Karoo

2020 Winter tour

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Post published:November 13, 2020
Post category:2020 Winter
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COVID-19 tried, but it couldn't prevent us from making a road trip this winter. We had a plan to celebrate my sixtieth birthday in the Kruger National Park, but the pandemic prevented all inter-provincial travel and we had to change our plans at short notice. So we had to stick to the Western Cape, and this gave me and Anette the ideal opportunity to do some roads most people do not have the time for and that we have not done before ourselves. We took back roads via the Klein-Karoo to visit Gecko Rock Private Nature Reserve near Touws River/Montaqu,…

Merweville

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Post published:August 4, 2019
Post category:2019 Winter
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We leave Loxton on a gravel road, the R356, for Fraserburg. Is the road in a good condition? I think so, but I think the secret of any gravel road travel is low speed. At high speed you will get flat or written-off tyres and it is also easy to lose control over your vehicle. I drive at 60 km/h which gives me ample time to enjoy the scenery and avoid ditches, and if I really have to drive through them my vehicle is not damaged (nor Anette’s nerves). Last year, when we travelled to the Tankwa Karoo National Park,…

Loxton

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Post published:August 3, 2019
Post category:2019 Winter
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We leave Mokala again via the Lilydale entrance route, and upon reaching Richie, where this road crosses the N12, we notice that there are many Anglo-Boerwar battle sites nearby. This area is about 50km from Kimberley, which the Boers besieged in 1899. In an attempt to relieve Kimberley, the British forces suffered severe losses at Magersfontein, one of the battlefields in this area. This is only about 20km north east from Richie and we decide to take a short detour to Magersfontein rather than driving directly south. We pass Modderfontein close to the confluence of the Riet and Modder rivers,…

Mokala

Mokala Game Reserve

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Post published:July 31, 2019
Post category:2019 Winter
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We depart from Beaufort West at about nine in the morning because we have some distance to cover. We will not be taking the shortest route, as we would like to cover a route that we have not travelled before. We take the N1 and our first stop is at Richmond. We have not explored Richmond before, and this time we go for coffee and scones at Die Vetmuis farm kitchen. Delicious. I ask the owner about Richmond’s manual telephone exchange, that I read was still the largest in the southern hemisphere, and it turns out that she was the…