Day 1, 7 Feb 2025
We meet at Zastron in the late afternoon. There is no restaurant on site or in town but there are eateries on the way there, or you can do your own thing for the night.
Our campsite is called Mountain view.
Day 2,
8h00 We set off to meet our traveling companion, the Orange river. We meet it where it arrives in SA from Lesotho. We will cross the river several times on our journey.
We stop for coffee next to the road as needed.
Towards the Lunch hour we visit the Gariep dam.
From here we go to Colesberg to fill up and then head to the van der Kloof dam area.
Sandgat is our campsite just under the dam wall.
We should be in camp at about 4pm
Day 3,
8h00 First we visit the van der Kloof dam wall for some pictures and wows, then we head to Orania for breakfast. A lovely little South African town with its own character.
After breakfast and shopping we head to Mokala national park for the night.
In the late afternoon, after setting up camp, a game drive to have a look around.
Day 4,
8h00 We head out of the park and head towards Upington.
We pass the confluence where Orange and Vaal join, It is a bit dodgy these days so I don’t enter there any more but we stop for coffee near to the confluence. Then keep following the Orange towards Upington town.
Just before Upington we turn away and do not enter town. Shopping we will do tomorrow in Kakemas.
We sleep just west of Upington in a very nice campsite, Oranjerus
Day 5,
9h00 A late morning and short day. We head over to the Augrabies falls.
We spend about 2 hrs there and normally the huys would do a toasted sandwitch or burger for brunch.
From there we head to Kakemas for the night. We try to be at our camp at about 3pm for a wine tasting.
This will give you the opportunity to grab a few bottles of wine or something nice for the rest of the trip.
The Augrabies falls entry fee is included in your cost, but if you have an active wild card we can use it and have a bit of extra cash for fire wood.
Die Mas campsite in Kakemas.
Where we camp on the green grass under the shade trees.
Day 5,
From there we head to Pofadder for our last fuel stop.
This is where we will pick up the Namaqua 4×4 trail. Hugging the Orange river and following it down stream until we reach our camp at Ramansdrift on the Namaqua 4×4 eco route.
We should arrive in our camp at Ramansdrift at about 4pm.
No facilities here. Bring your spade and bush shower, wet wipes, or whatever you need to do to get through the night.
In the low season we would just swim in the river, but at this point it should be in flood, so no swimming.
Day 6.
9h30 A late depart from our campsite and continue our tour on the Namaqua 4×4 section.
It is a lazy day and we take coffee and lunch stops as we go.
We arrive at Vioolsdrift, no fuel available and limited groceries. We head to our campsite Bushwacked in Vioolsdrift.
We should arrive at about 4pm.
Day 7.
7h30 Depart from our campsite and continue on to the Richtersveld via the back roads.
A very scenic driving day as we make our way to the park gate.
Arrive Richtersveld gate, get fuel if available, a few cold drinks, check in and head to our first night at de Hoop campsite. We should be in at about 5pm.
Day 8.
We take an off day and relax next to the river.
I will not be driving anywhere on the day, just chilling. Bring a book or go for a short drive if you wish. The park is not big but depending on river levels the riverside road might be closed.
We spend our second night at the De Hoop camp site.
Day 9,
7h30 Depart from our campsite and we start the exit road to leave the park.
We stop for coffee where we reach Alexander bay around 11 am say goodbye and go our own ways.
