We are 12 people with 9 girls and 3 guys – 5 Germans, 2 Swiss, 2 South Africans, 1 American, 1 South Korean and me. I am trying to switch on my German, but only Spanish comes out. We are all in our twenties.
Today we are driving 210 km to the north towards Namibia camping in the Cederberg region, which is the only area in South Africa where rooibos tea is grown. It is the first day of spring and we pass the mountain range still covered in snow.
Day 2 – 535 km
We depart Western Cape and cross into Northern Cape, into the Namaqualand region that is famous for its spring wild flower bloom. In season purple, orange and yellow flowers carpet mountain terrains as far as the eye can see. We however were there a week or two too early. The flowers just started to bloom.
We camp on the South African side of Orange River.
Orange River that starts in the mountains of Lesotho and ends in the Atlantic Ocean is the border between South Africa and Namibia. Namibia starts on the other bank of the river (vs. the middle) and this fact is still being disputed between the two countries. South Africa is not too inclined to give up the river not because of the water but because of the diamonds in there. Some 80 km down the river there is the restricted diamond area where they say you will be shot if appear without any questions asked.
The Orange River is named after the Orange royal Dutch family when diamonds were discovered in 1980s, but the river will be renamed to Galieb River (in Afrikaans Galieb means river, so it will be River River) as many other places in South Africa in an effort by the current government to get rid of names reminding of colonization or apartheid times.
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