Tankwa tented camp..well what can we say… Its not your usual campground.
From the Algeria Campsite in Cederberg park we headed south, the campsite manager told us the track we wanted to take over the mountains needed a permit from the Cederberg winery office, we headed along the road for 30kms and asked at the office for a permit, the polite lady got the map out and pointed at the road and said NO way, No pass, and it’s all overgrown anyway, damm I thought that messes up our route to the Karoo NP.
So we headed off to take a look anyway … as always ;-), well it turns out the person who had the crayons on the day they made the map can not map read, which is bad for a wilderness park but good for us, the road I had asked for is a big nice track over the mountains, really nice track with a steep descent into a valley to finish off, I am glad I ignored her in the office.
We then headed down a valley that cut across to the Karoo, there was a water crossing that said impassable in the months April-. November.
I Ignored it and carried on for the next 25kms, many 4×4’s came the other way, so it must be OK.
Turns out it is OK to get across the river if your bd but not if you have Milly with you, I walked the river and it was only 3 foot deep, but with the odd big rock hidden, but I got overridden by upper management and around we went.
I didn’t even take a picture of how pathetic the stream was, or as Milly described it, ‘a bloody big raging torrent ‘
We took the long way around at 100mph, so we could get to Tankwa tented camp in the daylight, all the way I complained that we could have been here an hour earlier…. Upside it was a great track, would of been fantastic on a bike.
however the long detour was worth it when we arrived.
Tankwa tented camp sounds boring but it is the home to Afrikaburn festival.
The Campsite has all the machines discarded from the festival and is a riot of a place. as usual Milly has no idea of where we are going because I never tell her, so she gets the surprises.
she was well surprised with this one.
outside was a line up of dirt bikes, inside were lots of yanks on an off-road tour around the cape.
DId we have a laugh with them and the bar staff ….well I passed out so bad Milly thought I was dead, it’s amazing what 2 strong beers will do to a grown man.
things to do in a bar in the desert with dirtbikes and beer
