Day 72 - ‘Helskloof Pass’/Vioolsdrift

Yesterday when we left camp for our day-trip out, I was stunned by the steep and dangerous almost precipice, we had come down to river-level and into the camp, the previous day! The fact that I needed to get back up with the caravan again, had plagued my mind all day and night!

All those worries and concerns that kept me awake, amounted to naught. Caravan and all, we left 'De Hoop' campsite at just past 08:00 and enough day light to see the nightmare ahead and above! In 4 Wheel-Drive, Low-Range and all 'diff's' locked we took it on, as Karen would say... "All Guns Blazing"!!!

Although 'shit-scared', we pulled it off, like a hot knife through butter! Karen leaning out of her window, checking how close we were to the rock wall, and me leaning out of mine, aiming not to go over the edge of the world, we crawled up and out! That 'Fortuner' is a machine and the 'X-Cape' caravan behaved itself well!

That was a good start, but only the start. Ahead lay wide open prairie's but confused by crazy kilometers of unbelievable 'krantzes' again with tracks only wide enough for one vehicle at a time! Having not seen anyone for days, I was okay with that... but what if?

To make up time we did the best we could on sandy but corrugated surfaces, as we knew what lay ahead? For the first time in the Richtersveld, we saw real Springbok’s, all 5 of them and even a nonplussed Jackal with the regular Ostriches showing face from time to time.

Help me out here, please someone! Why would you call a pass 'Helskloof Pass' on a mountain range called 'Paradysbergge'? FFS.... I'll tell you why!!!

That was in fact not the most frightening, but what came before was scary and equally exhilarating for me at least! Karen was squeaking, groaning and yelping and reaching for the good old concoction of 'Voltaren, Vaseline, Valium and Vicks'! Now she is never feint hearted, nor is she a timid little girl (by a long-shot).... she was shit scared as we up, overed and downed 'Domorogh Pass'! Brent and others back home (Pretoors) had mentioned 'Helskloof' before, but I think they too, had wiped this 'thriller' from their memories! Just as a reminder to you all, and a warning to the rest which come after us, Domorogh Pass is not the N1 Highway! Loose shale, large boulders, sever road surface (if any), not to mention the 'plummet's' left and right, and the rises that one cannot even see whatever, over the crest!

We eventually arrived at Helskloof Gate to exit the park.

On another godforsaken road between the gate and Kuboes, which incidentally has a paved main road. Having missed a non-sign-posted turn off we eventually connected with the road to real Hell! Worse than Commissioner St. and Eloff in Johannesburg and Genral Herzog in Vereeniging, this road needs to be driven every day by the local councillor in his 'Fat-Cat Mercedes, to fully appreciate what an atrocious road his electorate needs to drive from A to B! How and why he even picks up a pay check every month is beyond me? My guess is that he doesn't even live in any of the two places?

We were assured by the Bottle store lady, just outside Eksteenfontein that the shorter 4X4 route through another Helskloof Pass of only 54km was way worse than the road we had already traveled😳 So instead of sticking to our Policy and staying on the lesser known route, with time ticking and no prospects of fuel other than Steinkopf, that's where we headed. Via Tierkloof se Berge=>Skimmelberg=>Nana se Koppie=> Anenous Pass and between Narraberg and Klipfonteinberg on the R382, we arrived, near on sunset.

A late afternoon arrival at Vioolsdrif, our destination for the day, past Kabinaberg and Baviaanskop on the N7. An excellent stretch of tar-road 70km into the sun, toward the Namibia border post at Noordoever.

Karen now able to 'GOOGLE' for the first time in 5 days and nights, she found the only one camp on the Orange River that answered the call. ‘Orange River Rafting’, we found a very comfortable campsite, overlooking the river, also meters away from the flood plain, now still flowing strongly but slowly retreating. Flood debris and bent over brush visible, pretty high above the current level.

Whilst Karen conjured up a delicious bite to eat and I finished off other camp duties, I noticed another what I thought, locust on the lawn at the edge of the groundsheet. Knowing this could completely disturb the peace, in the semi dark I bent to throw it over the wall and out of sight. By now I had become quite accustomed to a locust’s gait… this was not it! Instead I stopped short of picking up a bright green SCORPION!!! Whether deadly or even just poisonous, now near Vioolsdrift in the Northern Cape, on the edge of the Orange River, on the verge of Namibia, probably more than 300km from a hospital at 19:30 at night was probably not the time or place to find out!?😳

We tucked into some 'leftovers' from the previous night and after pitching a more permanent camp set for a few days, chucked it in.

Love, Peace and Light,
M&K
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