Go! Drive & Camp December 2015

By now I’ve recovered from the Bull Run. You had to experience it: more than 120 vehicles, over 300 participants and about 200 spectators, with no drama or complaints, just a lot of fun and dust. But the dust wasn’t a problem, it was simply an affirmation of the almost-insane fun people were having with their vehicles in Vosburg. In this issue we’ve devoted a couple of pages to this year’s Bull Run. But whether it really gives you an idea of how fantastic this event was remains to be seen. The only way you’ll ever truly experience the magic and fun of the Bull Run is to enter in time for next year’s event. And no, please don’t start pestering Gerrie yet! He’s been quite busy helping us put…

WOUTER LABUSCHAGNE READER STORY, P. 77 Wouter Labuschagne is a medical doctor from Middelburg, Mpumalanga. He has travelled to Kaokoland and Damaraland more than 10 times. What’s your first travel memory? A journey to Kaokoland with an old business partner in a Kombi Syncro. One night, while sleeping under the stars in the Hoanib river bed, I was woken up by a herd of elephants strolling through our camp. That’s how you fall in love with Namibia. Favourite spot in the bush? The Huab and Aba-Huab river beds. There you become part of nature, surrounded by an abundance of animals. Best travel tip? Consider the needs of everyone in your group. Happy travellers are the key to a good trip. Do you plan in detail or go with the…

LOTS OF MONEY FOR FEW FACILITIES IN KHAUDUM Our group of 10 friends from Vredendal undertook a trip to the beautiful Khaudum and Caprivi in Namibia on the 9th of August in 5 vehicles. We began this tour with great enthusiasm and we certainly weren’t disappointed – until we had to overnight on the 13th of August at the northern camp in Khaudum (Khaudum Camp). We were surprised when we arrived and heard that the fee to camp was R300 per person per night, plus R100 per vehicle. And that for a very primitive bush camp. Your camp site consists of a strip of neatly cut bush, a wooden structure and a primitive toilet without a door or roof. There was no water or electricity. We complained but the officials…

In the article “When the 4x4 bug bites” (Drive Out #89), written by one of your readers, Adriaan de Meyer, he tastefully describes how his vehicle eats up sand and you published a photo where he is driving on dunes in the direction of Hondeklip Bay. This gives the impression that it’s acceptable to do this. If the reader drove from Port Nolloth to Hondeklip Bay, as I understand the article, there are more than enough “normal” roads that he could have taken, and I can’t understand where he got lost off the road. Kleinsee and Koiingnaas are the only two coastal towns between Port Nolloth and Hondeklip Bay, and Adriaan must have totally lost focus if he ended up on the dunes. All that I can think is that…

Something that’s bothered me for a long time is the direction tyres turn when considering the type of tread. Then I saw an answer on a photo from the Koës Pan Rally (Drive Out #93). I compared the tyres on the red Sandmaster in the photo, which are mounted the other way around, with the tread of the Baja Claw MTZ on the advert on page 2 of the same issue. On all the vehicles that I see today, tyres will turn in the same direction as the Baja Claw. So the rubber blocks in the middle of the tyre form an arrow-pattern on the ground, according to their design. Fitted the other way around, as on the Sandmaster, where it would make an inverted V pattern, the blocks would…

We recently travelled to North-West Namibia. No matter how many months you’ve planned and organised for the trip, nothing can truly prepare you for the experience that awaits! At first glance it seems to be a harsh, rugged and dry wasteland but then, as if awakening from a dream, you start to see all the beauty! There is beauty in the tenacity of the Welwitschia, the sky is a different shade of blue, and there are various hues of brown and orange mountains, dunes and hard gravel yet to be turned into sand by nature. No sunset has ever been painted the way we saw them there! With the full moon rising and creating shadows over the mountains, we were in awe. Starting our trip at the Cheetah Conservatory just…