Field Trip to the Karoo-Inverdoorn

The five car convoy left Cape Town at 9:30am and headed further north in Western Cape.  We first headed towards Ceres for fuel and lunch.  On the way we made a brief orientation stop on a windy hill before jumping back in the cars and continuing on, and passing some baboons on the road side!

We bought lunch at the local Spar in Ceres and set off for a view point and picnic spot to eat.  We nearly lost our first person in Ceres as they disappeared off to the toilet post head count!

 

The roads were very good and not much traffic except for the odd van packed with people and normally towing a trailer.  Simon and I were the only two in our car for some reason everyone sat in all the other cars – but not that it mattered.  As we got nearer Inverdoorn the population significantly dropped and we were in the middle of nowhere with only dirt roads (but also in great shape) as the main route passing by.

The Inverdoorn Game Reserve where we were staying was beautiful and that evening we had organised a game drive to see some of the animals.  I know we are on a work trip to see rocks but you cant just ignore the fact you are in Africa!

The converted Landrover took us out and our guide was very chatty. The road was exceptionally bumpy and the lack of suspension made it hard going. You can see all the animals we saw – with the exception of the rhino which decided not to come out.  By the time we stopped searching for the rhino it was getting dark and cold, plus my neck was beginning to hurt.  However, still great fun.

I quickly discovered my bathroom did not get any water when everyone else was showering, and even when the water did come it was at very low pressure.  However, I soon learnt shower time was after dinner and not before.  The first night in the room was very cold indeed however, nights 2 and 3 they turned on the air con unit which pumped out heat. 

Every night we were served a four course dinner and copious amounts of good South African wine, and every night I slept like a log.  We only had one instance of someone sleeping in, that was Mai on the second day, and other than that everyone seemed to be dealing well with the jet lag.

Sunrise

Sunset

Our group was made up of 16 Maersk employees and a trip leader from the University of Liverpool.  We had people from Aberdeen, Stavanger, Copenhagen and of course Houston.  There were quite a few I had not met before and so we all got to meet and know the group.

Obviously there was plenty of geology looked at through the week and the rocks were truly amazing, not to mention the weather was pretty good for us in general.  The first true day in the field was cold but then the sun came out and by Day 4 it was glorious. 

We had some rain in the evenings and that made the clay roads suitably slippy, but also created some wonderful muddy puddles to drive through at speed!  We were always in the convoy in a particular order with radios to talk to the cars and make drivers aware of approaching hazards from the front as well as the back –the locals drove very fast in all conditions!  Anyway there became an unspoken competition of who could get the muddiest car – so I recorded our progress!

After three nights in Inverdoorn we left to head towards Laingsburg and see another basin of rocks.