Ceres - Kamieskroon - Namakwa National Park - Caracal Eco Route (Rooikat 4x4 Ecoroete) - Hondeklip Bay - Groenrivier Mouth - March & August 2012
On my second trip in August 2012 we camped at the
Kamieskroon Hotel - ablutions fine, but the traffic noise is disturbing.
There is a privately owned community camp site at the Skilpad
National Park's Office (Nathan of Gloudine Agenbad Tel. 027 -65721314),
which would have been a better option, but I did not know about it.
Preparing for the road ahead
(click the link to download the whole trip in MapSource gdb format - NamakwaNationalPark.zip - please note that Waypoints 1 - 14 refer to the numbers in the Caracal Eco Route booklet which you can buy at the Parks Board offices)
Day 1
Ceres - Kamieskroon - Skilpad Rest Camp
These chalets are well laid out and there is a brilliant panoramic view. Highly recommended as a stop over.
Remember to take your own dish washing liquid and drying up towels. Also, the water is brackish and won't be to everybody's taste - take your own.
Day 2
Skilpad Rest Camp to Eagles Nest Guest House
This part of the route has only one or two rocky sections which may be difficult for soft off-roaders.
There is a real oasis at Kookfontein. Camping allowed if arranged beforehand. The water tanks for the ablution block are empty, but there is permanent water at the fountain - bring a bucket to fill the toilet cisterns.
We could only look at the Gents' section of the
ablutions, which looked a mess because doors and windows had been left
open.
This had been cleaned up by September 2012.
The dilapidated homesteads along the way made me sad.
I thought about the people's dreams that are no more.
We popped in At Hondeklip Bay.
What amazed us most was how clean the whole town was. The locals
apparently all work together to keep it that way.
There are lots of accommodation options, but most of them were closed
when we were there - enquire beforehand.
I forgot to take pictures of the Eagles Nest Guest
House as I was overwhelmed by something very different and unexpected.
There
are different accommodation options available, from a large 5-roomed
house to 2-bed chalets (Book at 027 581 1846).
Emu's will accompany you as you wander around the homestead.
Remember to take your own dish washing liquid and drying up towels. Also, the water is very brackish and won't be to everybody's taste - take your own.
Day 3
Eagles Nest Guest House - Spoegrivier Bay - Groenrivier Mond - Ceres
This part of the route to be tackled by 4x4's with high ground clearance
only - soft off-roaders will not make it.
There is some real deep sand driving along certain sections (I let my
tyres down to 1.5 just before the Spoegrivier Caves and re-inflated at
the Groenrivier Mouth).
At Spoegrivier Bay we were greeted by Dolphins enjoying the waves.
It was very misty. We stuck around for an hour hoping for it to clear up
so that we could explore the bay. No luck.
Hikers are allowed to camp here, but the spot is very exposed to the
elements.
Early morning dew
Below is a typical camp site. Some of them have toilets and water. These sites start about half-way to the Groenrivier Mouth and all of them are marked on the Tracks4Africa map.
One travels through amazing dune fields
Generally, the conditions of the major roads were not too bad, with some very corrugated sections. However, rain and the large expected traffic during the flower season will change those conditions.
After the storms in August 2012 - some of the access road were covered in foam - weird driving through 1,5m thick foam.
This park obviously does not get a lot of visitors outside the flower season, which is great for people like us, who enjoy the solitude (We met no other vehicles on the 4x4 route, except close to the Groenrivier Mouth).
Some flowers in September
I made a mistake when we got close to the N7, where I should have taken
a turn off to Kotzesrus and then within a short distance a turn-off to
the south-east.
In August 2012 we followed the coastal route from the Groenrivier Mouth to Lutzville. There were lots of water pools we had to drive through, but the sand was not deep. Took 3 hours for 70km (short lunch stop included).
Total distance travelled 1100km.