Kruger and Southern Africa

[Jacques Vert]

That evening we had dinner in the restaurant at the Nest Hotel; we had looked around town during the day and didn't see anywhere exciting to eat. We are told that there used to be a waterfront restaurant that was very good but it has closed.

+1 asked if I had ever had Abolone; I replied that I had and although nice, it can be tough if not cooked correctly. She decided to give it a go. Absolutely magnificent; faultless. Forgot to take a photo.


Our mains:

+1's Lamb Shank:




My Lobster Tails (6):




For dessert we shared a Crepe Suzette. Best thing was our man decided to train another staff member in how to cook it, giving a full description of how it should be done. And +1 got it all on video..






Turned out to be the best Crepe Suzette I have ever had, as was +1's Abalone, and the Lobster Tails were excellent.

 

[Boca68]

That evening we had dinner in the restaurant at the Nest Hotel; we had looked around town during the day and didn't see anywhere exciting to eat. We are told that there used to be a waterfront restaurant that was very good but it has closed.

+1 asked if I had ever had Abolone; I replied that I had and although nice, it can be tough if not cooked correctly. She decided to give it a go. Absolutely magnificent; faultless. Forgot to take a photo.


Our mains:

+1's Lamb Shank:

View attachment 93685


My Lobster Tails (6):

View attachment 93686


For dessert we shared a Crepe Suzette. Best thing was our man decided to train another staff member in how to cook it, giving a full description of how it should be done. And +1 got it all on video..

View attachment 93687

View attachment 93694


Turned out to be the best Crepe Suzette I have ever had, as was +1's Abalone, and the Lobster Tails were excellent.

Crepes Suzette cooked gueridon style....Aaah the memories!

I'm sure there is a few old farts who remember what gueridon is. Basically , its cooking at that table. I learnt it many years ago as if it was the be all and end all. Heck! it disappeared not long after. Way to expensive!

We used to do Crepes Suzette, of course, Chateaubriand, Lobster Salad, carve venison, lamb, salmon, steak tartar, construct caviar selections. Oh! it was horrendous, but a lot of fun at the same time. Still have the hand written recipes for a gueridon service.

Getting that caramel right for the crepes was all important.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Crepes Suzette cooked gueridon style....Aaah the memories!

I'm sure there is a few old farts who remember what gueridon is. Basically , its cooking at that table. I learnt it many years ago as if it was the be all and end all. Heck! it disappeared not long after. Way to expensive!

We used to do Crepes Suzette, of course, Chateaubriand, Lobster Salad, carve venison, lamb, salmon, steak tartar, construct caviar selections. Oh! it was horrendous, but a lot of fun at the same time. Still have the hand written recipes for a gueridon service.

Getting that caramel right for the crepes was all important.

They all sound delicious! When are you available to come around and cook dinner? We'll provide accommodation and wine!

PS: the Hilton in Innesbruck still does Chateaubriand at the table (sorry, gueridon-style).

PPS: Forgot to mention the price of the Crepe: $N99 (about $A9-90 at present). Can't complain about that!

 

[JohnM]

I also had the crepes suzette at the Nest and they were excellent. The waitress who did them was a bit nervous but she did a faultess job. Real blast from the past .

 

[Jacques Vert]

Kolmanskop

Ten kilometres east of Luderitz is Kolmanskop (Afrikaans for Colman's Hill). Or Kolmanskuppe in German.



It's an abandoned diamond mining town; apparently the diamonds were so plentiful in this area that you could literally pick them up off the ground and there are historic photos of workers (in three-piece suits in the blazing sun, by-the-way) crawling along the ground on their stomachs picking up diamonds as they went. Don't you hate it when you miss an opportunity?



There are tours of the town (included in the entry fee: $N80pp + 10 for the vehicle) which are at 0930 and 1100 Mon to Sat (1000 on Sundays and holidays) and visiting hours close at 1300. It’s too hot to be here in the afternoons, at least at this time of year, so I would recommend the 0930 tour as by 1100 the sun and heat are already challenging.




The town and its residents grew very rich and it had a 250 bed hospital with the first X-ray machine in the southern hemisphere (mainly used to discourage diamonds being smuggled out internally, we are told), a bowling alley, ballroom, ice-factory, school, casino, theatre and power station. The entertainment director arranged for opera singers and other performers to come from Germany and there was a tramway system around the entire town.




The diamonds started to run out and larger and better quality diamonds were discovered to the south and the town was abandoned with the last residents leaving in the 1950's.




Of course when the town was abandoned the 250-odd workers whose job it was to shovel sand, and keep the town from disappearing under the ever-encroaching dunes, moved on and the desert is slowly taking the area back.

 

[Jacques Vert]

More of Kolmanskop...






The bowling alley:






Inside the hospital:

 

[Jacques Vert]

And a couple more...






Miss Kolmanskop, 1944:

 

[Jacques Vert]

Remember these...

 

[Gem56]

Gem 56 here. During the night in Luderitz the wind sounded quite strong. I mentioned this to the guide at Kolmanskop and he commented that this was only a breeze - they get winds up to 120 km/h on a regular basis. Seeing the amount of sand being blown across the road during this "breeze" explains how quickly the sand would pile up over the railway line.










We saw these front end loaders on the way to Luderitz just waiting by the roadside, realising that they must use them to clear the road of sand, probably on a fairly regular basis. Maybe it is more so that they are ready to go when the wind blows and then just help the wind blow the sand off the track.




Not too much survives out here.

 

[Gem56]

Another night booked at the Desert Horse Inn in Aus and stopped along the way at the viewing point to see the 'desert horses' and the other animals that have managed to survive this harsh climate. Poor things, absolutely no shade and the sun is baking hot. A watering hole has been put in for the animals that roam this land. There are a few theories as to how the horses got here. One was that there was a ship carrying thoroughbreds and it ran aground and hence the horses were let go. Another was that someone had 300 horses and just let them out. Whatever the reason, they are now feral and there are lots. I have to think that only the tough survive.




Many oryx as well

 

[Gem56]

The fruit tree garden containing pomegranates, figs, lemons, limes, and of course prickly pear! They also make a liqueur from the prickly pear fruit however this is certainly not something that I find palatable.

 

[Gem56]

Try to bear with me with this next story – I need to give you some background so that you understand the punch line.

I read that there was a POW camp in Aus during the first world war and that most of the officers and prisoners contracted influenza and died. All were buried here. Also the remains of the POW camp are still there. We did recall seeing a sign on the way in to Aus pointing to the graves but hadn’t seen anything relating to the camp. We wanted to look at both of these things on the way out. Aus is a really small place, perhaps a population of around 200 so we thought they shouldn’t be hard to find.

The owner of the Lodge had suggested that we take a different road to get to our next destination – Fish River Canyon.

Checking the map it looked to be much further, and his wife suggested that he probably said that because there had been a lot of rain in that area and probably the other road would be difficult to pass. We needed to check to find out what condition the roads are in and which road to take. If anyone would know the Police will, so we thought. Well, turns out that is a misconception. The officer didn’t really know but one road will take about 3 hours… but wait…” how fast will you be driving?” JV thought he should be conservative with his answer and therefore said "about 80 on the dirt and 100 on the tar". “Oh well, if you're going to be that slow, it will take you longer than 3 hours! The other road is further and will take less time than the first road.” Hmmm!!!

We then found another officer who was on highway patrol. We stopped to ask him the same question. “You have a 4X4, you can manage it, just take it slowly”.

One more question for this officer – where is the area of the POW camp and the graves? “Well… they could be down this area of the highway and they could both be together, but I don’t really know. I think if you go down here and turn right or left you will find them.” As it turned out they were about 200 metres from where he was stopped, AND… the War Graves are next to the current day cemetery! No sign of the camp though. We then came across an old goat herder so we asked him where the Prisoner of War camp remains are. “Check at the police station, they have a prisoner camp there”. Cost us 5 Rand for this valuable information!

The cheapest entertainment we’ve had in a long time. I’ve been laughing about it ever since.

We left Aus without seeing the camp.

 

[Jacques Vert]

After our friend the goat-herder, we are headed for Fish River Canyon. As +1 posted, depending on who we talk to, there has either been lots of rain and we should head south on the C13 and make our way around the southern end of the canyon OR there has been little rain and we should go via the B4.





We decide on the latter and take the B4 to Seeheim before turning right onto the C12/C37 to Canon Village, another Gondwana Collection property which will be our digs for the next two nights; around 300km.




For the record there are no fuel stations between Aus and the Canon Roadhouse. So we filled up in Aus before setting off and again on arrival at the Canon Roadhouse.


At Goageb we are surprised to see water in the river and it's flowing fairly swiftly. Maybe it's the result of those storms we drove through a couple of days before:




Then just before Seeheim the B4 crosses the Fish River and there is water in it! We are later told that this is the first time in three years that there has been water in the river.

 

[Jacques Vert]

After crossing the Fish River our map shows a significant dot for the town of Seeheim and this is where we turn right to head down the C12 towards the Canyon. In fact, we see nothing other than a sign stating that there is a hotel about a kilometre off the road. From what I can tell that is the only thing in Seeheim. We didn't stop and check it out however the hotel could be a convenient overnight stop depending on one's itinerery.

The road signs indicate that the turn onto the C12 is another 12 kilometres further, turning onto what our maps show as the D545. We decide to follow the road signs and are soon back on gravel in familiar looking territory:



So we drive on through more desert before coming over a ridge and seeing this in front of us...




There is a dam here forming the Naute Reservoir and an irrigation scheme, and with a little water the desert comes to life. I suspect that it is because of this development that the D545 has now become the main road. I'm not sure what condition the original C12 is in but this road in well maintained.




And clearly they have had rain:




And then something unexpected:




We had to stop and sample the goods, including the Prickly Pear Liquor; not quite to my liking.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Heading south from the distillery the road has been graded and is one of the best gravel roads we have have been on. But a word of warning; the road is straight and flat and every couple of hundred metres there is a dip. These are also quite smooth, except one. We were cruising along at a conservative speed yet this dip launched us into the air, rally-style.

We had originally put our suitcases in the rear tray as we have a lockable canopy, however these canopies don't seal well and dust becomes a major issue. So we moved them to the back seat where they were lying on their backs. Mine went up in the air and landed on its side; +1's also went up and came down on its wheels. Without seatbelts there would have been two head-shaped dints in the roof of our vehicle. It didn't help that the shock absorbers on our vehicle are worn despite only having done ~ 15,000km.

Fortunately no harm done but it is easy to see how people manage to roll their vehicles in this country. Some European visitors, not used to driving on gravel roads, could easily panic and slam on the brakes or make a last second attempt to avoid the bump, with disasterous results.

We press on towards the canyon:





Driving around Luderitz and Aus there are plenty of level crossings of the railway line with stop signs. As there have been no trains for some years, the locals ignore them and visitors soon fall into the same habit. But today we discover that the main north-south line still operates as we see this freight train heading north.




Yes, they certainly have had rain in this area:




We continue south:

 

[Jacques Vert]

It's not long before we catch up with a passenger train heading south:



There doesn't appear to be too many passengers on board:



We have to give way at a level crossing (I guess that's one way to clear sand off the tracks):



before turning onto the C37:

 

[Jacques Vert]

Only another 40km and we arrive at the quirky Canon Roadhouse...






where we try the Amarula cheescake (with a local beer)...






and fill up with fuel...

 

[RB]

I am really enjoying reading about your adventures. Can I ask what sort of support/roadside assistance/breakdown cover was provided with the vehicle rental? Are there optional extras?

 

[Jacques Vert]

Not far now...




Only 21km to the Canon Village where we are staying for two nights:




Our villa (actually there are two rooms in each building):




After a long day behind the wheel we head to the bar area:




and watch the delivery of bags from the tour group that has arrived...

 

[Jacques Vert]

I am really enjoying reading about your adventures. Can I ask what sort of support/roadside assistance/breakdown cover was provided with the vehicle rental? Are there optional extras?

The basic deal is that they provide a list of workshops, tyre and repair places throughout Namibia (although you can use any garage) and if you have a problem you take it there and get it fixed, keep the receipt and they will reimburse you. Repairs over $N1,000 or $US72 require pre-approval.

The vehicle comes with mandatory super cover which is nil excess and includes windscreens, rims & tyres (replacement but not punctures), radio theft and recovery costs. Also included is a second driver at no extra cost, unlimited kilometres, emergency assistance and hotel/airport transfers up to 25km (Windhoek is further than this from the international airport but the depot is at the airport not in the city).

Options include baby/child seats, GPS, Compressor, tent/camping equipment and I think they may have fridges available.

You get charged in days (not 24 hours) so if you pick it up just before the depot closes and drop it back just after they open, that's 2 days. Note that the rate varies depending on how many weeks you rent for. So 14 days may actually work out cheaper than 12 or 13 days.

My booking contact (very helpful) was:

[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]ANANDI KLEYNHANS[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]RESERVATIONS AGENT – RSA & NAMIBIA[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Tourism Holdings Rental SA (PTY) LTD[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Tel: +27 11 230 5213 | Email: [email protected][/FONT]