The Orange River

The truck pulled into our campsite for the last day in Namibia and we were waiting for a replacement truck to arrive from Johannesburg.  

South African regulations prohibit foreign registered vehicles from entering the country. Our truck came from Kenya and did its turnaround here. A new driver arrived to take us further through to Cape Town and brought along parts to be taken up to Kenya

.                   There was no new group booked and the truck was to return empty.

The Orange River is the longest in South Africa. It starts in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho and flows westwards to the Atlantic Ocean at Alexander Bay. It provides water for irrigation as well as hydroelectric power. It passes through no major cities and several commercial diamond mines operate along the final stretch of the Orange River and around its mouth. It forms the border between Namibia and South Africa.

In 1779, Colonel Robert Gordon commander of the Dutch East India Company garrison at Cape Town named the river in honour of William V of Orange.

He also introduced Merino sheep to the Cape. 

 in 1786 the Colonel discovered the remains of Bartolomeu Dia’s padrāo at Kwaaihoek.  In addition to French, Dutch and English he spoke Hottentot and Xhosa.

We bid Namibia farewell and a full moon helped to compose this picture.