Flying Adventure: Winelands Namaqua Karoo – Day 5 (FASH – FASB):

Over the past few days government has implemented tighter restrictions to contain the spread of Covid19. As a consequence the Garden Route district and all beaches along the southern and eastern coast have been closed.

We therefore decided to head up north to the Karoo and the Namaqualand. These are very sparsely populated areas, and thus barely affected by the pandemic. And they are beautiful special places to explore.

We contacted the airfield in Springbok the day before, to confirm fuel availability and arrange refueling for later today. The regular reader will remember the importance of confirming fuel availability from previous blogs.

All that being sorted, we head out to the Stellenbosch flying club to get ready for our flight up north.

Stellenbosch to Springbok

It’s a fantastically beautiful day and promises to be so for the entire flight.

We climb out from Stellenbosch and route below the Cape Town terminal control area up north towards Porterville.

From Porterville route along the mountain range and the Langebaan Military flying area towards Clanwilliam from where we set course over the Karoo to Springbok.

Springbok is a small town in the Namaqualand. The Namaqualand is a rocky and arid area, which expands from north western South Africa to south western Namibia. It is famous for its diamond deposits, which have been mined for over 80 years, but more spectacularly, its colourful wild flowers, which bloom after the winter rains.

This time of the year, the flower season has already ended, as it is hot and dry. But that is a reason to come back to this truly special part of South Africa, and to fly over the colourful flowers, which cover the lanscape.

Compared to the lush winelands in the cape, we find ourselves in a totally different environment up here. It’s hot, rocky and dry.

We check in at the Springbok Inn, which offers very comfortable accommodation in a beautiful surrounding.

Hondeklip Baai and Port Nolloth

We initially intended to stay over for two nights to explore the area. But then the airfield manager introduced us to Titus Car Rental in Springbok, who offered us a comfortable 4×4 vehicle. That, and the exceptionally friendly and helpful people out here, were convincing enough to stay and explore the area a little longer.

On Day 6 of our tour, we take a drive through the Namaqualand National Park to Hondeklipbaai on the West Coast. Hondeklip is a small fishermen’s town, with a special charm. If you do happen to get to Hondeklipbaai, do yourself a favour and pop in at Dop En Kreef for a meal and a few drinks.

On day 7 we are heading to Port Nolloth, which is also on the West Coast a bit further up north from Hondeklipbaai.

Port Nolloth, is a small fishermen and mining town about 60km south of the border to Namibia.

The cold Benguela current dominates the climate on the West Coast. Whilst the temperatures in the interior are hot and dry, the coast is cool, misty and wet. It is this mist, which caused many ships to crash on the coast before the days of satellite navigation. Many ship wreckages can be found all along the coast up to the Skeleton coast in Namibia.

Tomorrow will be day 8 of our tour, and time to fly to somewhere else.