Amazing Augrabies Falls

It is that time of the year. To be joyfull and enjoy the magic Christmas time brings. We had the most incredible time with the family and cannot be more thankful. But as we woke up on the morning of the 27th of December, a mere photograph on social media inspired us to change all our plans. Within a few hours we booked a short, but distant, getaway. We were fortunate enough to spend one night at Augrabies National Park, in August on our Woeskus trip earlier this year, but we both vowed to come back soon as we spent far too little time there. 

One photograph on social media with the Orange river in flood, and our new love of the Northern Cape has us heading back there. Tomorrow! It will be long hours in the Hilux, but time well spent on another adventure. 

Day 1

There is no better feeling than waking up before the crack of dawn knowing an adventure lays ahead. It is 4:14 and time to hit the shower, pack the last bit of luggage and then take on the long road to the incredible Northern Cape. 

It is a wet and misty morning in Gauteng. But luckily the roads are quiet. Many still sleeping of their Christmas blues while we take on the N14 for a total of 924 kilometers. 

The abundant recent rains is visible for almost all the way to Vryburg.

This is not a lake or a dam, it is agricultural land with small crops. 

The landscape changed quite a bit when we reached Kuruman and it become even more beautiful on the way to Kathu. Lovely Acacia trees all the way to Kathu. 

After Kathu the landscape becomes more drastic as we drive further into the Northern Cape. The road is a bit off a killer as it is 220 uneventful kilometers. Lindie falling asleep twice! Biggest excitement for many kilometers comes in the form of a bend in the road. 

We safely made it to Upington and with only 122 kilometers, we decided to stop at Orange River Cellars for a wine tasting and an ice cold beer. Lovely place and worth a stop if you are ever in this neck of the woods. 

What a surprise this place turned out to be. Amazing calamari and chips and great wine. One shiraz petit verdot will go very nicely with our karoo lamb sosaties tonight. 

But time to push on. The last 122 kilometers felt like it took forever. We were both now very excited to get there and get off the road for the day. We finally arrived at 16:15 which makes it 11 hours with the surprise stop of an hour. Big push for the day. 

I regretfully have to admit that I missed the fuel stop in Kakemas, so we are slightly low on diesel…

After checking in we got to our chalet and what an even bigger surprise for the day. Stunning, clean place with everything we need. And with the temperatures in the early thirties we are both extremely grateful for the aircon unit we have. Very happy that we are not camping! 

Note: Augrabies in December is HOT…

We are just waiting for the temperature to go down a bit before we go down to the falls. The sun only sets at 19:38, so no rush. 

We went down to the nearest viewing decks and wow! Dramatic change from from just four months ago. The sound is deafening. I tried calling my sister to wish her happy birthday over a video call but could hardly hear her. We are very excited to tackle the dassie trail early tomorrow morning to experience all the viewing decks. 

There is only one way to end a day in Africa…

For dinner tonight: karoo lamb sosaties in a curry marinade with baked potato, coleslaw and beetroot salad and rounded of with the Lyra Vega for Orange River Cellars. Good times. 

Note: the mosquitoes here aren’t mosquitoes, they are vampires! They will bite you in the eye if they get the slightest opportunity, because that’s the only place you can’t put tabard. 

A good but long day in Africa as we turn to bed after a refreshing shower. Tomorrow is another early start.

Day2

The plan is to get up at 5:30 to go for a hike and then do the main viewing decks. But before the alarm even went off, Lindie already had her morning coffee down by the falls to watch the sunrise. 

I on the other hand had a terrible night’s sleep so getting out of bed wasn’t easy. Nevertheless, by 6:30 we are on our way.

Our aim is to tackle the dassie trail which is said to be 5 kilometers. But it turns out to be 8 kilometers so I am feeling a little unprepared for this challenge. We only have 3 liters of water between the two of us and we can already feel the heat. So we changed our minds to rather just do the Gorge trail and then head to the main viewing decks. At 3 kilometers it proved to be the right choice.

The view of Twin Falls is stunning.



Arrow Point is this long point of rock between two gorges. Very dangerous so we gleefully adhered to the no entry sign.

Arrow Point also marks the end of the Gorge trail so we had to track back along the same trail and headed for the main viewing decks. We saw a piece of it yesterday from the most western side and only two decks. Having seen all of it before and now listening to the roar of the water, we knew this was going to special. 

We started of again downstream and worked our way up river to the narrowest loudest section. Each deck producing more and more spectacular scenery. 

By the time we got to the main section we could hardly talk to each other. In some places its hard to take a picture without getting yourself and the cameras wet. 

Just have a look at this…

After all that excitement we went to the very well stocked shop for fresh bread and, obviously, ice cream for Lindie. Bacon and eggs for breakfast before a mid day nap for Lindie while I had to attend to a few work issues. The plan was to spend the majority of the heat of the day inside with the aircon, and the DSTV with the cricket providing the entertainment we needed. 

I have to mention though that day visitors was crazy and with very little parking and even less shade, they just park wherever they want. Like 1 meter away from your open window where you are trying to sleep. We tried to be considerate with them but it was clear that zero consideration was returned. Even after we closed the blinds and some people came standing directly by our window and I opened blinds and said “HALLO” did they care to apologize or move away. Idiots!

Dinner tonight is a treat. Beef fillet with creamed spinach “sauce” with bbq cheese grillers wrapped in bacon (stole the show) and tin foil roasted veggies. Again with the amazing shiraz petit verdot from Orange River Cellars. 

Sipping on the last bit of wine on the veranda of our chalet listening to the mighty river below. Time for bed soon. But what another incredible day in Africa!

Tomorrow we are going to do the game drive area. Can’t wait.

Day 3

Change in plans. Instead of getting up early to go for a game drive we just decided that we are going to enjoy the cool morning at the chalet. Lay in a bit while having coffee. Then slowly get packed and ready to head out. Reason being that we can spend more time in the car under the aircon while exploring and less time in the heat at the chalet. 

After a very necessary window cleaning we embarked on our morning game drive at 8:30. Still no diesel refuel. 

The info brochure that you get at check in has very detailed maps and way points in the form of numbers. But there is no index to show what each number is. Luckily we have Tracks 4 Africa so it helps a lot to figure out the attractions along the way. If you don’t have a good GPS to travel with, get one. And learn how to use it. Especially offroad. 

As we started the drive there were a lot of low level bridges to cross. Not serious, just good fun. 

First stop, Moon rock. 

To get the best of Moon rock you have to hike up a long rock hill and at first I didn’t think we would see much. But we pressed on and it provided the most amazing views over the falls from a distance. 

It was difficult to capture the views in a photograph. But Lindie and I both felt the memories from the Richtersveld coming back to us. The landscapes in some areas are as dramatic. And then there are areas that reminds me of the Karoo National Park. 

This is my Moon look…

Next stop, Ararat and Oranjekom

Undoubtedly the highlight of the morning. The views from the deck at Ararat just blows you away and you quickly find yourself looking like an American tourist in the Okovango Delta, just snapping away taking as many pictures as you can. None of them able to capture the true beauty that lays in front of us. 

Spot the tourist…

From here we made our way to other side of the gorge to Oranjekom. What is nice about this place is that you can overnight there. Romantic setting for two they say. The views from to of these cliffs must be idilic to have while having a late afternoon braai. 

The rest of the drive was uneventful but we really enjoyed the scenery. Even saw some giraffe. Game viewing is slim pickings, but the landscapes and bird life made us not miss game viewing. 

4x4 only? Wait, we have one of those!

Proved to be nothing more than a two spoor bumpy track leading to a vacant waterhole and view point as scenic as a day in parliament.

Second last stop was the echo corner with a nice drive through rock formations to get there. 

The last stop for us was Hollenbach dam and with no dam in sight other than a waterhole, we decided to get out some snacks to go with some of last night’s fillet and sweet chilli sauce and turned back to camp, we had lunch to prepare. 

But before lunch just after we lit the fire we decided to go cool down a little. Normally people go jump in a pool. Here, you go stand in the mist on some of the decks. It is lovely!

A new favorite for us is a braai pizza. Or some call it a foldover or callzone. I like braai pizza. And it is a treat. Stuffed with cheese, peppers, onions, fillet steak and sweet chilli sauce. 

Cooking with a view. 

Anyone hungry?



The rest of the day was again, strategically, spent inside the chalet under the aircon. World Darts Championships had me captivated once more much to the amusement of Lindie. When she was not sleeping. 

Late afternoon we decided to visit the falls once more and watch the sun set. This time we started upstream. We were standing right next to the water that looks so calm, we even dipped our hands in it. The waters are calm and you just want to put a line in the water. 

It is baffling to think that in mere seconds from here these waters will turn into something so violent. 

Everyday we would watch the water levels rise and it’s crazy the radical change over just two days. The next 30 minutes would be mesmerizing for us and a memory we will always cherish…

Some areas are already closed off for safety. 



















Soaked…





Back at the chalet it is time for dinner. Lamb chops and Moroccan pork rib eye with braai broodjies and some red wine will do the trick.

Another stunning day in Africa as 2021 is nearing its end. 

Day 4

We woke before sunrise again to take on the highly anticipated Dassie hiking trail. And were we in for some surprises. From the outset it was clear that there were a lot more water around. A big stream flowed where two days ago there was nothing. And now we had to cross it. It meant having to take a big lunge to a rock that is at an angle. No worries Love, I’ll go first. I made it to the rock and held on with my hands, but my trailing leg took a good dip in the water and now I have a wet shoe. Better to take them off and then just safely walk through. 

Orange River 1

Reinhardt 0

But all good and we press on and it wasn’t long before we had to cross another stream (which would be the theme of the day) and this one looked very scetchy. This time shoes off and I also thought it best to take out everything in my pant pockets, including my iPhone which I put in my shirt pocket. Shoes in one hand, vape in the other, here I go. I took it very slowly through the knee deep water and just as I reached the under water rock to step on to get out onto dry rocks, disaster struck…

I slipped on the under water rock and crashed down with an almighty thud hitting the rock and then the deeper water getting soaked up to my neck. This is what the Joggie Jansen tackle on Wayne Cottrell in 1970 must have felt like. Everything is soaking wet! In the panic and after getting out I quickly took my phone out and placed it somewhere dry. My shoes looked like calabashes with water flowing out of them. My vape was dripping of water and it doesn’t look like it will survive this ordeal. Amazingly though, the phone is perfectly fine. Hats off to the team at Apple for building a quality product. 

We made our way out of the stream to higher ground where I stripped to nothing more than my birthday suit trying to drain as much water as I can. Then had to get dressed in all wet clothing as there was still a trail to complete. The shoes were the worst making that sloshing sound as you walk and we had to stop five or six times to take them and the socks off to drain out the water. But eventually it felt normal and we pressed on. 

Orange River 100

Reinhardt 0













The rest of the trail was stunning with amazing views and more and more water crossings. Soon this trail will be inaccessible so we are very thankful to have done it and witnessed this incredible beauty. 

Arriving back at camp I had to get everything dry. It is no fun hiking with wet everything but we made it through. We contemplated going for a swim but the spray from the waterfall was so high and with the wind we could feel it at our chalet. And we are quite high up. So we just relaxed and after filling up with diesel we enjoyed an afternoon nap before heading down to the falls for one last sunset. One last sunset over the falls for us and one last sunset for 2021. Water levels still rising and we simply bathed in the glory of what is Augrabies Falls National Park. 

We popped the champagne at 21:00 and it is now 22:45. We won’t see midnight as tomorrow brings something new and special. Happy new year to all our loved ones. 2021 has been challenging but we are thankful to those who have stood by us and we wish you all only the best for the new year.

Day 5

Another 5:00 early start for us as we want to go down to the falls one final time and enjoy a coffee while watching the sunrise. We made it just in time but I seriously underestimated the weather. Should have brought a jacket! 

Augrabies Falls has been very kind to us showcasing its splender and power. It’s been four memorable days that we will always cherish. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end. Luckily for us, there is one more stop somewhere we have never been before. By 7:00 we were on our way. 

Next stop, Witsand Nature Reserve. 

As we reached Kakamas we decided to take the scenic T1 Quiver Tree Route which runs on the southern side of the river. Bit of a change from the tar road and we always enjoy a good gravel road. Beautiful scenery in places of the river as well as many quiver trees. 

Once back on the tar heading towards Keimoes the river is so wide that you cross it three times. Several islands making for great viewing. 

From Upington we headed south towards Groblershoop. Being a Grobler, I obviously had to take a photo of the town sign. It was difficult spotting it though. Very old and faded. Hope you can see it?

From Groblershoop we turned East towards the infamous Griekwastad. Known for the family murders committed by a teenage boy. But we turned away onto more gravel roads, just 35 more kilometers to go. 

We arrived just after 11:00 but can only check in at 14:00. No worries. The plan was always to be at Witsand early and spend as much time there as we can and experience everything the reserve has to offer. After studying the map for a few seconds we decided to start at the eastern side view point and work our way from there. 

From the viewpoint you get a great view of the dunes as well as the different colors of the sand. Not many places where you can clearly differentiate between the white and the red sand. We also climbed a small dune to view relics of an old hide out boer rebels built on their way to German occupied Namibia. Not a lot remains of it and some imagination is needed to see the whole picture. No imagination needed about the heat though. The mercury sitting comfortably in the early thirties and with very little shade around, you feel the rays. 

Next we proceeded to the campsite to see what it looks like before going to the conference area. The campsite isn’t exactly spectacular with little shade and what shade there is is in the form of an accasia tree with sharp thorns. We then drove past all the chalets and stopped at ours to see if they were done cleaning it. This time round we were more impressed. Lovely big chalets with most of them with plenty of shade. 

As we drove past the swimming pool we briefly considered having a dip but rather decided to go see the main attraction. The thing that made this place famous. 

Brul Sand!

With the sun sitting high in the sky at just after 13:00 we didn’t stay long. Only tested the sand and wisely decided not give out feet first degree burn wounds and rather headed back to reception to use the facilities. We took a chance on the key and luckily it was available. So we proceeded to our chalet and on arrival we were very happy. Have a look at this. 

Spacious and comfortable with beds for 6 people. Only shame is the two big Camelthorn trees that provided shade over the fireplace died. Shade is non existent. The aircons inside though worked like a charm and we prepared a delicious lunch and enjoyed another afternoon nap. 

Waking up at 17:00 and with the sun only setting at 19:30 we decided to do the botanical meander. Three kilometers over lovely red sand through the kalahari veld. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. 

And now for the highlight of the day. It’s been a magical day already! A feature of Witsand is the dunes where you can sand board your or boogie board. We were more interested in the brul sand. It is said that the space between the sand particles holds air, and as you move the sand the air releases making this almost vibrating sound. Not quite a roar but I am not going to argue. 

But first, we have to scale this dune…

If you have climbed dunes before in your life then you will know when I say it is tough going. Feels like you are going nowhere. We had to stop several times to catch our breath (more like 5 or 6 times) but we finally made it to the top. And what a view greeted us. 

We meandered over the sand enjoying the views as well as the sun setting. One or two selfies before we go down and try and capture the brul sand on video. 

Just look how steep this is going down!

Despite our very best efforts and more climbing up the dune and more heavy breathing we didn’t really get the sound on video. We could hear it vaguely but couldn’t get it on video. At least now I have all my exercises for 2022 done and dusted. With sand. 

Time to head back to our chalet and prepare dinner after an unforgettable day at Witsand. The place is much smaller than what I thought and we basically did everything apart from one view point and the 4x4 trail. For dinner tonight, sirloin steak and chicken sosaties with baked potato and mixed veggies, but as we were busy with food preparations I sat outside starring at the fire and heard some barn owls. First one and then another. An unmistakable sound that will haunt your dreams. Don’t know why but I decided to play the bird call for barn owls on the Sasol bird app on my phone. Within seconds three barn owls came sweeping past me at very close quarters before settling in a nearby tree. I did not expect that! Had to go get the flash light quickly and do that again. With Lindie now also outside and we tried again. Again all three coming for whatever they heard on the phone. Amazing experience. 

With time ticking by we finished the braai and had a lovely dinner before a shower and a good night’s rest. 

Day 6

The last day of this short but epic trip is upon us. We enjoyed many adventurous outings but also enjoyed afternoon naps to get some rest before the reality of 2022 hits us. We were up again at 5:00 as we made special arrangements for the gate to be opened specially for us at 5:30. We got everything packed and on arrival at the gate there were already a group waiting to exit. The staff member to open arrived soon after but now there was a problem with the lock. It took so long and many a tool being pulled from cars to get the lock open that we decided to rather go watch the sunrise at the view point we didn’t get to. Good choice indeed!

Luckily by the time we got back to the gate it was open and we tackled the 720 kilometers back home only stopping twice, finally arriving at home just after 14:00. The roads were not as busy as we thought it would be and we were grateful for another safe journey. 

This trip came from nothing, put together in an hour, and will go down as one of the most memorable for the two of us. As I write this now I have heard that certain areas like the day visitors area have been closed due to high water levels. I can only imagine the Dassie trail will also soon be inaccessible. We were there just at the right time. 

Augrabies Falls National Park is simply sensational. An absolute must on your bucket list, I really do hope that people get to experience it at least once in their life. 

Until next time, and as always, may the roads lead you to where the wild things are. And life is just beautiful...