We know you’ve been waiting for it, so here it is, part 2 of 3 from the Can Do! Trekking for Trash team, Camilla and Michael. We’ve dubbed it Cobras and Caves, enjoy!
75km, 3 days walking
After a “heeeerlik” ontbyt at Die Rooi Spinnekop we bid adieu to Hondeklip Baai. Again, due to restricted access to the coast we began walking from the Hondeklip Gate of the Namakwa National Park. Even though we were back on a road it was lovely to have it to ourselves. It was blissfully peaceful in the reserve, we only saw one vehicle the whole day. We expected to have a fairly empty bin-backpack by the time we met Erlo halfway at Swartfontein. Sadly it was bursting at the seams by the time we got there. We collected a huge number of ancient beer bottles dating back over 40 years. I plan to use some as vases when I get home! The scenery was stunning, wildlife abundant and I felt very lucky to have caught the last of the Namakwa spring flowers. Next time I will make sure I am here in August/September to see them in their full splendor.
The 14km to Swartfontein was easy going, we had planned to head to the Caves near the Spoeg River Mouth but Mike was keen to head further south and return to the caves in the evening. We took a short cut and before long I saw him leap 5 feet into the air when an enormous black cobra had been caught off guard and reared up and hissed at him about 50cm from his left leg! From then on we did the “walk and clap” dance routine and Mike practiced for his idol’s audition to make sure any slithery friends could hear us a mile off. We carried on walking another 5km’s over some sand dunes and it became clear we were no longer heading south to the coast but rather east. It was exhausting walking over the hot sand dunes and I would have exited the “No Moan Zone” at the prospect of turning around to walk all the way back to Swartfontein had it not been for the sighting of a herd of wild Gemsbok. They were breathtaking galloping over the dunes! In the end we saw the Spoeg river mouth, the caves and spent some time at Policemans Helmet, even if we did walk a little further than we needed to. There will be no more “short cuts” on our trip!
The next 2 days of walking towards the Groen river mouth were amazing. The weather was perfect. The relentless wind of our first 10 days had dissipated. The long stretches of pristine beach rewarded us with hard, low-tide sand and thankfully a lighter backpack than the beaches on either side of the reserve. We did still find litter but mostly marine pollution, a lot of plastic bottles of Persian, Thai and Malaysian origin. We camped on the beach for 4 days (using only two of the designated sites: Kwass se Baai and Delwerscamp). There are however a number to choose from which have stone fireplaces and a loo. I know I will look back on this as a highlight of the west coast experience precisely because of and not despite of the lack of ablutions, power, water and connectivity to the outside world. It is such a special thing to do with friends or family. Safe, cheap and beeeeaaaautiful. You do have to have a 4×4 though! The roads are very sandy.
At Groenriviermond you will meet Mariaan and Piet Schreuder (AKA Skiet Piet) as you exit the reserve and pay your fees. They were really helpful in helping us organize keys to gates etc so that we could walk all the way to the Olifants river mouth along the coast. Mariaan also let us cuddle her teeny tiny adopted Jackal appropriately named “Jakkals” who she’d found in the veld.
