34 |Caravan& OutdoorLifeMagazine July^2019
laKeGRaPPa
The official starting point for
our safari was Norotshama
River Resort on the banks of
the mighty Orange River in
Namibia. But I was coming
from Johannesburg, and
driving over 1 200 km in
one go to get to my first
destination was madness, so
I decided to head out a few
days before the pack and
stop over at Lake Grappa just
outside Kakamas.
Arriving at Lake Grappa, I
found some other members
of our team, Colin and
Martha Gordon, had already
set up camp. They’d driven
from East London down to
Cape Town where they hired
an Echo 3 for the trip.
I’d actually met Colin and
Martha on a previous trip
with Jannie’s Protea Safari
Tours, when we travelled
to Sani Pass.
After I was also set up,
Colin and I headed down to
the Lake Grappa restaurant
where they whip up giant
hamburgers that would put
the Yanks to shame.
On Wednesday and
Friday the restaurant has
‘make your own pizza’nights.Weputthistothe
test,aswellasthenextnight
and,likethehamburgers,
theyweredelicious.
Justincaseyouthink
theonlythingwedidwas
eat,wedidalsoheadthe
20 kmuptheroadfora
visittotheiconicAugrabies
Falls.Thenamestemsfrom
theKhoiwordAukoerebis,
whichmeans“theplaceof
greatnoise”.nOROtShama
It was still a reasonable trek
to the Norotshama River
Resort, but I love the drivefrom Kakamas stretching in
a seemingly dark black line to
the horizon.
We stopped at the
Poffadder Hotel for breakfast,
and then headed for lunch at
Springbok Café.
Getting into Springbok
proved to be a complete
nightmare. It was a
madhouse, there were
people thronging the streets
and rows of cars at every
stop street. It looked like
the whole of Namaqualand
was out on a spree. It was
the Thursday before the
Easter weekend.