February/March 2009

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Part 6 of 6

Monday 9 March

Gross Barmen - Mariental - Askham - Red Sands and Home

There is a beautiful tar road to Gross Barmen - a hot spring.

The bed linen was the whitest I have ever seen.

The bungalow where we stayed.

The cost of the stay included breakfast which was nice. I took of the waters and the pool was clean. However, unfortunately, the place is very run down and that is a real shame.

Tuesday 10 March

We took the back roads down and there were signs of rain.

A "fort" alongside the road.

The red dunes in the distance above the green grass.

A pretty church.

More clouds.

Three Wildebeest on a wet pan.

More scenery.

Springbok no doubt happy after the rain.

A Gemsbok looking at us through the fence.

More Gemsbok.

At Mariental we were woken by the helicopter spraying the crops.

Johanna at the Koha Guest House in Mariental who made us a lovely dinner and breakfast. This is a very convenient stop off point and we have stayed there a few times.

Wednesday 11 March

The Fish River is flood and you can only reach the guest house over the high bridge. There was a sign that the road was closed and that could be why the other expected guests did not arrive.

Duiweltjies. These lovely flowers have sharp seeds.

This is a Social Weaver Bird nest. I thought the shape was interesting.

There were a lot of small tortoises on the roads.

Yellow flower.

Still wet back in South Africa. AT the border it rained and the police on the South African side looked into our vehicle in the rain. We probably looked suspicious or maybe we were the only people they had seen for days.

This pan would usually be bone dry.

The view from our room at the guest house in Askham

Our room in Askham.

TJ, Hannetjie and Pietie who we are always glad to see. To have a meal with them is a privilege. We are very fond of them.

Thursday 12 March

We thought we would stop off at Witsand but never got there as it was so wet we decided rather to go to Red Sands near Kuruman.

Even this grader was badly stuck. It will take a big 4x4 to get this one out.

The bungalow at Red Sands where we stayed.

Friday 13 March

We continued to take the back roads home.