Back in cell signal (and what we humans refer to as ‘civilisation’) after the final three days of exploring the #DiamondCoast, culminating in a feral camp pitched at one of the moer-and-gone sites upon the tempestuous edge of the SANParks – Namaqua National Park coastline. Once again, our Beyond Expeditions journey with adventure partner Peter Van Kets took us into the forgotten heart of the #RainbowNation‘s tourism landscape, where we experienced the quintessential quirks and characters and corners of the country few people ever engage with.
Right now, we’re booming back along the N7 highway in the #IsuzuMUX, and I’m reformatting my mind to cope with traffic, radio news, mobile phones and all the regular rat-race stuff. There is a huge amount of imagery – both mental and digital – to process, not to mention the spiritual and emotional stoke linked to a journey such as our Isuzu South Africa #beyondlockdown2 expedition. We bore the full and beautiful brunt of Mother Nature, from grinding #Weskus slabs thundering onto unpredictable points, moon shadows playing across the #Kooingnaas dune sea and the delicate perfection of miniature conophytum succulents to end-of-days sand-blaster storms morphing across the desolate and extra-terrestrial #namaqualand plains.
The real work starts now, with post-production on thousands of photographs and articles capturing the essence of the #NoordKaap, but I thought I’d share a sneak peek of a few of the night-time #star shots. These were captured on the Sony Alpha SA at the moody and magnificently dramatic #SpoegRiver Caves, a #San and #Khoi settlement site – dating back more than 3000 years to the Late Stone Age period – thrums with ancient spirituality. Spending a few midnight hours here is a truly transcendental experience, and huge thanks must go to Dudley Bruce Wessels for pointing the way.
This adventure would never have been possible without financial backing from #isuzuSA and Dunlop Tyres SA: thank you for helping us document all the incredible #localtravel experiences awaiting tourists who’ve followed the Beyond Expeditions Team’s #StayLocal and #PlayLocal mission. Now you know that the Northern Cape Tourism Region has got #bucketlist written all over it!
Click here to view the pics