RI7ER JOURNAL POSTS

After 2 hectic weeks in Kaapstad we are, Yeah on the road! City life included work for Frixion Adventures, family dining and a good few and repeated visits to different offices to organise operative cellphones, internet connections, drivers license, shopping for a long packing list and a 17 hour drive from Johannesburg to Cape Town in new Mercedes-Benz Vito, picking up boats at Fluid Factory on the way in Parys .

The van is clean, it has run 110 km... boats on top, bed cut and fitted, even have ‘laken’ and a cooler. Have never camped so pro before :). My brain is busy; getting used to living in a car, reading maps, trying to memorise Afrikaans words and keeping focused on the task.

Sunday 6th december - DAY 1.

Woke at Af-En-Toe Gaste huis in Alexander Bay; city of full control by diamond digging businesses. A ‘borderpost’ to sign in at, visitors pass to enter and two guest houses to choose between. We were escorted to one of them. Spent the night in a queens look-a-like house. Had coffee in the morning and drove to the beach. The diamond vacuuming boats at sea were busy doing their thing. We decided to walk, not to paddle to the mouth of the Orange river. Where diamonds are searched for is restricted area, didn’t want to get into trouble, although the sea and the waves were inviting us to come play.

The most beautiful walk on the beach to the river mouth. Some fishermen said the weather was unusual. The ocean was calm, a few clouds passing over us, hot-hot sand, cold sea, lots of birds and warm river water. A powerful place. Where river meets sea.

Later in the day we drove towards Namibia with a plan A and a plan B. Plan A was to cross the Orange river from South Africa to Namibia on the pontoon ferry at Sendelingsdrif. Soon after leaving town we hit a roadblock and a sign saying “pontoon closed due to high river levels”. Faen....But this turned out to be a golden opportunity. The road block slowed us enough to enable us to see the bridge crossing just upstream of Oranjemund. On the map it is stated in red “Border crossing only with permit”, so we had ruled this out as a possibility. Now we stopped, turned around, went to the South African border post, then Namibian border post and last but not least the diamond area controlled gate. The whole procedure took one hour, and we were let through because the pontoon was closed. Happy entering the diamond digging area the officers clocked us through. No stops allowed and drive carefully they said.

Absolutely stunning scenery in Namibia. The next hours included driving through endless yellow-brown-golden desert mountains, wide well kept gravel roads, ostriches, kudus, gemsboks, baboons and goats. Whenever approaching the Orange River, everything turned green, and we saw grapevines, date trees, lemon trees and mango trees. The river gives life.  

We each did our section of paddling the next two days, and i got to experience the feeling of being lost. Desert mountains for sure look the same on the map. Happy as can be when seeing the maroon car with orange kayak on top and blue T-shirt man by the river. Grateful as can be for this opportunity to experience, explore and share.

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