Great, I enjoyed these 17 mins very much! I've driven the Rooidrom pass in Oct 2022 two times when I did a day trip from Marble Campsite to Marienfluss valley and back. When I reached the Red drum, a young Himba girl was there under a little shelter selling some little handmade crafts. A group of 5 doesn't pay any attention to her, and when they were leaving I took one of my camping mugs, filled in cold water out of my fridge and brought it to her, with two apples. I bought a little bracelet, refilled the mug one more time and still have the smile and simply the grateful look in the eyes of the young girl in my memories - what makes ME even more grateful. Looking forward for your next episode 🙏🏾
The steering rod on our Mercedes 310 4x4 broke twice in Namibia. First at the entrance to Bagatelle Game Lodge and then again in front of the reception at Etosha Hallali Camp. Each time an employee welded the pole back together for us. Later I had it strengthened by Lars Falkenberg in Kamanjab. As is so often the case in southern Africa, we were helped out of trouble in an uncomplicated manner. Fortunately, we were able to do this many times with other travelers. But as you said it's normal when you tavel in this regions.
Were you doing donuts each time Emmanuel?!! 🤣🤪😝 Yes, its hard life for a vehicle in Namibia, especially the tyres. Glad yours is still chugging along like mine...
Howdy Big D! Thanks for the “Tales of Africa” , your experience and patience are very admirable! Hard to imagine that the owner of that lodge was not more accommodating and appreciative of your efforts to aid those bringing supplies to him. Maybe he had something to hide and did not want prying 👀. Good on ya for your charitable nature! Be well and looking forward to another update!
Thanks for the continued support and kind words Stuart, very much appreciated. I was told they had a 'Hollywood couple' arriving in a few days so they were on a 'panic stations' footing to try and recover from the delays of getting the hot water systems and so forth up there. Plus she seemed paranoid that we would take unofficial photos and share them online before they launched or something like that... It is the second hottest part of Africa I've every been to, so we all go a bit funny in the heat. I almost fainted walking the 4km back to our camp. Anyway, I did get a few cents back towards the tubes another day about 9 years later, thats another story for another day though :-) Kind regards, Darrin
Most, most interesting indeed. Jan Joubert is an amazing (and sad) story - he was definitely a pioneer as far as that part of Namibia goes. I had some very interesting videos about him (old VHS tapes) which were lost somewhere when moving to Johannesburg years ago. You would not have any info as to sourcing these videos on current media, perhaps ? Go well.
Can you relate to any of these stories ? Have you had similar adventures, good or bad? CORRECTIONS: "Jan was murdered in SE Namibia, a long way from from Red Drum. Apparently he set up camp about 2km north of Steenboklaagte, NE of Gobabis, where he was killed. If I remember correctly, he was following the trail of the Dorsland Trekkers..." and "Joubert's Pass, which you mention, was named after Jan" www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/conservationist-found-with-spear-in-his-heart-283003 The article "mentions that he was killed with a spear through his heart. If memory serves me right, it was alleged at the time that he was shot with his own weapon, but this makes no difference to his untimely death." Some more drum history here: tracks4africa.co.za/listings/item/w143531/rooidrom/
Red Drum story: To mw more exact - Jouberts pass. We (2 stretch 8 seater defenders, both with trailers) were on a tour with a bunch of overseas tourists and my friend in the leading landy snapped a rear half shaft almost at the sumit of Jouberts. The only plan was for me to offload the tourists, REVERSE (with my trailer) back down the pass to a suitable spot and unhook it. Then REVERSE up the pass again to hook his already (somehow turned around) trailer and tow it also back down the pass. Then I went back UP the pass to pass him and help/tow him to complete it in front wheel drive. Then I went back down to fetch his trailer and brought it up and thereafter to go back down to fetch my own trailer and we continued to marble camp for the night. Many assist tows later we made it to Puros where someone from swakopmund brought us a half-shaft which we then swopped out. What a fiasco, and since then I NEVER travel without a spare shaft (at least the long one).
Yikes, that wouldn't be much fun even if you were alone or with a bunch of mates. But the added stress of having a bunch of potentially whining tourists must have made it pretty stressful. It's a very tough area on vehicles! Thanks for watching and sharing!!! 👍👍👍
Me, not so much though. The responsibility of keeping that tour on track soley rested on reversing up and down that pass. You describe and shoiw ir acurately in your video. 🤔
Great, I enjoyed these 17 mins very much! I've driven the Rooidrom pass in Oct 2022 two times when I did a day trip from Marble Campsite to Marienfluss valley and back. When I reached the Red drum, a young Himba girl was there under a little shelter selling some little handmade crafts. A group of 5 doesn't pay any attention to her, and when they were leaving I took one of my camping mugs, filled in cold water out of my fridge and brought it to her, with two apples. I bought a little bracelet, refilled the mug one more time and still have the smile and simply the grateful look in the eyes of the young girl in my memories - what makes ME even more grateful.
Looking forward for your next episode 🙏🏾
Thanks very much for sharing mate, it's often the things that are hard or impossible to photograph that we remember the most I find. 🙏
It's true!
Fantastic! Looking forward to the next episode!
Always a good feeling when I hear my British passengers are happy 😃😁🤗🤗
The steering rod on our Mercedes 310 4x4 broke twice in Namibia. First at the entrance to Bagatelle Game Lodge and then again in front of the reception at Etosha Hallali Camp. Each time an employee welded the pole back together for us. Later I had it strengthened by Lars Falkenberg in Kamanjab. As is so often the case in southern Africa, we were helped out of trouble in an uncomplicated manner. Fortunately, we were able to do this many times with other travelers. But as you said it's normal when you tavel in this regions.
Were you doing donuts each time Emmanuel?!! 🤣🤪😝
Yes, its hard life for a vehicle in Namibia, especially the tyres. Glad yours is still chugging along like mine...
@@roamingyak We sold our Nelson 2020, no need for 4x4 with a consumption of around 20l/100km in Switzerland. Especially with todays petrol prices.
@@africanomads Oh, thats a shame, hope she wasn't to difficult to part from 🙂
Howdy Big D! Thanks for the “Tales of Africa” , your experience and patience are very admirable! Hard to imagine that the owner of that lodge was not more accommodating and appreciative of your efforts to aid those bringing supplies to him. Maybe he had something to hide and did not want prying 👀. Good on ya for your charitable nature! Be well and looking forward to another update!
Thanks for the continued support and kind words Stuart, very much appreciated.
I was told they had a 'Hollywood couple' arriving in a few days so they were on a 'panic stations' footing to try and recover from the delays of getting the hot water systems and so forth up there. Plus she seemed paranoid that we would take unofficial photos and share them online before they launched or something like that... It is the second hottest part of Africa I've every been to, so we all go a bit funny in the heat. I almost fainted walking the 4km back to our camp.
Anyway, I did get a few cents back towards the tubes another day about 9 years later, thats another story for another day though :-)
Kind regards,
Darrin
Great stories, as always. Looking forward to the next episode!
Glad you like them!
Awesome...nice format and good balance of content...a pleasant experience...almost 1000 subscribers. See you on the next one...
Thanks Dallas 🤗
Great stories as allways.
Thank you Emanuel, I'm really glad you find them interesting 😃
Another great video, Darrin!
Glad you enjoyed it! 🤗🙏
Most, most interesting indeed. Jan Joubert is an amazing (and sad) story - he was definitely a pioneer as far as that part of Namibia goes. I had some very interesting videos about him (old VHS tapes) which were lost somewhere when moving to Johannesburg years ago. You would not have any info as to sourcing these videos on current media, perhaps ? Go well.
Thanks as always Henry. Sadly I don't, but perhaps somebody else on here does?
Kind regards,
Darrin
Can you relate to any of these stories ? Have you had similar adventures, good or bad?
CORRECTIONS:
"Jan was murdered in SE Namibia, a long way from from Red Drum. Apparently he set up camp about 2km north of Steenboklaagte, NE of Gobabis, where he was killed. If I remember correctly, he was following the trail of the Dorsland Trekkers..." and "Joubert's Pass, which you mention, was named after Jan"
www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/conservationist-found-with-spear-in-his-heart-283003
The article "mentions that he was killed with a spear through his heart. If memory serves me right, it was alleged at the time that he was shot with his own weapon, but this makes no difference to his untimely death."
Some more drum history here:
tracks4africa.co.za/listings/item/w143531/rooidrom/
Red Drum story: To mw more exact - Jouberts pass. We (2 stretch 8 seater defenders, both with trailers) were on a tour with a bunch of overseas tourists and my friend in the leading landy snapped a rear half shaft almost at the sumit of Jouberts. The only plan was for me to offload the tourists, REVERSE (with my trailer) back down the pass to a suitable spot and unhook it. Then REVERSE up the pass again to hook his already (somehow turned around) trailer and tow it also back down the pass. Then I went back UP the pass to pass him and help/tow him to complete it in front wheel drive. Then I went back down to fetch his trailer and brought it up and thereafter to go back down to fetch my own trailer and we continued to marble camp for the night. Many assist tows later we made it to Puros where someone from swakopmund brought us a half-shaft which we then swopped out. What a fiasco, and since then I NEVER travel without a spare shaft (at least the long one).
Yikes, that wouldn't be much fun even if you were alone or with a bunch of mates. But the added stress of having a bunch of potentially whining tourists must have made it pretty stressful. It's a very tough area on vehicles!
Thanks for watching and sharing!!! 👍👍👍
@@roamingyak Yep, this plan only worked because we were 2 vehicles.
...one of which I masterfully handled 🤣
The tourists were cool though. I even think they liked the "adventure" side of it all.
Me, not so much though. The responsibility of keeping that tour on track soley rested on reversing up and down that pass. You describe and shoiw ir acurately in your video. 🤔
Your stories are interesting
Almost as interesting as the people I met on my travels are nice.
@@roamingyak 😊🤗 get back here already