13 July 2004    to    20 July 2004

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Silvia and myself camped in Upington the Saturday. Here we had a very pleasant dinner with Rob and Heather before going on to Ai-Ais in the Fish River canyon the next day for one last soak in the hot water pools. We met up with Alta and Leon here who where also camping in Ai-Ais . That night we savored all their sweet wines that they had bought along the way..Einaaaa.... groot kopseer next morning!!

Full of hope our little group set off on Tuesday the 13 July. Most did not know what lay ahead for the next eight days and 120km. The first day is 14km long and at this point Silvia and myself were carrying quite heavy. Me with 23kg and Silvia on 18kg. Eight days food is quite heavy!

Initially the trail winds along a river bed before a bit of a steep climb. This is one of the big hollow trees before the first climb.

After the first climb you get a great view of the wide valley below.

A bit later a second climb follows and the rest of the way is pretty much spent contouring until you get to the "Putte"overnight shelter.

That night we had quite a wind and the temperatures dropped. The shelters are quite primitive with basically just a tin roof and half a wall around the structure. Besides me getting bitten by a spider we all survived the night. Fortunately the spider was not venomous so no major damage was done except on the nerves wondering what other strange creatures were lurking in the night. Water was in the form of a borehole that you had to pump manually by turning   a big wheel. At this point in time our group seemed to divide up into two parts...the "Stinkers", and the "trying not to stink so much Stinkers", with the former accusing the latter of hogging the water holes too long. Next morning was quite cold but at least always blue sky's. The second day is 15km long.

A social weavers nest on day two.

Lunch time in a dry river bed.

The first part of the day is not very strenuous but then one enters a gorge and the famous"Chains" lay ahead.

Some of these chains descend upto 30 meters and are quite nerve racking if you not used to this type of thing. Leon ended up being the expert in getting down these chains, often in only a few seconds. Most of the rest of us took considerably longer! Once down all the chains the trails winds along a spectacular gorge before coming to the Ubusis hut which was to be our only "luxurious" accommodation along the entire eight day trail.

Day three takes you back up the same gorge and chains before branching off towards the "Adlerhorst" shelter. This day is the shortest and only 12km.

The second half of day three is pretty easy going. Here we have a Quiver tree with a Social Weavers nest in it.

It gets quite flat along Kudu plains before you get to the shelter.

The "Adlerhorst"shelter is the only one that is round, the rest being square and divided into two "rooms". I felt this one was more sociable as everyone was in one "room". Again water is from the borehole with hundreds of bees around it. It becomes quite a mission to get water and have to fish out all the bees from the bucket and the other containers. Here's Alta and Leon trying to make themselves comfortable.

Ready to role on day four with 17km of slogging ahead. Initially its fairly easy going but then the trail gets into a gorge and towards the end there is a very steep climb up and back down again. The last two Km to the Tsams-Ost shelter are along a wide gravel road. A lot of Leopard spore could be seen on this road....Some people in the group got very worried about becoming Leopard dinner! At Tsams-Ost we had arranged for a few supplies to be brought out to us at a very steep price!

Day five starts with a very steep 150m climb followed by two more climbs of about 150m and 100m respectively. The scenery makes up for the effort though. After the third climb the trail descends all the way to the "Die Valle" shelter, this day being another 17km. The final few km are very flat and it was here that Rob and I came across a herd of Gemsbok in a river bed. A bit further I came across some more Gemsbok and Zebra.

Day six is 16km long and starts off with a 200m very steep climb and climbs a total of 550m. Most of the day one climbs along a gorge with some real stunning scenery.

Some more chains to negotiate.

Silvia in another big hollow tree.

The Naukluft is very arid but occasionally small springs would sprout in some river bed. The whole area apparently only receives about 200mm of rain a year.

Rob carefully nurturing his shrine at the Tuffa shelter that contains his blue bottle of Frangellico and candle in the niche in the wall beside his sleeping bag.

Day seven is another 500m plus climb with a 30m chain thrown in for good measure.

This day is 14km long and takes one up to the coldest spot in Naukluft, namely Kapokvlakte.

The first part is mainly in a gorge river bed.

Once you get to the top the views are brilliant and the last few km to the Kapokvlakte shelter are flat. Here some Springbok could be seen.

The last day and 16km. Everyone is in a good mood dreaming of fat steaks and beer that evening at the base camp.

The first half is a lot of never-ending hills, 

before going into a gorge and descending about 450m back to the base camp.

Silvia and myself were the first to get back earning us the names Cayote and Roadrunner! Alta ended up with the most blisters so say hallo to "Blister Sister" next time you see her. Rob had his red jacket and hood along with him and will make a great "Father Christmas" at the next Christmas party! Heather really stood out with her red "Pantoffels". Luckily she did not make contact with one of those long white thorns in those things or we may have had a brand new dance in Naulkluft....the Naukluft Vastrap! Leon can only be described as the "Klipspringer" the way he negotiated those chains! Let us not forget Sue......!!

Well that certainly was the toughest hike Silvia and myself did but the scenery was worth it. Will we do it again...???...lets see. That evening we had our traditional garlic snails and tons of meat that Alta and Leon had brought with and kept cold not to mention wine, champagne and beer. Next morning we parted ways, Rob and Heather to suffer another 90km in the Fish river canyon and us first back to Ai-Ais again to soak in the hot pools followed by a rather interesting two nights in  a place called Witsand in the Northen Cape.