Bloemfontein to Geriep Dam

Today's route: Bloemfontein to Geriep Dam 111 miles



Last night I offered the Boyntons to drive the Ghost today and I would drive their rental car as they needed a Ghost fix. So bright and early I went down to get the car ready for them only to find a flat tire. Well, I changed the wheel in a matter of minutes, but fixing the flat, for the non-Ghosters reading this, is a long, dirty and sweaty endevour. But, with the help if Bill, Lynn and Mike (and some choiuce language I might add) we did it in about 90 minutes. By this time all the other cars had left and off went Jacquie and Lynn. We followed after a quick breakfast in their rental.

The drive is quite flat, the road surrounded by endless dry karoo grasland, mountains in the distance. As this is sheep farming land, we saw ots of them! In the modern car I was able to go quite fast, yet never caught the Bowntons until we arrived at the resort.

The resort is comprised of self catering rondavels, camping and a restaurant in which we had lunch. It has a wonderful view of Geriep Dam. This is the largest dam in South Africa as it controls the Orange River and provides irrigation, drinking and hydropower. We had a great tour of the dam wall, deep inside and they actually opened one of the water gates and out poured 20 000 liters per second. Quite a sight.

The afternoon was spent on minor fixes on the car as well as sitting around BS'ing with Matt and Bob. We decided to skipt the buffett dinner planned and went to the only local restaurant where we had steak, sitting outside. It was terrific