Travel Info

Refueling:
When you stop at places with petrol refuel as soon as possible. Do not wait until everybody has gathered or until the next morning to refuel. You could end up in a long queue.

Distances Between Petrol Stations:

Van Zylsrus to Askham & Andriesvale via Middelputs – 200km

Andriesvale to Aroab – 171 km plus dune and pan riding.

Aroab to Koes (pronounced “COYs”) – 140km

Koes (pronounced “Coys”) to Gochas – 163km

Gochas to Stampriet – 73km

Stampriet to Mariental – 68km

Mariental to Windhoek – lots of petrol stations. This is the main Windhoek to Cape highway.

Windhoek to Swakopmund – 340km of brilliant country but no petrol.

Types of Bikes, Tyres, Equipment, Dress:

Information given is from past experience but please forgive us for repeatedly reminding you that unlicenced vehicles (without number plates and not licenced for the road) are not allowed on any public roads, dirt or tar, no matter how small.

Although we have said in the past that we have not had any problems on public dirt roads, times are changing.

The bigger licenced bikes are fun the whole way from Kuruman to Swakop, but smaller bikes are fun on the tighter bits and on the dunes in Swakop but only enthusiasts would ride them the whole way.

Big adventure bikes to use adventure tyres if you are riding the whole way from RSA to Swakopmund and back.

 Use enduro tyres if riding the whole way on a big bike – Jhb to Kuruman is 550km of tar and 372km from Stampriet to Windhoek. Ideally you should trailer or truck over the tar, but some ride the whole way. MX tyres are best for soft stuff, especially the Guesemap section on Sunday and the dunes in Swakop but enduro tyres will do and are good for the other days of harder dirt and tar.

Riders, especially those riding the whole way, should bring things like tubeless, tube repair kit and tools pertaining to your bike. One can remove, chains, sprockets pistons and clutch plates.

NB make sure your bikes and bakkies are serviced before you leave on this trip and that your tyres are in good condition. Those running off road tyres on their bikes ensure you have enough tread to do the return journey.

. You will be sent a list of everybody who is coming, with telephone numbers and make of bike – guys with same vehicles should contact each other and make a combined spares pool, so that everyone does not bring everything. A good idea is to see your local friendly dealer and get spares on consignment and pay him for only those used and you can return the rest. Please pack his spares carefully, so that you do not return them looking second hand and the dealer does not take them back. Drivers probably know all about spare fan belts, hoses etc. Take spare bike mirrors, number plates. These fall off regularly. Try to tie plates on more securely than standard with extra bolts and big washers. Take jets and maybe high octane petrol for two strokes.

Make sure your bikes and bakkies are serviced before you leave on this trip and that your tyres are in good condition. Those running off road tyres on their bikes ensure you have enough tread to do the return journey.

Two Stoke Jetting and Engine Seizing:

Two strokes please get advice on jetting for sea level and cool air and hard dune climbing on soft sand with sustained full throttle.

Types of Vehicles, 4x4s, SUVs and Cars:
Two-wheel drives will make it on the adventurous route if driven well without a trailer. Parts of the Guesemap road on Sunday may cause problems; stay with a 4X4 with a towrope in case. There are easier routes for the two sandy days; Van Zylsrus to Andriesvale (Saturday) and Andriesvale to Rietfontein (Sunday).

Reliable vehicles only, please. Please help to carry or tow, if possible, broken down bikes and cars to the next stop or to their backup.

Vehicle Hints and Tips:

Riding & Driving Etiquette: When bikers pass cars on the dirt, please stay over to the right side until well clear. If you immediately cut in in front of a car, you will put rocks through the windscreen. Cars please keep a lookout for bikes and move over. Cars or bikes please do not stop suddenly on a dirt road. A vehicle following in the dust will hit you. And if a bike hits a truck at speed, or a truck a bike, the biker may not survive and no-one will be happy. Pull well over before stopping please.

Quads please do not ride next to each other. You make tremendous dust and do not leave enough room for the faster cars and bikes, who have risked your dust to catch up, to overtake. Look behind before changing lanes or making U-turns. We have had some close misses with faster bikes or cars coming up from behind, especially at places like the Hotazel turnoff, to be confronted by bikes and quads making U-turns. Parents please realise that on the route is no place to teach children to ride. Teach them somewhere safer before the trip. And don’t let them make dust in the campsites.

Check Oil Regularly. Lack of oil is a common cause of engine malfunctions especially on bikes.

Take mosquito repellent, toilet rolls.

Dune Riding Tips:

Please explore the dunes cautiously at first, and prevent injury. Once you have ascertained where the top of a dune is and how to traverse it, have fun, but do not blindly tear up any dune of any size. The drop offs are treacherous, even on the smaller dunes. And each dune is different. Even the smaller dunes sometimes have dangerous drop offs on the other side and you will dive nose first into the ground. This applies to car drivers too – the damage caused by nose-diving is considerable, including usually a bent chassis and bodies. Try to get a sand tyre or a scoop tyre for the back wheel (quads and bikes) for the dunes. The fun is really worth the expense.

Quad Novices Manners:

I hate speaking to one section of the happy family of desert runners, but here goes:

Quad riders, especially younger ones, novices or drunks, please think at all times. Think about the dust you create when you valiantly dash through a campsite or heroically show your newly discovered ability to do doughnuts right next to people and their tents. A “doughnut”, for those who do not know, is riding round and round in a circle, spinning the back wheels and kicking up much dust, a daring and magnificent feat that can be learnt by any idiot in about a minute. Learning manners, such as doing it away from people, takes longer. Parents PLEASE advise children.

Please also look behind you when you take off with a wheel spin on the dunes. You could be spraying sand on food and people or in the eyes of a kid with a big, bad-tempered father.

Please, if you have been drinking too much, stay off your quad. While we hope you hurt yourself in an accident, we do worry about innocents, especially children.

Apologies for this message to the experienced quad riders, whom we are welcoming in increasingly large numbers and who have a great and safe and mannerly time.

Trailers:

Two-wheel drives do not tow trailers on the sandy sections. Take the alternative routes or ask a 4X4 to take the trailer through the sandy bits for you. Take spare wheel bearings – they break often. Please also check your trailer for cracks and tears and fatigue. Check especially the floppiness of the mudguards and weld them on better.

Broken Rear Windows:- The rear wheel of your car will throw stones which will hit the tyres of the bikes on the trailer or the trailer spare wheel and will bounce back, breaking your rear window, especially on station wagons. Rubber flaps behind the rear wheels help but the best solution is to have some material (canvas or netting or hessian) between the rear of the car and the front of the trailer. It is easy to fit, use ski rope or wire or cable ties.

General:

As you will have heard, this is a fantastic trip that you will thoroughly enjoy. It is well-organised, but mostly you are not subjected to much restrictions or routines. May I ask you to please observe a few rules in order to aid efficiency. There is no rush, leave and arrive at your leisure – you are on holiday If you leave together we will have dust problems. Please remember that neither I nor any of the willing helpers are tour guides or waiters or servants. There are lots of similar tours, all-inclusive with guides and blondes in sexy uniforms who will make sure you have ice for your whiskey, but at R10000 and more. Phone your travel agent. This jaunt is organised well, we will assist with anything whenever we can but we also treat it as a holiday. Please pick up every bit of rubbish before you leave. Happily for 99,99% of us the above does not apply and there is a marvelously good spirit amongst all.

Drinking, Behaviour and Desert Language:

Gosh, Golly, Darn and Rats

The following message does not apply to you, but read it anyway – This is a fun holiday for decent family people. Drinking is not a sin; it is almost compulsory in the evenings, but, please do not get drunk if you are driving. If you are of the rare type who becomes belligerent and horrible and foul-mouthed instead of merry and jolly, it is better to not come than for you to be subjected to the indignity of being asked to leave the venture and me to have to suffer the embarrassment of having to ask you to do so.

Persistently drunk and dangerous car or quad drivers will have their vehicles set alight. Genuine. Try suing me with today’s chaos in the law courts or, with luck, if it happens in the foreign country of Namibia. – End of message.

Please remember that this fun holiday for decent family people has its own language. The official desert expletives are “gosh” and “golly”. Sometimes “rats” is acceptable, or even “darn” in more extreme cases and “damn” when you really lose your cool. “Gosh” and “Golly” are very handy for things like punctures. Use both if you have two punctures at once or one puncture and no spare. For something worse like an engine blowup “Rats” and “Darn” are acceptable. Extremes like “Damn” should be reserved only for real calamities like running out of beer. At overnight stops please park your vehicle and leave it till morning and do not make dust (vehicles racing through the campsite and quads doing doughnuts are becoming a common nuisance) and do not wake up people at night with revving of any vehicle. See note on setting vehicle alight.

Return Trip:

On the Friday from Swakop various people will return by various routes, as usual. Several people will take extra days holiday to sightsee a country that has a lot of sights to see while others may wish to be home in time for Monday’s work to bore everyone about tales of one of the best holidays they have ever had.

Koes Pan, Dunes, And 4×4 and Enduro Track:

Some future good news is that at the Koes stopover on the Monday, after the Rietfontain border crossing into Namibia, there will be fun to be had next to the Hotel. There is a huge pan less then a kilometre away, surrounded by dunes, with 4×4 and enduro trails leading all over the place. Most Desert Runners arrive at Koes with much time to spare and this is a good opportunity to have some fun before sundown. The area is huge, and kids and grown-ups can play and make as much dust as they like away from the campers. No longer the Sunday stop over but people can partake in the own time and at the own risk.

Last Minute Advice:

Bring a Gazebo for use both along the way and at Dune 2/7 for putting up on the Wednesday big day there. sign it at Kuruman.

Message Board:

We will have a message board at the overnight stops where organisers can give messages to participants or participants can give messages to each other.

Refreshments:

Coffee, scones, milkshakes, and ice-cold beer available at the Vanzylsrus Hotel

Rietfontein border opening hours are 8:00 to 4:30.

On the Sam Nujoma Road 3km out of Windhoek you will see a sign saying “Swakopmund 356km”. Ignore it. The real distance from Windhoek through the Khomas Hochland is 326km.

There is no petrol for 326km to Swakop.

Middelpits road is rocky for 5km.