the tidal drift examining the seaweed. The big kelp beds here are very similar to those off the coast of BC, but are dominated by a different species. This morning the waves are just breaking over the reef but last evening they were well over 20 feet which is what was bringing in the huge pieces of kelp.

We finally found a fish shop in Port Nolloth thanks to some directions from the caravan manager – nothing fresh but a huge variety of frozen items to choose from. We bought very large prawns, heads on, from Mozambique. For $14 we have enough for two feeds and they fit in the freezer! Doug put them on the braii (BBQ) and they were delicious (after breaking off the heads!).

All along the highway they are busy putting in a pipeline heading to Namibia. We are not sure what it is supposed to carry. Again the drive was pretty windy and we were glad we weren’t fighting it on Raindancer. The road is very narrow and has no shoulder therefore no room for error. We took a side road through the small desert village of Steinkopf. Sort of desolate with lots of blowing sand which at least helps cut down the height of the speed bumps (which are EVERYWHERE in SA, by the way).  But still there are people about, children playing in the school yards, etc.

Steinkopf

Steinkopf

We have returned for another night at the Springbok Caravan Park. It is really pleasant here, grassed sites and very clean ablutions with live plants, etc. Unfortunately the weather is a bit unsettled. We did have one big cloudburst and are pretty sure there will be more. The past two days we have not travelled far. It has been nice to have some down time, walk about and just relax. On a walk around we saw some yellow mongooses and some rock dassies (hyrax).

Yellow Mongoose

Tomorrow is SA national election day but we will be spending it in the hinterlands – the biggest town we will be going through is Pofadder which in Africaans means. . . are you ready: “puff adder”. Duh – the poisonous snake.

By the way, the African bicycle trek we blogged about (Cairo to Cape Town) costs $15,000 US. We looked it up.

In the evening we chatted with Ron and Maria, our camping neighbours from Cape Town. They are in their early 70s and have been out for 30 days in Botswana, Namibia, Malawi and Zimbabwe in their Land Rover pulling a camping trailer. They also have one of the “tent on top” rigs that are not uncommon here, theirs being of a design to withstand the attentions of the odd elephant in “wild” or unfenced camping environs. They were telling us how in Zimbabwe they had been stopped at 41 armed road stops. We thought the armed guards were wanting money but they wanted to do a vehicle check and make sure they had reflectors everywhere, reflective vests, fire extinguisher, etc. They did say it was a bit intimidating and had friends who tried it and just turn back after going through one of these encounters with the arrogant guards.

We are using Wimpy’s again for our 30 minutes of free internet. This will likely be our last post for the next three days as we head inland to Augrabies Falls National Park and then into Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park. There is limited power so we are pretty sure there will not be internet. It is probably also our last chance to see lions so we will take a game drive again and keep our fingers crossed. We have been told by two separate SA’s that it is a very good place to sight them.

What does this road marking mean? Answer in next blog!