Kaokoland Trip – 2nd April 2010 to 27th April 2010

Kaokoland Trip – 2^nd April 2010 to 27^th April 2010
1.0 What made the trip of a lifetime happen?
Peter Tied (alias Tecno-nut or Fearless Leader or Illustrious Leader) a fundi on SAPS computer accounting systems and with a list of interests as long as my arm eg a tracks for Africa aficionado, a chaser of eclipses and convergence lines (lines of longitude and latitude) around the world, bumped into -
John Wells a retired mining engineer originally with Goldfields, moved down from the big smoke to the more civilized environs of Ballito in KZN and on first glance a twin of Kingsley Holgate complete with long white hair and beard, a midriff to match and a history of traipsing through Africa with Kingsley.
The chance meeting between these two with a history of trips into the overland areas of Africa, was at a book launch in Ballito (probably a Kingsley book) at which a common interest was expressed of putting together an expedition to the furthest reaches of Namibia i.e the Kaokoland where time appears to have stood still for the last hundred years. Peter immediately advertised his intention in the Land Rover magazine and called for interested parties.
Richard von Berg, an ex-colleague from Grinaker Construction days and family friend, asked yours truly (we had been planning a trip for years but because of work commitments this had never come to fruition) whether I was interested and got a qualified yes (qualified because of my commitments at the new King Shaka International Airport) and he was the first to respond positively to the advert.
Glen Jones also a keen overlander working in the built in furnishing environment was the other to respond and whala!, the four vehicle team was in place and the final time agreed was commencing over the long Easter weekend and finishing nearly four weeks later.

2.0 Expedition members, their wheels and trip ambitions

Vehicle No 1 Fearless Leader
Fearless leader drove a special edition Defender 110 Tdi with the five cylinder BMW sourced engine. The vehicle was impressively kitted out with rooftop pop-up tent, solar power to keep his batteries loaded for a superbly cold fridge (one could always count on ice cold water for the whisky) and other specials like a log net on the front of the bull bar and two data loggers for T4A (Tracks for Africa)
Fearless was single and as his lady friend was otherwise committed was traveling alone. I spent a lot of time traveling with the illustrious leader and we had many common interests e.g birds, construction etc. It was his meticulous planning that made for a relatively stress-free expedition.
His ambition was to register new tracks, camping sites as well as convergence lines. On board was red paint and brushes to upgrade the “rooi drom” of which more later. On his first overlanding trip was Shumba (a fluffy lion from the Hospice ladies) and making friends with Rastacarian (more about Rasta Later). Shumbas seat was on the dash tucked in behind the Ingrams camphor cream tub.

Vehicle No 2 Cruiser

John, Marilyn (25 year relationship and 6 year married) with UCT student son Ian 19 years (who was seeking direction between academic qualifications and the adventure career) were a copy of the Kingsley Holgate family that also had the father, wife and son combination, with the wife being very active in the planning and recording. The difference was that Kinglsey was a Land Rover man whereas the Wells family piloted a still pretty new Landcruiser 70. The large vehicle was expected to carry kit and provisions for the three as well as Marilyn’s brother Bill van Dongen, a GP from Ballito and his daughter Lisa, a 27 year old social/environmental consultant with a large international Cape Town based company. Due to time constraints Bill and Lisa flew in to Ondagwa in Ovamboland to join the team there. Similarly towards the end they flew back from Windhoek thus missing out on both long haul trips through SA and Botswana.

John and Bill had previously been part of a Kingsley support group in hauling a boat through northern Mozambique and their vehicle was bedecked with all sorts of trans-Africa and mosquito net stickers. John was often mistaken for Kingsley. John’s chief interest was to locate as many Geo-caches (containers sponsored by overlanders containing travel bugs and a log books) on route and if possible establishing new ones. The Geo-caches have to be located with GPS equipment and are invariably located in locations with spectacular environments. John also was the tax collector, the custodian of our funds for the payment of any accommodation or other fees that the group would have to pay. The Well’s were accompanied by Rasta who later issued his version on the behavior of the party. Shumba and Rasta were to become friends on the trip.
Marilyn was the expert in both photographic and computer related graphic productions and on completion of the trip issued a 4,500 pic electronic album of the trip. Marilyn also played the matchmaker in terms of who traveled with whom on a rotational basis and she had the (I would think pleasant) job of providing hugs to all that were in need.
Ian was the sergeant at arms i.e he chaired that fines meeting that were held in the evenings around the camp fire.
All members in this team were highly professional.

Vehicle No 3 Gemma

Glen and Gail Jones from the Highway area were after Richard the next to respond to Peters advert. With their V8 Discovery (previously christened Gemma) very well kitted out, this was the luxury “passion wagon” of a newly married couple. With membership of all the important 4x4 and overlander clubs, roof top tent and cleverly done internal kit out, Glen needed his experience to stay with the more robust vehicles with their higher ground clearance and bigger tires.

Glen like Richard had been in the war in Angola and thus had very similar interests in the border area with Angola. Also like Richard Glen was very handy with mechanicals and both were found under and in their vehicles to attend to mechanical repairs.
The couple was content to stay together and did not participate in the rotational system devised by the Well’s. Also Gail suffered from home sickness for her daughter.