Richtersveld: Richtersberg to Gannakouriep

Rolling out of our sleeping bags at an unearthly hour we gulped down some coffee, and headed off, about an hour and a half before sunrise. We had given ourselves about an hour to find the place in the dark (with no paths to walk on), and we planned to be there in time to catch the pre-dawn glow, and hopefully pink in the clouds just before sunrise, and then even more hopefully the strong pink / red glow of the mountain as the sun catches it for the first few minutes of the sunrise.

After 20 minutes of walking along the road in the dark, Dave asked ‘Isn't this where we are supposed to get off the road and head along the river bed?’ Checking the tracks from the previous day on my GPS I assured him we weren’t yet supposed to get off the road, it must be a bit further. 10 minutes later I had to concede I was following the wrong track, and we have to do a U-turn.  Once off the road, and with the first hints of light in the sky and a sunrise which waits for no man, I feared I may have messed this one up!  With headlamps on maximum brightness, we scrambled along the rocky river bed as quickly as we could (cursing the heavy camera pack even more).  

We arrived 20 minutes before sunrise, with the first glow of dawn already visible on the mountain. With patchy clouds in the sky, it will only be a few minutes before they get lit up, and the first 'prime opportunity' may be lost. After a rushed set-up, it was just a few moments before the clouds turned a magnificent pink, and the mountain glowed a very subtle pre-sunrise pink. Snap, snap, snap, and the colour in the clouds was gone. 

Richtersveld: Morning Pink at Richtersberg

 Now to wait the 10 or 15 minutes for sun to make an appearance and cast its first direct light on the top of the mountain. 10 minutes, 15, 20, and still no sun on the mountain top. Sadly, the bank of clouds that gave us our brilliant pre-dawn colours obviously extended a lot further than we could see, and was blocking the rising sun.  By the time it did make its appearance, the colour was gone, and the effect lost. As it happened, that pre-dawn image turned out to be in my 'top 5' of the trip, so worth the effort.

Packing up camp for the third time, we departed for a day's driving, with the eventual destination being the luxury of hot water and a bed at Gannakouriep Wilderness Camp.

Based on information we received when entering the park on Sunday that the best of the early flowers were in the south west of the park, we chose not to head to Gannakouriep directly, but rather first drive further west in the direction of Helskloof (through RT 17, RT 7, and on to RT14).  The information proved to be correct, and we started to see a lot more flowers and colour than we had seen at either Richtersberg or Kokerboomkloof.  Getting out of the car to explore the veld revealed an incredible variety of flowers. Looking closely at a small patch of yellow flowers showed 5 or 6 quite different shapes, sizes, and markings of yellow flowers. We were apparently a little bit early for the full flower season, but we still spent hours exploring a few patches of ground.

Richtersveld: Variations in Yellow

Richtersveld: Variations in Yellow

Richtersveld: Variations in Yellow

  Reaching junction RT 14 in reasonable time, we decided to head north (towards RT13) to continue enjoying the flowers. Not checking the main maps I was carrying, we didn't realize we were about to go into the Domorogh Pass, probably the roughest patch of road we were to encounter in the park.  Even with the Forresters's 'low range', to maintain enough momentum to climb the pass I was forced to tackle the rocks and holes a bit faster than I would have preferred (or overstress the clutch). But even with all the shaking around, I was impressed that there were no clunks or bangs from under the car, and we exited the pass completely unscathed.

Driving further north turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, as the flowers had largely disappeared, and we were in a rather open, featureless, plain. We considered returning the long way around to avoid having to go down the Domorogh Pass, but it would be too far to get back to the camp in time, so, after exploring the variety of red, blue, orange, yellow and white flowers at the top of the pass, we crawled our way back down. Relief again once all four wheels were on stable ground.

Richtersveld: Domrogh Pass gardening

With one more stop at a small field of orange flowers to take a team photo, we then targeted the hot water showers of Gannakouriep Wilderness Camp.

Gannakouriep Wilderness Camp is a camp with four chalets ( two beds each), each with a solar geyser, solar panels for (limited) electricity, and gas for a fridge and cooking, but as with all the other places in the park, one has to bring in one's own drinking water.  What a pleasure! Located in the southern part of the park, Gannakouriep is in a completely different type of mountain range, which I hoped would yield some equally different looking photographs, compared to the rest of the park.

Looking south from the camp, we were facing a wide, flat mountain range in the distance, running approximately north-west to south-east, so much more a morning photograph than an afternoon one.  The soft light of late afternoon was instead ideal for exploring a few of the local plants

Richtersveld:Little Fat Fingers

Richtersveld: Richtersberg

Pottering around along the river on the first afternoon didn't reveal any obvious late afternoon / early morning locations, so it was a bit of a 'take what comes' situation. Not surprisingly, no 'wall hanging grade' images came from these times, even if we did have fantastic early morning clouds, giving beautiful colours to the sunrise and the river.  It was also quickly clear that the surrounding mountains would block the first rays of morning light from striking any of the peaks along the river, and we would have to look elsewhere for a 'red glowing mountain' sunrise picture. 

Richtersveld: Sunrise at Richtersberg Campsite

By mid-morning we set out to explore the environs, finding curious seams of pink quartz in the rocks and spiky green plants, as we kept an eye out for a candidate 'big mountain'. 

Richtersveld: Rocky Stripes

Richtersveld: Green and Red

After a bit of a walk south from the camp site, Dave spotted a strong candidate - the tallest peak within site - quite a way up a dry, rocky river bed. We gradually made our way across the boulders of the river bed, stopping regularly to inspect the rocks and curious plants, trying to get handheld macro shots of small puffy flowers, and climbing up the ridges to check the eye-line to our target. Several bends later, we eventually decided that we had hit the prime spot, with great leading lines of the river bed working themselves all the way up the target mountain.  Checking out the sunset and sunrise angles with the GPS compass we decided this would make an interesting afternoon and morning option.

But the mid-day light was very boring, so we headed back to camp for lunch, returning in mid-afternoon (grumbling about the ever increasing weight of my camera pack, as the lens collection grows over the years), when the shadows were starting to create some depth. The wind was back, but the good news was that it was blowing interesting cloud formations across us all the time - at one stage Dave remarked that perhaps we should rather concentrate on photographing the variety of clouds, rather than the less-than co-operative mountains.  The next hour and a half was spent observing the changing light and shadows, and taking occasional snaps as the mood changed.  With the mountains to the side again casting heavy shadows across the view well before sunset we slogged back to camp with only mediocre images in the bag. On return, Dave bemusedly remarked to Jan 'I've just sat around for an hour, watching a mountain'.

Richtersveld: late afternoon at Richtersberg

Without any better options, we decided that the same mountain remained our best candidate for dawn and sunrise, and planned a very early morning start.

Richtersveld: Kokerboomkloof to Richtersberg

Thursday morning came with almost completely clear blue skies, and an opportunity to catch the early morning light on the rocky outcrops.  With all the rain of the day before we hadn't prepared any great morning location, so it was mostly a case of wandering around the kloof, looking for spontaneous opportunities.  The colour of light on the koppies and kokerboom trees was beautiful, but the contrast of dead kokerboom trees against the blue sky highlighted the tragedy of the dying kokerboom of the Richtersveld.  I haven't seen a definitive explanation of what is causing them to die, but it is sad to see only a few remaining living trees. Soon the kloof will look far too much like Deadvlei in Namibia.

Richtersveld: Red Rock Sunrise at Kokerboomkloof

Richtersveld: Dying Kokerboom at Kokerboomkloof

Photographically the day brought nervous moments. My first camera battery was nearly empty, so out came the second, spare, battery.  With no power in the park at all, recharging the gadgets can only be done using an inverter in the car while transiting between camps. With two batteries this should be no problem. Discovering that in the rush to pack, the second battery had not been charged, and was almost empty from the previous outing, doesn't make a good start to a remote photographic holiday morning! 

Not too surprisingly, when it came time to depart, the Cruiser engine remained stubbornly lifeless.  Out came the 'jump start booster' for a second time, and we were on our way towards the Richtersberg camp.  Taking the long route around (via RT10) we were greeted by wide open spaces and different coloured mountains in the distance, with low koppies in the foreground of a whole variety of textures and colours.  So there we were, two cars parked on the side of the road, engines running, while we wandered around taking pictures of strange plants and coloured hills. One vehicle running to get an emergency charge in the camera battery, one because it probably won't restart when required! 

Richtersveld: Colours in Rock

Richtersveld: Rivers in the Desert

Stopping at a couple of viewpoints along the route, we stuck with the 'engine running routine', and by the time we arrived at Richtersberg camp in mid afternoon, both my camera batteries were recharged, and I could relax again. The camp site was empty when we arrived, and we could pick a beautiful spot right on the river.  It wasn't long before we realised that being back near the river brought with it open competition with a gang of marauding monkeys, who are well practiced at stealing food off tables, out of cars when the doors are open, and even right out of your hands if you are not paying attention.

Richtersveld: Richtersberg Camp Site

Later that evening we were treated to the site of what looked like a biggish cat, with short legs, stripes on its back and rings on its tail, slink out of the dark and help itself to some pieces of fruit that were at the edge of the camp. Dave quickly got out his camera to try and capture it if it returned, but it was not to be. With only a brief view, it looked to us like an African Civet, but these are not listed in the SANParks list of park mammals, so we are not sure what it was.