[Janekom]

We down here always look at the wonderful places you guys in the USA fly to, but we also have wonderful places to visit by air. I was born and raised in Namibia so I know the place quite well. In 2007 my wife and I took some of our friends on a tour around Namibia by car.

This time around we have decided to make it an RV experience.
It was a 7 day, 2500 nautical mile tour that took us through mostly the western side of Namibia. This is basically Namib Desert with many surprises. I will try to add one day at a time.

I really hope you will enjoy it.

This was our route for day one. It took us from Brits (about 80km north west of Johannesburg) to Upington for our first overnight stay. Bound by the Orange River and the Kalahari, Upington is the principal city in the Northern Region, an ideal winter holiday resort with all the modern conveniences on the major routes to Namibia and Kalahari, Augrabies, Fish River Canyon and Northern Cape. It also has one of the longest runways I have ever seen. The main runway is 17/35 and is 5740 meters long and 60 meters wide. To learn more about Upington go to http://www.places.co.za/html/upintgon.html

 

[Janekom]

Side tracking a bit, but I thought I should show pics of the three AC.

 

[Janekom]

Pictures taken on the first day. A typical winter inversion.

A view of the Orange River.

Finals runway 01. The main runway here is over 5800 meters long!

 

[Janekom]

Below is our route for day two.

We basically followed the Orange River to Augrabies falls.

As it is winter there is not much water now, but it gets really big in summer time.

From the Augrabies falls our route took us more or less directly to the most Southern end of the Fish River Canyon. The landscape on the way there is unbelievable. Big farms and only one or two major roads going through the area.

Then we flew along the Fish River Canyon from South to North. The views are out of this world! One can learn more about the Canyon at http://www.namibia-travel.net/southnamibia/fishriver.htm
At stages I could swear the engine went rough :^o . Here are some pictures taken at the Canyon.

 

[Janekom]

The Fish River Canyon is so vast that one cannot really do justice to it with pictures - you have to sit there in your "bubble" and observe it. Here are a few more pictures.

From here we turned left (almost due West) in order to go and overfly Roter Kamm. This is a 2.5 km wide Meteorite Crater, about 3.7 million years old.
One can read more about it at http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/craters/slide_14.html

At Roter Kamm the mountains rapidly changes to vast vast Namib desert flats with one or two mountain peaks. Here we also had to 'duck' underneath the well known and dangerous West Coast fog layer. We had to go down to about 300 ft amsl to see where we are going.

When we hit the coast we swung North and flew around Bogenfels. This is a magnificent rock arch with it's foot pounded by the cold Atlantic. There is a rumour that someone actually flew right through it, but we all decided NO - not possible and not us.

 

[hydroguy2]

keep the updates coming. I enjoy seeing far away places that I'll probably never experience. Thanks

 

[jpw]

Fantastic photos

Thanks for the post great photos....
Can you see the diamonds on the beaches of Namibia from this altitude?

 

[Janekom]

Thanks guys - here we go again. We will get to the diamond story later. Unfortunately you cannot see them on the beaches

From Bogenfels we set course North to our destination for the day, Luderitz.
This coastline is still part of the "Spergebiet" run by Namdeb and very much a restricted area. So only from your RV cockpit - if you know what I mean.

Below are pictures of the typical coast line and what is left over of Elizabeth Bay Mine - an old diamond mine.

We arrived at Luderitz still under the typical West coast fog and haze. It was founded in 1883 when Heinrich Vogelsang purchased Angra Pequena and some of the surrounding land on behalf of Adolf Lüderitz, a Hanseat from Bremen in Germany, from the local Nama chief. Lüderitz began its life as a trading post, with other activities in fishing and guano-harvesting. In 1909, after the discovery of diamonds nearby, Lüderitz enjoyed a sudden surge of prosperity. Today, however, diamonds are mostly found elsewhere and offshore, and Lüderitz has lost a lot of this interest. One can read more about Luderitz athttp://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BCderitz. when I lived there years ago, there were still people who could only speak and understand German.

Very nice runway and we have arranged hangar space here as Luderitz is well known for it's South Easterly and South Westerly winds blowing at storm strength many days a year. This is also where we did customs and immigrations entering Namibia.

After checking into our very German hotel ( Zum Spergebiet) we did some sight seeing and also enjoyed a welcome draught beer or two - or was it three
The day was ended with arguably the best EISBEIN arround at Barrels.

 

[Janekom]

Day three arrived a beautiful day in Luderitz as it has rained about 4mm during the night. With a yearly rainfall of about 15mm that is special! We went out to Kolmanskop, a desert diamond mining town also known as Kolmanskop Ghost town.

In 1908, Luederitz was plunged into diamond fever. People rushed into the Namib desert hoping to make an easy fortune and within two years, a town, complete with a casino, school, hospital, theatre with pinball alley and exclusive residential buildings, had been established in the barren sandy desert. The diamond-bearing gravel was screened and washed in huge recovery plants. Over 1 000 kg of diamonds were extracted before World War One. However, the amount of gemstones greatly diminished after the war. Furthermore, considerably larger diamonds were found to the south near Oranjemund, causing Kolmanskop to become a ghost town.

Water came by ship from Cape Town about 1000 miles away and water was about double the price of beer. They even had their own ice factory there. Today one can go on guided tours here and wlk through all the buildings.

 

[Janekom]

We also drove around in the area visiting Grossebucht and stopping on the way to admire the landscape, the rocks and the desert vegetation.

Spot the Geko in the picture below.

Diaz Point is always a nice place to visit and from there we went to Stormvogelbucht (an old Norwegian Whale station) and some salt pans.

Below are more pictures taken in Luderitz. The first one is with the sun rising over the town and the rest the harbour and us having a nice draught.

So long Luderitz :!:

 

[David-aviator]

What a fine tour of South Africa, Jan.

The tour covered a desolate appearing part of the world although it sure is beautiful. We have such land scape in this country also, along with abandoned small towns from the gold rush days.

Diamonds and gold (and beer) have it made the world go 'round for a long time.

Great looking RV's.

Thanks for posting all the images.

 

[Janekom]

David,
Thanks for your kind comments.
Diamonds were so plentiful in that area that the way they mined it was to actually have a line of workers flat on their stomachs, leopard crawling forward and picking up the precious stones. Obviously with an armed official watching over them and with there mouths covered with a piece of cloth, just to make sure they did not swallow anything. Will see if I can get a picture of that.

Watch this space for the rest of the tour

 

[JDanno]

Suzuki?

Jan,
I noticed that in a couple of your pix that the plane in the photo said "Suzuki" on the side. Are these running water cooled auto engines? If so, what kind of p.s.r.u. do they have? Do they run well?

Great pix as usual. Absolutely beautiful country. You always have great photography. Thanks!! Dan

 

[FlyerJumper]

Wow!!

Wonderful stuff! Thanks for posting!!

 

[AndyRV7]

Very nice to see!!

 

[Chris11]

Jan,
I noticed that in a couple of your pix that the plane in the photo said "Suzuki" on the side. Are these running water cooled auto engines? If so, what kind of p.s.r.u. do they have? Do they run well?

Great pix as usual. Absolutely beautiful country. You always have great photography. Thanks!! Dan

The aircraft has a Superior XP360. The picture with the Suzuki logo decal was taken during the annual President's Trophy Air Race run in South Africa. This year it was sponsored by Suzuki. Two of the aircraft on this trip ZU-MER and ZU-JAD were participants in the race.

Chris

 

[Janekom]

To clarify the Suzuki placard: Those two photos have been taken at a recent Air Race where those two AC participated. Suzuki South Africa was the main sponsor. 113 aircraft participated over two days and a race of about 550 nautical miles!! The big number 7 on ZU-JAD's tail was my race number and I just did not take it of for the tour. That is another story. Maybe I should write a trip write up about that as well? They both have Superior IO-360 motors.

Someone asked about the diamond story. A friend in Luderitz sent me copies of very old pictures today, showing how the have "mined" diamonds in those days.

The text to go with the two pictures below: In 1909 AUGUST STAUCH and his wife, with other people went site seeing from a place he called STAUCHLAGER. It was close to POMONA, some 70 km south of Luderitz. And after a lunch break,discovered the diamonds that were literately lying exposed on the ground,in what we know now,was a pan, with hard clay bedding. In about 4 hours, they picked up 600 carats.
The area then was named after his wife,IDATHAL.
Here the average pickup per worker was about 900 carats a day.

The next update will be on day 4!

 

[Janekom]

I get so carried away that I forget to post some AC shots. Here are more in flight shots and one after we have landed in Luderitz.
Enjoy.

 

[Janekom]

Day four arrives another fantastic day! No clouds and no wind. Below is our route for the day. From Luderitz up the coast to Hottentots bay and then east (inland) to Duwisib Castle, our first stop for the day. So after over flying Luderitz again to say bye, we went up the coast. We found a fresh ship wreck in Hottentots Bay.

Turning east now and we flew over a stretch with beautiful dunes and more beautiful dunes. Fantastic landscapes!

Further inland the dunes made way for mountains ( among them the Tiras Mountains ) and wide open grasslands.

 

[Janekom]

Too soon we were overhead Duwisib runway for our first stop of the day. Can you spot the runway. The last photo shows that we all made a save landing after some of us over flew the runway not able to spot it.

 

[Janekom]

Built in 1909, by Baron Captain Heinrich Von Wolf, Duwisib Castle stands on the high ground looking southwards onto a valley. It is situated in semi-arid lands, 70kms south-west of Maltahohe.
After the German-Nama war, the 'Baron' and his wife commissioned an architect to build a castle that would 'reflect Von Wolf's commitment to the German Military cause.' The interior was designed for comfort and clever placing of its windows allowed for maximum sunlight to shine into the vast rooms. Metre thick stone walls and high ceilings made for coolness in the hot summers and two huge fireplaces were built to ward off the bitter cold winter nights. Beneath the hall, there was a large cellar, full of imported wines and French cognacs.
Much of the raw materials used in the construction of the fort were imported from Germany. After landing at Luderitz the materials were transported by ox-wagon for over 600kms through the Namib Desertt. Eventually, a castle consisting of 22 rooms, was completed.
While travelling to Europe in 1914, the First World War broke out, and on their arrival the Baron rejoined the German army, but was killed at the battle of the Somme in 1916. His wife never returned to Duwisib Castle, settled in Switzerland, and after the war sold the castle to a Swedish family.
One of the legends around the castle is that the Baron's horses escaped into the Namib Desert and where responsible for the Namib Desert Feral horses which are found in the region.

After a very nice tasteful Apfel Strudel and coffee the farm manager took us back to the airstrip again. From here we flew to Sossusvlei where the highest dunes in the world are to be seen. More beautiful scenes on the way there as usual. Have a look at the small circles in the grass (see close-up as well). These are called “Fairy Circles” and to this day there is no explanation for it. Just recently a team tried to work out what causes this, but to no avail. They have analyzed the soils – nothing. They have planted grass from the same area inside the dead circle – this was dead after a few days. Strange but true.

 

[dreamtime]

Thanks!

Jan,

These are beautiful pictures from a part of the world that has always intrigued me. I always wondered what Namibia looked like. I've had the privilege of visiting South Africa -- Durban, Capetown, and Pietermaritzburg. I really enjoyed that trip.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

David

 

[Janekom]

Only a pleasure David. It is such a privilege sharing trips like this with other RVators!
The dunes at Sossusvlei are the highest in the world. Let the pictures tell the story.

Below is a picture of Sossusvlei airstrip as we turn finals 08. As we landed Chris (ZU-MER) discovered that only the RH brake is working. So after landing it was off with the spat and fairing to find the brake line cracked about 2 inches below the fitting. More about that later.

 

[Vlad]

Thank you

Incredible. Namibia is included in my "must-to-visit" list.

 

[TSwezey]

Thanks for the write and pictures! I waiting for the rest!

 

[Janekom]

The last "hop" for the day was from Sossusvlei to Rostock Ritz. Again beautiful scenery on the way there and joining finals runway 09. The owner (also a pilot) created an awesome place here in the desert. There are even landing lights.

I think one can see for about 50 miles in almost all directions. The igloo like chalets are sitting on the side of a mountain. To the north one can see the Rostock mountains. It is in this area where two German geologist ( Henno Martin, Hermann Korn and their dog Otto) decided to hide from World War II for two and a half years without any outside assistance. see http://www.realnamibia.com/rn_086namib_desert.htm

The end of day four with a special Namib sunset. Distance for the day was about 290 nautical miles.

 

[EngineLogics]

Mooi Suidwes

Man die heimwee maak nou so n knaag gevoel hier onder in die punt van die ou klop orgaan. Dit is darem so n hartwarem gevoel om so op Godverlaat se landskap af te kyk.

Is nie mens na wie ek verlang dit is mooi Suidwes na wie ek hunker.

Harde hout vuurtjie en n skaap tjopie ?.. nie n geluid net die tjie ?. tjie van drup warem vetjies. Nou sluk ek swaar man.

As jule dalk Usakos besoek, gaan vra vir Barnie van der Shyff en vertel hom sy broer daar in Amerika se hy moet julle welkom maak.

Baie dankie


Van n Suidwester wat nou in Houston, Texas bly

 

[Janekom]

Nee man - Ek ruik en proe dan nou ook al daai tjops
Ons toer is nou al verby - ongelukkig nie in Usakos n draai gemaak nie.

 

[zilik]

No fair!

Nee man - Ek ruik en proe dan nou ook al daai tjops
Ons toer is nou al verby - ongelukkig nie in Usakos n draai gemaak nie.

Keep it in English please! Kidding aside, what a wonderful trip and thank you for sharing with us.

 

[Leonard_Smith_nz]

Keep it in English please! Kidding aside, what a wonderful trip and thank you for sharing with us.

Hi Gary,

Greeting from New Zealand. Isn't about time you stop by for another visit!

Leonard

Ps. A really lovely post send by 'EngineLogics'. A bit rusty myself, but I'll give it a go at translating for you...here goes (some poetic license taken):

Man, the longing gives me a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach. It warms my heart to stare at this God forsaken landscape. It's not the people, it's the land that I long for.

Sheep chop on a hard wood fire...not a sound, except for the crackling of the dripping fat in the fire. I'm overcome with emotion.

If you're after USA-food, go ask Barnie van der Shyff and tell him, his brother in the States says he has to bring out the welcome mat.

Thanks alot,

From a Southwester (Namibian) now living in Houston, Texas

 

[Janekom]

Very Nice Translation Leonard
Except for the "USA food" part. Here he is actually asking me "should I visit his brother in Usakos ( small town) ............."

Day five arrives and it is another spectacular day in the Namib. Early morning so quiet that you can actually hear the silence. Unfortunately the three RV's breaks the silence starting up for another day of adventure. Our route for the day is short.

It takes us west past Gobabeb ( an environmental training and research station ) to Sandwich Harbour - not really a harbour. It is well known as a very good fishing spot and also a breeding ground for many fish species as well as birds. There are also seal colonies along the coast.

http://www.hanekom.org.za/Images_HeimatII/Heimatland_078.jpg[/IMG
[IMG]http://www.hanekom.org.za/Images_HeimatII/Heimatland_079.jpg[/iIMG]
[IMG]http://www.hanekom.org.za/Images_HeimatII/Heimatland_080.jpg

Sandwich Harbour can only be reached by 4x4 vehicle and only at low tide as can seen below.

Just before Swakopmund, is the biggest commercial harbour in Namibia, Walvisbay. The salt pans just south of Walvisbay is really colourful from the air.

 

[Janekom]

Too soon we arrive at Swakopmund, the holiday mecca of Namibia. One can read more about this wonderful town at http://www.swakopmundnamibia.com/

Note the sharp colours of the hangar complex against the desert background. The last photo is on finals for rwy 17. The main tar rwy is closed for maintenance. Not easy to spot as it is of the same color as the rest of the area.

Then we ad to push MER to the hangars as it had no left brake. The ladies were taken to the hotel while we stayed behind to fix the brake. With the help of a local AMO ( they had just the right piece of pipe in stock ) we replaced the complete brake line on the outside. The last photo shows where the crack is.

Distance flown for the day was about 130 nautical miles.

 

[zilik]

Love that airport!

Wow, what a great adventure. I do love the colors of those hangars. If we painted our hangars in the states similar colors it sure would be easier to find airports.

 

[Janekom]

Gary - with those colors you can find the hangars but not the rwy.

Day 6 we spent in Swakopmund, just walking around (lots to see and do) and having fun. Lovely town with many surprises.

There must be about six charter companies making a living out of flying tourists to all sorts of destinations in Namibia. The picture below is taken above one's entrance.

Then we also went on a guided Quad Bike tour through the Namib dunes. Really worth while doing if you ever go to Swakopmund. We also wanted to do the "Living Desert Tour" , but it was fully booked.

Then a picture of the well known jetty at swakopmund, shortly before sunset.

 

[Janekom]

Day 6. Too soon we have to leave Swakopmund behind. Our route for the day will take us up the coast to Cape Cross and then inland to the Brandberge ( Burning Mountains ). Then out to the remote skeleton coast again. Our destination for the day is Palmwag Lodge.

The picture below is of the group at the pumps. Cheapest Avgas of the trip at about R9.00 per liter.

Then up the coast. The next two pictures are of a unique little fishing village, Vlodtska's Beacon. Note how the stands and streets are marked out. Also note that each house has it's own fresh water tank.

Next is Henties Bay - another fishing holiday village.

At Cape Cross we turned inland to overfly a very vast and flat part of of the Namib desert. Unfortunately our visibility was not good at all, due to moisture moving in from the cold Atlantic.

 

[pierre smith]

Awesome, Jan..

..and Baie dankie (Thanks a lot), from a South African/Rhodesian ex-pat.

I felt some heartache looking at those beautiful pictures and remember fondly that I have visited some many years ago.

Thanks a lot, and if you ever end up here, we'll grill some Boerewors!

 

[Janekom]

Pierre, thats a deal - the boerewors

 

[Janekom]

Our next point is the Brandberg ( Burning Mountain ) which meant that we had to climb from sea level to over 8000ft in about 15 minutes. This mountain got it's name because most of the time there is a haze over it, which made people believe that there is a fire in the mountain somewhere. This is also where very famous rock paintings can be found. The most known one is of "The white Lady of the Namib" and the story is that they later found her to be a man. One can read more about this here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Lady

From here we flew in a Northerly direction over Damaraland. The number of rivers with water, sometimes right through the year, was surprising.

We then arrived at our next night stop Palmwag Lodge.

A wonderful place in a beautiful setting. This is a 620,000 acres concession with the big five on it. Obviously it is also very remote and away from towns etc.

 

[Janekom]

The standard thing to do at Palmwag Lodge is to go on a nice game drive. What we wanted to see was the desert elephant, actually different from the Africa elephant. They are smaller and very interesting is that they have adapted and do not destroy trees like the normal African elephant. Unfortunately we only found fresh poo in the road, but now elephants. Here are some of the pictures. First a few Oryx antelopes.

Some Zebra

Giraffe

Springbuck ram

Kudu bull

It is really a beautiful landscape and after having a sun downer we --- we watched another sunset in Africa.

 

[Janekom]

Day 7 our route took us to the "Vingerklip" (Finger of God ) first and then to the big Etosha pans. Unfortunately we woke up to a strong easterly wind blowing and this meant that it was quite hazy and bumpy for the first time on our tour. The first picture will give you an idea.

The Etosha pans is vast piece of land with the Etosha National Park basically around it. This year it had the most rain in about 30 years and was really something to see. due to the bad vis, the pictures odes not show how spectacular it really is to fly there. It covers more or less 22,000 square kilometers. You can read more here. http://www.namibian.org/travel/namibia/etosha.htm

The picture below is taken from finals at Mkuti Lodge, our stop over point. Once on the ground, the people form Onguma Lodge were waiting for us and soon we were on our way. About a 20 km trip to the Onguma where we would stay for the night.

 

[Janekom]

Doug wrote:

[ed. I have to say I absolutely LOVE how Jan puts a little more online every few days....dr]

Thanks Doug, We have a rather hectic time at the office, RV10 to finish.....
That's why the updates are so slow.

 

[Janekom]

Onguma Lodge is one of those places I would like to go to again and again! The staff is very professional and the setting stunning. The pictures below will tell the story.

The next post will be about our game drive into Etosha.

 

[Janekom]

We also went on a nice four hour long game drive into Etosha. Lots of animals to see.
Zebra

Impala

Giraffe

Blue Wildebeest

Elephants

More Giraffe

We also found a number of Damara Dik-dik. These are the smallest antelope in Africa and is very shy and always underneath the shrubs and therefore difficult to get good shots of. They use the glands just in front of the eye to mark their territory.

 

[Janekom]

This time around in Etosha we were really unlucky not to see lions. I thought I should post a few lion pictures that I took during our previous visit. First a whole pride of lions taking a rest and then we witnessed the centuries old fight between two males, over a female. This time around the "old man" won! One photo shows the blood from one of them in the road.

 

[bruce1369]

Thanks for the memories!

I'll never forget these pictures.

 

[Janekom]

Thanks Bruce. It was very hard work flying these RV's and taking all these pictures you know. Maybe DR should change one of these Smilies in a proper RV grin one?

 

[Janekom]

Day eight. Today we have to fly to Tsumeb (FYTM) first to get Avgas and then on to Gobabis (FYGB). Myself and Chris decides to fly back to the Etosha pans for another look at the water in the pans. Something we will not likely see again very soon.

Finals rwy 12 at Tsumeb. Tsumeb is a mining town with quite a big copper mine.

After refueling and defueling it was off again, flying over typical northern Namibia bushveld with mountains here and there.

Then we arrive at Gobabis. Gobabis is a very lively town with cattle farming the main activity. In the old days the car registration plates started with the letters "SX' and the town was often called "Texas Town".

 

[Janekom]

Below is a picture of the last sunset in Namibia, taken on my brother in law's farm.

Day 10 - 19 July 2009. Time to go home. Our route below takes us right across Botswana and to Pilansberg (FAPN) customs.

Below we are getting ready to leave and as you can see the customs office is sort of "open plan" with a 360 degree view.

About 10 minute after take-off we overfly the farm again. Along the route we had some light cloud to make it more interesting. The last picture is of the well known Lost City and Sun city hotel complex and the Gary Player golf course.

Soon we were taxing out again and 10 minutes later we are on finals RWY 02 at Brits.

The last picture of the group before we go our own ways again.

What a fantastic trip we have had. About 2650 nautical mile in about 18 hours flight time. Each AC consumed about 460 liter of fuel.

I would like to thank everyone involved and everyone who helped planning it. And to our Lord ( "The one who holds our souls between our ribs" as sung in a local Griekwa song) who has brought us back safely. Until we do it again.

 

[pierre smith]

A tremendous than you, Jan..

...and, Laus Deo,

Regards,

 

[Janekom]

Thanks Pierre,
I will be in Denver for about 12 days in October and in San Jose for about 48 hours - I have no idea where you are situated? I would like to take you up on the Braaivleis ( Barbeque) offer