Solo motorcycle ride through Namibia Deserts in Africa Episode 3

In this episode, I woke up to an incredible sunrise, a ride into the desert where I find some very sandy tracks, but also the best track so far, leading to an incredible place to stay. I woke up to an amazing sunrise lighting up the landscape in the direction of the Fish River Canyon. In the other direction, it wasn't bad either. It's quite a stunning and unique place, the Canyon Lodge, nestled in amongst the rocks. The lodge was originally a farmhouse built in 1908 by three Bavarian brothers. There were photos from the early days on display in the lodge. It must have been a hard and remote existence back then. Morning. Up early this morning, went for a bit of a stroll out the front, not too far, and watched the sunrise, which was spectacular, as you'd expect in the desert. It's really peaceful. It's quite cool too. It's not, well, I can still wear a t-shirt, but yeah, close to thinking about putting another layer on. Today, well, heading west we would be, and towards a river. This river actually starts quite close to the east coast of Africa, and makes its way all the way this way. So we'll check that out, and I'm sure there'll be a few other things along the way. As I made my way to the bike, I came across this little guy. I've never seen a lizard this colorful before. I rode out along the track I'd come in on. When I think about it, I guess this doesn't look much different to when the Bavarian brothers first got here. Maybe the track was in a different location, but the rest of it, probably exactly the same. We really are here on this land, only for a fleeting moment. I got onto the main road, and headed west. The road surface went from good to very good. You could see it had been graded very recently. It may as well have been a sealed road. It was that good. Ahead I could see the grader which had smoothed out the road. So I slowed down to see which was the best way to pass it. I was fine. I was focused on the grader as I approached it, but to my right there was a change of color in the gravel, which I thought was where the grader had pushed the dirt to. When in fact, it was about half a meter from where the gravel changed color. But due to the sun being behind me and not casting a shadow, I couldn't see the mound of dirt. So I picked up the bike and my backpack, which I'd taken off to get myself from out under the bike. I had a look over the bike. These Himalayas are pretty robust, which is one of the reasons I like them. You can have a mishap and the bike doesn't fall apart. Just brush it off and continue on. I got past the grader with no issues this time. This was the next turn off to keep heading west, but from the map it looked like there was a place with food, fuel and water only a few kilometers ahead. So I headed there for a quick stop. This place is like an oasis in the desert, tucked away in this valley. Apparently there are hot springs here as well. Just stopped here to get a drink and thought I may as well lube the chain as Chris wanted me to lube it every few days or three days I think. So I'll do that now while I've got a concrete ground to put the bike up on. What's your name? Roberto. So Roberto here is helping me navigate the next section, telling me where all the good spots are. And he used to... So next to the Orange River. So he says that's where we're going to stop because it's very pretty. It's a nice place. You can even kayak if you want. Are you a river guide? I'm a river guide. So he's a river guide over here. What do you do at this place? Ah. So he's staying here. Normally he takes river guides. So if you want to go on the Orange River, thank you Roberto. Apparently he's the best. I made my way back out of the valley. I took the turn to the west. It was really starting to look like your typical desert now. There was just emptiness in front of me. It's a little weird to see a sign in the middle of nowhere but I am grateful. Even in a place as dry as this it seems you get rain, and recently too. When I first looked at exploring Namibia it was footage of this exact location that I came across. I'd come to an area with vineyards, I gather due to the dry climate, but it also means there must be a water source nearby. And there is my first look at the Orange River. Not orange in colour, rather a brilliant aqua blue. I reached a checkpoint but no one was there so I followed the sign's instructions and continued on. The next section of dirt road continued alongside the Orange River following its banks. The road then left the river and went through more rocky hills. The edge here was super soft. For the last 20-30 kilometers I've been looking for someone to pull over. I was hoping to find a tree or some sort of shade but the trees are about three to four foot high so I'd have to lay under them. It's 45 degrees, that really dry oven heat. So I'm gonna get some water into me and I think I've probably got about 60 kilometers to go. I might go to the service station, gas station, further up and then go and find a camp spot. I should probably stop more frequently rather than sculling a litre of water in one go. I had made it to the crossing of the Fish River again. No canyons across this time and definitely dry at this end. I saw a side track down to the Orange River so I took a look. I saw a little side track so I took it because it's first chance I've got to get near the actual river. There's no access anywhere. I guess not too many people probably hang out here. I might go see how hot or cold the water is. It's still warm here. The water is pretty warm. Not hot but it wouldn't be real refreshing. There's a structure here. Someone's made it or this is what the river's done. It's got ashes from a campfire so I gather people are using it as a shelter. I don't know if they formed it or the river did from all this being a lot higher. Back on the road to another abandoned checkpoint. I was heading right but I just wanted to check out a sign to the left. My suspicions were right. South Africa was only four kilometers in that direction. I would have to leave that for another journey as for now I still had a lot more of Namibia to explore. I was back onto the sealed road again and as usual there was no traffic. I pulled into a small town to fill up with fuel and get some supplies. Then I backtracked a few kilometers to a campsite down a very sandy road. Can I get campsite? Made it to the campsite. The guy who works here is just getting the owner to come and I guess check me in. They've got good facilities at least. There's a little fire pit, shower, toilet and having a wall like this stops all the wind and is a bit of shade which is nice. It has cooled down. I think it's about four o'clock. It's still hot but it's yeah that blistering heat's now gone. This is fully fenced. I wonder if there's animals nearby. All checked in and it's I think it's like 18 Australian dollars equivalent and you get a fire pit and they put on the fire so not too bad at all. The older gentleman who runs the place he was like if you want to go for a hike you can go to the top of the hill there and he goes there's a flag up there and I'm like really and eventually I saw the flag I'm like yeah I'm not that fit and he goes oh there's another one just here that's more my height but I'm gonna work out where I'm gonna put a tent and yeah just chill out for the rest of the afternoon. Tent set up and there's a German guy who's rocked up and he said do you want to have a sundowner which is a drink at sunset on top of the smaller mountain well hill so I might go up there and get a photo or two. It was a little windy on the hill but a great view of the desert and the mountains below. We watched until the sun went over the mountains on the other side of the plain. Then we made our way back down to the campsites under the moonlight. They've just put a fire on so I can have a hot water shower. Cool. We made it now from the hill without falling over. Sun's just about set. Try and find something to eat and then it'll be to bed. The light's pretty cool still now. Oh if I can find it. Morning. Quite a cool morning actually in the desert which is always nice to wake up to after yesterday's oven light conditions running along and it was good this morning also that I could use a toilet block and put my gear in there so in the tent there was actually space. I wasn't sort of moving around on my gear all the time. Today probably only a few hundred kilometers. I wanted to go up there I think the west side of the Fisher River Canyon and check that out. Apparently there's some cool tracks going into it and yeah stay there. That's all I really got planned. We'll see what happens. I'm not sure what's gonna be out there but besides knowing there's a track that goes in that looks really cool and obviously the canyon and if I stay there on that west side I should be able to be near the edge as the sun sets. I might be able to get a photo or two. That's basically the plan today. I rode out and waved goodbye to the guy who was working at the campsite. I made it back out onto the sealed road then through the small town. Today I would be heading back to the east along the northern side of the Fish River. Wanting to make my way back east I thought this was a track I could take but apparently it's someone's private property so I won't go on there. I'll keep going further and take the next turn. Risen quite high onto a plateau and it's quite windy up here. Beautiful but headwinds. The wind was blowing so hard from my right I had to lean the bike into it. I made the next turn so now I could continue to the east. The winds were still blowing hard this time from my left. I was heading into a new landscape where you could see the layers of earth over time. Murphy's law, of course I come across trees I can shelter under when I don't need them. Sometimes the gravel sends the bike in another direction so I just go with it as I slow the bike down. Just stopped to get some water into me before I drop into this next little gully. Seems the soil changes colour too to a very yellowy white and then you can see the road I'm going out and then there's all these tabletop mountains. I thought I might get some photos. I mean the light is really bad for photos but it still looks cool and we'll keep going. I got to another gate then within 100 meters there was another one. Riding through a rut is like trying to get across a balance beam. If you go offline it goes all kinds of wrong. I made the turn off to where I was going to stay for the night. I dropped down into the next plain trying to stick to the narrow concrete strip. Luckily my balance isn't too bad. The first part of the track was really corrugated. Riding a motorbike through a new country you don't really know what it's going to be like. A lot of the time due to being unfamiliar with the area you end up on the well-worn path of mundane roads but sometimes you stumble onto tracks that are incredibly fun to ride. This is one of those tracks. Even if you weren't staying here I think it would be worth coming in just to ride the track. I walked in and one of the staff showed me to my room. I could try and explain the room and the location but as they say a picture speaks a thousand words. The trail in here was a lot of fun and the view here well spectacular. Two days ago I was on the other side of the canyon right about here. The room itself was pretty large and it had both an indoor and outdoor shower. It's definitely bigger than the tent and you just can't get over that view. Well I spent the rest of the afternoon just chilling out on the deck here. The staff actually said oh you can hike up to this point or that point. I was like it's a view much better and they're like no. I was like this is good this is pretty spectacular on its own. Maybe in the morning I'll go do that but right now it's really quiet at the moment. I sat and watched the late afternoon sun rays slowly move across the canyon. Did I mention they also have a swimming pool here where you can take in the view. You're such a fragile thing I know and with the winter comes the iceless snow but I'm it all. In the next episode there are more fun tracks to ride. I ride past some unique mountains. I stop at an old fuel station, maybe a bit too old. I come across the famous Namib desert horses and end up in a ghost town consumed by the desert.