Richtersveld solo in August — heat management, water planning, sand tyre tips
Went through last Easter weekend in a Land Cruiser 79. Here is the full report.
Five days fully self-sufficient. We carried 80L of water between two vehicles. The Gannakourip riverbed section is beautiful but technical — deep sand that transitions into loose shale. Let your tyres down to 1.2 bar for the sand, back up to 1.8 for the rocky climbs. No phone signal from day two. Garmin inReach was the only way to communicate.
Camping: Sendelingsdrift on the Orange River is the highlight. The ferry to Namibia is R150 per vehicle if you want to cross.
Fuel: filled up in the last town before the turn-off. Diesel consumption was around 11L/100km on the technical sections — budget for higher than your tar road figure. We carried 27L spare in jerry cans.
The solitude is unlike anything else in SA. Happy to answer any questions from people planning this route.
6 Replies
Nice one, hannes. Did you do the river crossing at the bottom of the valley? We skipped it last time and regretted it. Adding it to the plan for our next trip.
— morne_du_toit
How was the fuel situation? We are planning this in a Ranger Raptor which drinks more than it should on technical terrain. Trying to figure out whether to carry extra diesel in jerry cans or whether the consumption was manageable.
Good write-up. One thing to add from our trip there — the permit system has changed since the last reports I read. The eastern approach road had some flood damage last season — the first 8km takes longer than T4A suggests.
How was the fuel situation? We are planning this in a Land Cruiser 200 which drinks more than it should on technical terrain. Trying to figure out whether to carry extra diesel in jerry cans or whether the consumption was manageable.
Nice one, hannes. Did you do the river crossing at the bottom of the valley? We skipped it last time and regretted it. Adding it to the plan for our next trip.
How was the fuel situation? We are planning this in a Land Cruiser 200 which drinks more than it should on technical terrain. Trying to figure out whether to carry extra diesel in jerry cans or whether the consumption was manageable.
Nice one, hannes. Did you do the river crossing at the bottom of the valley? We skipped it last time and regretted it. Adding it to the plan for our next trip.
— morne_du_toit
Went through this one last April and our experience was similar. The crossing you mentioned was also the part that got our attention. What tyre pressures were you running? We found 1.4bar front and rear worked well on that surface.