Day 3 Tankwa Camino
Very few of us managed to sleep at our Voelfontein camp. The night's high winds and sandstorms had taken its toll on a couple of the tents. It was 07h00 and the camp was slowly coming alive, heavy clouds hung over the camp site. We still needed our head torches to help see while we packed up our gear.
The brown canvess tent to the right of my blue tent had collapsed onto it occupants during the night. Other tents had torn and part blown away. Cords and poles had snapped.
It was now 07h35 and a beautiful sunrise was slowing erupting in the sky showing off its stunning pinks, lilacs and oranges. It looked like a storm was threatening and I was really hoping we would not have to walk in a thunderstorm especially after the hectic lightening that crashed over our heads last night. This place is mostly flat so for the most part you are going to be the highest point along the road, not the most comforting feeling.
After breakfast and coffee I had packed up my stuff and was slowly making my way up the dusty road out of the quarry. Several walkers were still sorting out their camp sites. My feet were sore especially the right foot. My blisters had sorted themselves out and were not too painful. I was making headway so I was pleased. There was a long day ahead and it would take 29.1km to get to our next camp Witkloof. At this slow pace I was expecting to arive at around 17h00. The proplem was that time was not on my side. This storm was not waiting for anyone.
This stunning Quiver Tree (Aloe Dichotoma) greeted us as we made our way onto the road. It gets it name to the fact that the San (the Bushman) used its bark to make quivers for their poisoned arrows. It is extremely slow growing and a mature tree/aloe can reach hights of seven metres. Quiet an extrodinary tree and I felt very privileged to see one out in the wild.
As we walked the Tankwa the dark clouds hovered, creating spectular lighting and contrasts agains the white sand and olive green and yellow bushes. This is a magical place, these roads have carried many souls, their dreams, their visions, their hopes and futures. This was the longest uninterrupted dirt road in South Africa and we were walking it. How cool was that. Everywhere you looked rain "twisters" were bringing much needed rain to this desert, it was so incredible to be part of this long awaited miracle and as difficult as it would be for us this is just what was needed. Mother nature was crying out.
and then we had rainbows, in a desert how extraordinary and incredible!
220 km still to go, I had opted to walk in my Hi-Tech Sandals to give the blisters a chance to heal.
This is the R355 which links Karoo poort (one of our overnights camps) and Ceres with Calvinia. The Tankwa Karoo National park is one of the most unique and unusal destinations in South Africa. This Park straddles the border between the Northern and Western Capes and is drained by two rivers, the the Renoster and Tankwa Rivers.
One of the most challening daily tasks was to find an even piece of road to walk on. As the blisters grew and feet fatiqued, the uneven jarring of feet were not kind to the body or soul. I noticed that many people had started to walk alone, deep in their thoughts, deep in their pain, fighting their own demons.
The entrance to the Tankwa Karoo National Park. Definetly a place to visit in the near future with hubby and my Jimny!
As you walk along the roads you are offered tiny glimpses of miniture jewel-like flowers on crips mornings to the spectualr blue sky and the vast grey-green landscaped mantled in low scrub, succulents and dotted acacia. Every passing hour brought more beauty and wonder.
I was amazed as how many solar panels where attached to farm houses and on the sides of the road. This is most certainly the perfect place to capture our natural energy, the challenge of course would be to get it to other regions!
Danie and his drinks truck - apples, bananas, oranges and narties
Various mountain ranges surround us and the Tankwa Karoo to the east the Roggeveld Mountains, to the west the Cederberg and to the north the Kouebokkeveld mountains and finally to the south by the scattered magastic foothills are the Koedoesberge and Klein Roggeveld Mountains and the Tankwa River which we will cross over tomorrow.
A stark reminder that this road does not take prisoners - apparently this road is well known for shredding car tyres second to none and judging by the many shredded tyres strewn along the road it will hold this reputation for many moons to come. I wandered about this old truck all rusted and what story it would tell. I also wandered how does anyone summonds help here, there is no signal and how many people had perished along this very road.
The storm clouds played cat and mouse with the sun's rays as the desert landscape forever changing yet forever staying the same. Many of the shrubs bore sharp edges that would bite into your clothing a survival of the fittest. Along the sides of the road taller trees seem to invite us to rest and further back the landscape revealed a drier and harsher terrain.
The nearest towns are Ceres, Sutherland, Calvinia and Middelpos
When I look arournd the Karoo it is easy to imaging that this place could or was the ocean floor. The place is filled with plants resembling seaweed and this stunning little gems reminded me of star fish. The tiny colourful shale and pepples looking like broken sea shells, the white sand and vast areas that appeared to have sand waves where water ran freely. This is a strange place, a beautiful place. A place were you can loose yourself in that moment in time, your world stood still here.
This region is a Scientific National Park and lies 70km due west of Sutherland near the border of the Northen Cape and Western Cape. This is one of the most arid regions of South Africa with some spots receiving less than 100mm of average annual precipitation. Large moisture bearing clourds from the Atlantic Ocean which hovered, stopped largely by the Cederberg. The hottest areas of the park temperatures can average 38,9 degrees C in Janurary to lows of 5 to 7 Degrees C come July. This region is a protected area of Succulent Karoo and its a Biodiversity Hotspot, ours to enjoy and ours to protect for our children and grandchildren to see.
In spring these dry plains burst into new life with millions of blooming wild flowers, this desert transformed into a kaleidoscope of exotic colours and richness made of fairytales. We were not going to see any of that however the unusal fynbos and succuelents are jewels themselves offering a teaser of what would come. This region boasts some 600 odd plant species and looking a this landscape right now it is easy to imagine why this is the worlds richest succuelant area as well as a high reptile and invertgbrate diversity region.
Within the Tankwa Karoo National park falls the Succulent Karoo Biome and makes up the lowland (Tanqua Karoo) and the upland (Western Mountain Karoo) Succulent Karoo vegeation types. These vegetation types known as the Central Tanaqua Grassy Plain, the Roggeveld Shale Renosterveld, the Tanqua Escarpment, Succulent Karoo, the Roggeveld Karoo, the Tanqua Wash Rivers and the Nieuwoudtville Roggeveld Dolerite Renosterveld all of which have been conserved within the park. Alien plants are monitored and removed.
When I took a break and put my feet up against the fence it was time to massage the feet and digging them into the poles and wires help to release tight trigger points. It was also a time to kick back and look upwards and the clouds were spectacular and I spent many moments checking out the cloud formations and animals I could see. It was just magical I felt like a carefree kid again.
Some other ladies had also chosen this spot to rest a little and we would talk a little then go off into our own little spaces.
A reminder of why I was taking on the desert!
Those storm clouds started to build up again no sooner had they cleared up and blue skies dominated once again, it was as though they were playing cat and mouse, I only hoped we could all make the next camp before the heavens really opened.
The weather was not cold rather warm and dry, with the clouds I had really expected it to be much cooler.
I pondered on who had made this hole perhaps an Aardvar (Antbear) we had certainly seen several anthills which resembled dug out pizza huts, I am sure the work of these mysterious creatures. I was hoping to come accross a Cape porcupine unfortuannly we only found a lot of discarded quills. At times there were far too many in one spot near the side of the road which either was due to it being someones kill or being knocked over by the speading bakkies. I found many spoor around that looked like antelope and a moongoose that ran across the road in front of me.
There was now a sense of urgency amongst the walkers racing the brewing clouds, trying to outrun the looming rain. In the distance lightening exploded.
Once again it cleared and it was hot again. The white desert sand making way for a more redder cousin and the most spectacular grasses that appeared white against the landscape. The sunlight just caught the blades enough to make them stand out. The grass looked soft almost inviting like cotton candy.
a marker we were geeting closer to camp!
The Girls -Carol had developed mega blisters and was holding back a little but recovered to finish strongly after a days rest.
If you just looked you would find these tiny little plants, taking their place in the sun, creating their own shade, life surviving in the harshest of soils and landscape, even the entrusive crushing boots of humans. There had been a little rain in spots during the night and this life giving rain, no matter how little was a blessing for these little plants. So often in life we chase after the big things and in essence it is the little things that count, the little things we remember, that bring us the greatest joy.
And then in the middle of this harsh dry arid land is a spot of green grass, yes I was so tempted to go and lie on it but it has survived such a great journey that I did not want to intrude rather to watch in amazmemt from a distance at God's grace and this little piece of heaven for the butterflies and birds.
Amongst the desert floor dampness, water pools, this is the miracle of life of earth, wind, fire and water.
no city fears, no fenses, no security living as their forefathers did
These little ground cover yellow flowers were everywhere along this stretch for about 1km before the just disappeared.
Ceres 190 km to go - how do you eat an elephant - one bite at a time
More family farm gaves
more life giving rain puddles
words of encourangment along the way!!
Suddenly the road dipped and we for a moment were transported into another land, of green, crops, water and the promise of new life, the landscape just kept on changing.
Several birds had nested in this tree and were very busy and noisy - it is amazing how a little rain can change everything, today I could hear a lot more birds than in the previous 2 days, the rain had brought them out to play.
Shadows in the Karoo mud puddles - We were told that even if we came back 100 times over, we will never experience the extreme weather we had especially during the second and third nights. Game on Mother Nature!! You can control most things on an adveneture but never the elements they would always rule and you either would need to adapt or die, this was the Tankwa Karoo way and this would become our way as we journied further and deeper into the Tankwa Karoo.
Time to take a breather and rest the weary feet.
Mom and daughter team - such an inspration
and the heavens threatened to unleash the Tankwa rains over us
Large cracks of lightening could be seen in the distance followed by rolling thunger.
Those dark patches are whirlwinds of dry sand as the wind started to pick up.
The sand was swallowing up the walkers as they disappeared over the horizen, just a few kilometres to go then we were at camp - you could feel the urgency as the pace picked up.
The lighting on this mountain was incredible it created a snow effect - breathtakingly strange against the desert terrain in the forground. Epic.
Finally the camp was in sight and we got off the main road walking a short distance to our campsite
It had just gone 16h30 and the skies were spectacular
I got into camp quickly and did not get coffee or any of the freshly baked offerings. I needed to get my tent up and now. I started to set up my sent and the wind suddenly picked up, a huge crack of thunder above our head and suddenly the rain came down. I had luckily secured the four corners of my tent floor and the wind had picked up the tent, blowing air into it so I quickly put my bags into the tent and ran for cover. The mess tent was having its own drama, the wind was ripping the metal poles out and threatened to take the tent far back into the Karoo, we all held on for dear life and hammered the poles in, it had also started to hail, yes it was hailing and raining in the Tankwa Karoo desert. This was the heaviest rainfull in many many years and had caught everyone by surprise. While all the drama was taking place I noticed that my flysheet was not on and rain was pouring into the airvents at the top of my tent, so I ran back into the rain and put in the tent poles and was trying to put the flysheet over while the wind was having none of it. Thankfully one of the guys who had run into the truck for cover saw me and took pity. He told me that I had helped him the day before and that he had thought about just leaving me out there but could not. I was greatful and the rain had thankfully eased to he did not get too wet, I was drenched to the bone at least I would not need a bath and I had had my cloths washed for free.
the rivers running through our camp site
assessing the damage
me fighting with my flysheet and my knight in shining armour!!!
mopping up the inside of my tent - a total of 5 lts of water sucked up with my hiking sock - they work wanders as a super absorbant cloth and finally my tent floor was clean, free of the Karoo sand and dust of the previous 3 days.
Several tents got flooded and other walkers came running in drenched. Several people had opted to sleep inside the abandoned farm house where it was dry and warm. Luckily I always individually waterproof each item of clothing and sleeping gear so only a few things got a little wet when my bag had been left out. I managed to take all my stuff out and dry the bag out inside and put everything back. It was not cold but actually quiet warm, It would have been worse had we beein cold and wet. After a hot bucket bath and I got into my warm fluffy pj's I crept into my sleeping bag and listened to the rain and wind as it continued the whole night to fall against our tents creating mud pools and a river running though our campsite. It was a real challenge in the morning to make up as all the tents were soaked and muddy.
We wanted an adventure and adventure we were given. This place needed rain and they got ,a lot more than they have in many many years. I was imagining a farmer dancing somewhere in the rain in the Tankwa Karoo. This life giving rain had come, too late for some and promised new life and a new beginining. It was a priviledge to be standing drenched to the bone in the Karoo desert, a moment to actually treasure, a sight I will never see again in my lifetime. Wow.
should you wish to donate to the new ICU wing for the Children s Red Cross Hospital please follow the following link on Back-a-Buddy:
https://www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/adventure-with-a-purpose
The Team Zodwa Project ™
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