Disaster in the Desert: Broken Axle Bolts & Deep Sand Overlanding

Cold open

Our eight-part journey, Where Paths Begin, is slowly coming to a close, but there's still quite a bit to experience on the scenic Namibian trip. On this episode, Kaokoland spoils us with a meet and greet. The team swims with tadpoles in a natural pool, and Corne finds true love. Join us as we kick up some sand and snap some pics somewhere close to nowhere, in this episode of Tusk & Tyre Overlanding.

Amspoort Valley

Kaokoland does it again. We're running through the Amspoort Valley, and in this time warp you can see it. Endless ridges, changing light, and those heavy clouds that make the colour look deeper. Today we leave Puros and follow a river that looks empty, until it suddenly isn't. What we see is real. Then the valley changes in minutes and the whole drive turns into dust and decisions.

The bush telegram

And then the news of the bush travels through a bush telegram.

"Hi, how are you? Are you coming from Puros? Can you run through the canyon?"

"The Puros Canyon?"

"Yes, Puros Canyon."

"It's fine. We went through it yesterday."

"Okay. That's good, because last year it was completely overflowed and not possible. But now it's good. Okay, good. Now you're going to Sesfontein? Then you're still not staying in the Hoanib?"

"Yes, we're sleeping in the Hoanib tonight. And then hopefully we find the lions."

"So not now. You can spend every night there and see anything, elephants and whatever, but not the lions."

"We're not looking for it. We asked a ranger there and they said he wasn't seen."

"Okay, why not just sleep in the Hoanib tonight, then Sesfontein, and then decide from there."

"Okay, good."

Broken axle bolt, bush fix and lunch

Well, for the fifth time, I've broken one of my axle bolts on the trailer. So the other side, we Pratley'd them. I don't know if they're breaking or they're just coming loose, but yeah. Another bush fix.

Then we just have to somehow move it into place. Just move it another half an inch.

"What are we eating?"

"Hello, we're eating stale bread and fresh sausages, tomato, with cheese."

When there is a bush fix, we eat. I think it's Aiden. He booby-traps that bolt so that we have to stop, so we can eat.

"Is it recording?"

"No. You have to push the red button."

"Stefan, let's start the train. Let's roll."

"Yes, Corne, start the train. Let's roll."

"Mine doesn't want to roll."

Back on route: the Amspoort silts

After the crew's bush fix, they get back on route towards the next stop. But this place is not only dramatic, it's scientifically famous down here. The Hoanib has left behind what researchers call the Amspoort silts, thick, fine deposits that in some places filled the valley more than 12 m deep. It even buries old river trees, now exposed as the river cuts back through them. It matters because it tells a story. At times in the past, the Hoanib did not always push through to the ocean, as dunes from the Skeleton Coast sand could block the way, ending the river inland.

As the team joins this riverbed, it starts to feel alive. Most of the year it's just a wide sandy corridor. But when big rains fall inland, it can reach all the way to the Atlantic and, more importantly, bring water that keeps the valley alive between floods, calling wildlife from all over, offering water, shade and browse. And sometimes, if you're lucky, Kaokoland lets you see it.

Desert elephants

As these elephants move through the river, it's worth remembering they're not a separate species. They're African bush elephants that have adapted to one of the harshest corners of Namibia. In places like the Hoanib and Hoarusib, the riverbeds are usually sand, but they act like linear oases, holding shade, food and water hidden in the system long after the last rain. Without these ephemeral rivers, desert-adapted elephants simply could not survive.

To make it work, they move with purpose. Some groups are known to have travelled huge distances between the river systems, over 70 km, often pushing at night when it's cooler, then feeding and drinking by day. When they reach good trees and floodplains, you'll sometimes notice they look leaner, with bigger feet suited for soft sand. Small differences shaped by heat, distance and scarcity. And right now, in this quiet river corridor, you're seeing the desert's biggest lesson: resilience. Moving calmly, steadily and always forward.

Desert giraffes

People call them desert giraffes, but what you're looking at is the Angolan giraffe, living in one of the toughest parts of Namibia. Out here, their world isn't open savanna. It's ephemeral river corridors, the Hoanib and its neighbours, because these dry rivers are where the food and the moisture stay when everything else fades.

Researchers found the movement can be extreme. In the northern Namib Desert, giraffes can have huge home ranges, and the biggest recorded bull range in one study was about 1,950 km square, one of the largest ever documented for a giraffe. Their travel often becomes a long, purposeful line across the river system, because that's the way survival is written in the landscape.

And here is the wild part. Observers have reported giraffes feeding early to use dew and moisture on the leaves, and across years of study, some individuals were never even seen drinking, because they were getting enough water from what they browse. Today, conservation teams are even GPS tracking Hoanib giraffe to understand these movements better, because in a place like this, distance is everything.

Leaving Puros Conservancy: driving blind in the dust

We just left the Puros Conservancy after we paid no fees. Still in the Hoanib River, we met with this kind of driving, making for some interesting comments in the car.

"Stefan is not going to get through this with his vehicle. It's too low. I can't see where we are going."

With powder dust, anything is possible. Imagine the truck's wipers are not working.

"Stefan, I said we're just here on your left side, we are not lost."

"Yes, we saw. Have you also got as much dust as us? We tried to see where we are going because our own dust caught us."

"Yes, sometimes I cannot see where I'm going."

"Yoh, this looks like the Sahara Desert. Now I have to stop. I cannot see anything."

Sesfontein to Ongongo Falls

We finally made it out of the dust of the Hoanib River and made it to Sesfontein, but we couldn't find suitable accommodation. Then we had another 25 km to go to Ongongo Falls. We were going to spend the next two nights there. What an awesome, awesome time we had. Can't wait to share this with you.

Ongongo Falls campsite

We arrived at Ongongo Falls, and wow, this place is proper 4x4 overlanders' paradise. Some of the campsites are only reachable in low range, and the tracks in here are tight and narrow and technical. And then, to make it interesting, the campsite manager accidentally sent me down the wrong turn, which means I had to turn this big rig around in a really small space. Not exactly stress free, but that's part of the adventure.

"You can still reverse, but the trailer will just go down a big rock a bit."

Now heading out to a campsite. So stick with us as we make our way in. And once we get there, I still need to thread this truck into a camping spot. But honestly, with scenery like this, it's worth every bit of effort. I'll show you the camp properly a little bit later.

What a campsite. Motsumi is parked, camper's set up, time to make a fire. Steak, chops and sausage and some fire potatoes are on the menu for tonight. Camping at its best.

Camp life: the tadpole pool and a visiting dog

"Dad, the water is nice and warm. Are you going to come and swim?"

"With the tadpoles?"

"No, man, if you swim to them they go away."

There's millions and millions of tadpoles in this natural pool. Everybody's enjoying themselves, cooling off in the hot Namibian sun.

"The silt and rocks are petrified, isn't it? Looks like concrete."

One of the local community dogs decided to come visit us at camp, and I was playing with him here, starting to miss my three Great Danes at home. I'm a big animal lover, I have a big passion for dogs, and I just love them to bits.

Morning: heading for Messum Crater

Listening to the bird calls in the morning, enjoying the tranquil sound of water trickling over the rocks down into the stream. Today, heading to Messum Crater. I'm going to stop off at the Rhino Sanctuary to see what there is to do there, and then Messum Crater, and then we'll find a camp close to Messum Crater. And then tomorrow it is down to Swakopmund.

We've been basically off grid for the last ten days. So ja, stock is running low. Food is food. Supplies are running low. Going into Swakopmund to restock. We're going to spend about three nights in Swakopmund because the kids want to go quad biking on the dunes. Some want to go try the cold ocean. We also want to go to the big welwitschias and the moon landscape. So there's a couple of things to do at Swakopmund. You can spend ten days in Swakopmund and go without one day being bored. There's just so much to do. Stefan said we must go visit Brauhaus again, see if we can get a booking and go eat at Brauhaus in Swakopmund.

Changed plans: south toward Luderitz

From Swakopmund, plans have changed, so do we. Heading down to Tsauchab, from Tsauchab most probably Namtib, and then from Namtib we'll try and reach Luderitz.

Heading out: Mom co-pilots

An awesome, exciting day today for us. Looking forward to seeing the Messum Crater. It's like you've got an obstacle course to get out of the campsite.

"Mom is the co-pilot. It's like she is the short-stick pilot. Yeah. Safe journey."

Fuel stop at Palmwag

Just stopped here by Palmwag, the first fuel-up after 1,120 kilometres on the trip. Last filled up at Opuwo. And I've still got just over half a tank left. The diesel I had was enough.

"I even had something like Gangsta's Paradise. It's a song sung by, who? Yeah, yeah. That guy's dead now."

"He is dead now?"

"Yeah."

This one fills like a truck. Two hundred and nearly twenty litres. I don't think I'm going to fill up the jerry cans again. No. This is my damage. 3.3 kilometres on a litre. 4x4 sand, low range and rock climbing, gravel road riding, the works. Just waiting for Stefan to fill up, and there's only one pump working, and then we are on the road. Twyfelfontein next.

Burnt Mountain

Standing here at the Burnt Mountain close to Twyfelfontein, in Damaraland. And apparently this was a volcanic outburst millions of years ago. As you can see, the Burnt Mountain looks like a hill that's been scorched by fire. But what you're seeing is geology doing something far more intense than flame.

This area started as Karoo-age sediments, shales with coal seams and sandstone layers laid down long ago in a lake environment. Then molten rock forced its way up as doleritic magma, intruded into those fine sediments and heated them to around a thousand degrees. That heat literally cooked the rock, driving off the organic material and leaving behind the blackened, clinker-like shales made mostly of baked clay minerals. And the reason it can glow with those purples and deep reds, especially in late afternoon light, is the thin coating of manganese minerals, adding a sheen and colour shift against the surrounding unaltered sediments.

The Organ Pipes

Here at the Organ Pipes, near Twyfelfontein, the rock looks almost manmade, like a giant stone instrument frozen in place. In Afrikaans, it's called Orrelpype, or Organ Pipes, and once you see it, the name makes perfect sense.

What you're looking at is dolerite, a volcanic rock that forced its way into older sediments underground. As that hot magma cooled slowly at depth, it shrank and cracked. Those cracks formed perpendicular to the cooling surface, creating the long, straight columns, often with angular, near hexagonal shapes, the same physics you see in famous basalt columns around the world.

The timing is part of the bigger Namibian story. This dolerite intrusion is tied to the intense volcanic activity linked to the breakup of Gondwana and the opening of the South Atlantic, roughly around 130 million years ago. Yes, you heard that right. What happened here is part of the same break-up that opened the Atlantic Ocean.

And the reason we can stand next to it today is erosion doing its patient work, removing the softer surrounding rock until the harder dolerite skeleton was left exposed in the little gorge. So when you film these pillars, you're not just capturing a cool landmark, you're filming a moment where you can literally see how heat, pressure, cooling and time can turn molten rock into geometry. And that's why places like this are protected. One wrong step, one chipped edge, and you don't just damage stone, you damage a piece of deep time.

A smashed tyre and a change of course

En route from Twyfelfontein to the Messum Crater, a stone smashed the sidewall of Corne's tyre, forcing the team to change course to White Lady Lodge and leave their original destination for another journey, as the route there is unfortunately one you don't take without preparation. As with these trips, that was not the only big change waiting, as we'll learn on the next part of our Tusk & Tyre Overlanding trip through Namibia. See you there.