We all have these photos … throwback photos!

It’s described as ‘nostalgia-inducing pictures … from a different era of your life”.

Every Thursday we will throw a few photos of ‘way back when’ on our blog. Why on a Thursday? Because it’s just a day away from the weekend … and we love weekends!

You are welcome to join in or just enjoy the photos (#TB Thursday).

May/June 2016 – West Coast and Ai-Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park, South Africa

We mentioned in our previous TB Thursday post that we had a rough road ahead of us in today’s post.

We can break this day’s road into three sections:

  • De Hoop Campsite to Sendelingsdrift: 45km
  • Sendelingsdrift to Eksteensfontein: 105km
  • Eksteensfontein to The Growcery (our accommodation): 41km

So, in theory it was only 191km (118 miles). But we drove a solid 8 hours to get to our last night’s accommodation, The Growcery. Although it was a dirt road, we certainly didn’t foresee it being so difficult to drive.

But first we had to leave the park. We decided to drive out of the park on a different road than the one we entered the park. This took us on the most technical pass of the Richtersveld, the Domorogh Pass.

The road was initially quite easy to drive

We stopped just before the Domorogh Pass

The views from the top of the pass

We even saw some colourful flowers (these may be ‘vygies’, a type of succulent flower)

Even though the pass is quite short (it’s only about 1.4km long), it’s a very slow ride into the valley. On the way down, we stopped at one of the viewpoints to admire the stunning landscape.

Mountains that look like big scoops of ice-cream

When we reached the bottom of the Domorogh Pass, we stopped for a coffee break, before we had to drive another hour to leave the park.

Bottom of the Domorogh Pass

Coffee time in nature

On the way out of the park we saw another ‘gemsbok’ (oryx). He looked back at us and then disappeared over the hill.

Easy road and lone ‘gemsbok’

The last pass we had to drive (in the park), was the Helskloof Pass. It’s a long, but not difficult pass. The most distinctive feature of this pass is the presence of the unique purple aloe known as the Helskloof Aloe (‘Aloe Pearsonii’). This aloe grows in the Helskloof and nowhere else on earth!

A last look at the dramatic mountainous desert with the Helskloof Aloe in the foreground

At the exit of the Ai-Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park

Once out of the park, we thought the final stretch to our accommodation would be a smooth ride. Well, it was … initially.

Open road on the way to Eksteensfontein

The road gradually changed from smooth to almost impassable. The last 20km to Eksteensfontein took us almost 2 hours to drive! It was a gruelling drive and we were thankful for our 4×4 car! It was clear that the road was not maintained for a very long time.

Yes … that’s the road

Spectators along the road

Closer to Eksteensfontein the road got better again

After the road seemed to get better, we stopped and got out to stretch our legs. It was the worst road we drove on this 4×4 trip … and there was still more than 40km left to drive before we would reach our destination for the evening.

Time to stretch those legs

In our next TB Thursday post, we’ll take you on the last part of this day – we had another mountain pass waiting for us. And then we reached what felt like an oasis!

Note: We drove this very same road again in September 2020 (4 years later) and it was then a much easier road to drive. Best to find out from the locals what the condition of the road is before attempting to drive along here!