Keimoes

October 11, 2025

The storm raged on until late in the night. It's at times like this that we are pleased we have a robust tent. The advantage of the storm was that it drowned a lot of the noise coming from a large party of motorcyclists who had arrived as we were finishing an early supper at the restaurant. Thankfully they were staying in the chalets near the restaurant and we had the campsite to ourselves. .

There were still a few drops of rain around when we woke up but not enough to delay our departure. We were on the road soon after eight and headed up to the R359, the main road between Upington and Louisvale on the south side of the river. At Bloukop we turned north and crossed to the N14 Using the road across Kanoneiland. Kanoneiland (Canon Island) is a large island in the Gariep between Upington and Keimoes

Away from the river patches of the red dunes typical of the Kalahari insert themselves between the gravel plains and rocky hillsides.

Closer to the river it is grapes with a few other ctops as well.

Canals feed water off the Gariep without which agriculture would be impossible.

Once on the N14 the traffic levels increased but at least we had a small shoulder to give us some protection. It was the miggies that were a bigger problem. The term "miggie" is a common name for a diverse group of small flies, including many species from the family Ceratopogonidae. Some of them may bite but their most irritating habit is flying around just in front of one's eyes, too close on which to focus.

There are two camping facilities near Keimoes, both south of the town on the road to Kenhardt. This meant we had to first detour into town t8,8k9o buy groceries. The only decent supermarket is on the western edge of the town so we had to backtrack a few kilometers to get to our destination for the night. Once again it is on a farm on the river, this time a grape farm.

Today has been much cooler than yesterday with the temperature only reaching the upper twenties. Almost full cloud cover has also helped to make it more comfortable. Once again a big storm has broken late in the afternoon but this one seems less violent than yesterday's and it is now only raining gently. The owner of the farm stopped by to pick up our camping fee and told us that they have had an unusually high amount of rainfall so far this summer with about a quarter of their normal annual rainfall in a single storm the previous weekend.

The birdlife close to the river has been really good and I am enjoying picking up species of the arid north-west, some of which we haven't seen for almost ten years.

Greater Striped Swallow (Cecropis cucullata)

White-throated Swallow (Hirundo albigularis)

Southern Masked Weaver (Ploceus velatus)

We're currently without an internet connection, last night's storm having knocked out the local Vodacom tower. I'll post this journal entry tomorrow.

Today's ride: 44 km (27 miles)
Total: 68 km (42 miles)

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