11-12 May 2016 - Twee Rivieren and Augrabies

11-12 May 2016 - Twee Rivieren and trip to Augrabies, and time at Augrabies Waterfall

We had a short drive today; about 370 kms.  We could only leave Twee Rivieren camp (to go through customs) at 7.30 am. The passports were all stamped last night and except for the 'entry gate permit' that had to be stamped, all the paper work was done. Going through customs was no more than a 'wave through'. No inspections at all.  It is always worrying what nonsense an official can get up to.

We saw the usual signs, but sheep appeared.  We never saw signs warning about domestic goats and donkeys.  These were most abundant in Namibia.

These rules were stuck up on a notice board.

Our accommodation in Twee Rivieren was good and spacious. Two units are adjacent so you have neighbours.  It is mostly pleasant to have a chat with all these old folk ;-)).  Our neighbours are from Plett and they have three weeks in Kgalagadi.  Three weeks? That is a LOT of time to

 be in Kgalagadi.  They are also mostly camping and had three days of rain, camping, before they reached Kgalagadi.

We saw all kinds of animals.  Leopard, lion, hyena, giraffe, various antelope, owl, etc, etc.  We loved the ground squirrels. No elephant or buffalo, no crocodiles (no water actually).

This guy came out at dawn, got a good spot, and looked out for tourists all day long.  It was very excited to see a CX vehicle.

The landscapes are more exciting to me than the animals.  Animals complement the landscapes. And i love roads in pics.

The scenery was particularly beautiful from the exit of Twee Rivieren, to the T-junction to Upington (R360).  This were camelthorn and red dunes; the way i think of Kalahari.  We saw some bushmen trying to 'do craft trade', but it was really 'low budget' stuff.

The roads in Kgalagadi were the poorest unsurfaced roads we encountered on a 10 000 km journey.  They were quite corrugated, but saying that, they were not THAT bad. We deflated to 1.5, but i think lower could also work.  We never encountered any place where we thought we may get stuck, i.e., that is we did not need 4x4! Although i used it when i felt it could be safer, e.g. 'high speed' driving, to get better traction on gravel. Maybe we took the 'wimp roads'.

We arrived at 1.30 pm here in Augrabies, was well received and the accommodation is 'perfect'.  The scenery is beautiful.  We had some large raindrops throughout the day, but not ral rain.  The clouds added to some pics, and spoiled others.  The water over the falls are not much.  We were impressed by the quality of the 'board walks'.

General landscapes at falls.

 Viewing deck at falls.

 General landscape.

 General landscape.

 Main falls.

 Main falls.

 View over areas.

Canyon, below falls.

Tomorrow we drive to Hondeklipbaai.  We don't expect much so we may be surprised. We'll see the sea!

Internet connection: As we don't get wi-fi, we use our phone's "mobile hotspot and tethering" function.  Although internet connection is slow, this often pulls us through and make blogging possible, although frustratingly slow.