Last weekend, Elisha, Jakob and I had the awesome opportunity to join a group of friends on an epic journey by 4X4 through the desert and up and over the neighbouring mountain range. We joined 7 other trucks, filled mainly with German engineers from the firm our friend works for. It was a good day, and we got to see the rugged, more primitive side of S.A.
Finding a place to have lunch is always a challenge. As you can imagine, there aren’t a lot of trees around!
At the very top of a long climb, we found a small town and agricultural area. The climate at this elevation is more moderate, and there are even plants with blooms (see below) That, as you can imagine, is quite unusual for S.A. We arrived in the evening and upon stepping out of truck we felt the odd sensation of cool air on account of the elevation. It was 25C. It was at this point that our day took an unforeseen twist. You see, our intreped guide had intended to cut accross the mountain range in order to lop off about 150km of driving. It was a good plan, and by this point, we were only 40 minutes from home. Unfortunately, the winding road down the other side of the mountain range was impassable and we were forced to backtrack and go all the way around, adding close to 3 hours to our day. We only got home at 9pm, after 12 hours of touring. ouch.
Living in S.A. is remarkable in many ways. For it is here that one can head off into the hinterland and witness Bedouin herders making their livelihood in ways that have changed very little over hundreds of years.
Here are their living quarters. No air con in sight! I can’t imagine. The temperature at this time of year is already reaching 38C, how do they survive when it hits 50?
This is a tame section of the track.
A Baby Camel
The top of one of the mountain passes.
