ROUND THREE 0F THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN CHALLENGE – OFF ROAD/BAJA, JULY 2006

After Zambia and Zimbabwe, round three of the Southern African Challenge was held in Windhoek, Namibia. Unfortunately, the little team of Renaldo Gouws, Calvin Collington and Eric Visser was somewhat reduced. So Eric was the only rider to continue the challenge of competing against the other Nations. However, this time he dragged Kevin Branch (who presumably thought he had quit this sort of scene) into the fray.

The other nations must have been aware of what the Namibians had planned for us, as only the Zambian quad riders drove 4500 kms to compete. The hills in Windhoek do not look that daunting, but I gather from Eric they were absolutely horrible!!! He swears that they were near vertical and it was damn hard work to drag a heavy KTM 525 over the million rocks that were strewn on the route. The Namibians, born and bred in these hills, hopped over them like Spring Hares, whilst Kevin and Eric who have never seen anything higher than Kgale Hill, worked their little tails off. Eric came into the pits swearing like a trooper and absolutely whacked. Gave him chocolate and he perked up again. Kevin was like a kid out there, and very rarely pulled into the pits (he later admitted, if he had, he would never have gone out there again!!) except for one fuel stop.

Jolly proud to say that both of them finished, and Eric has earned some valuable points towards the Challenge, and by my calculations is in a good position to finish on the podium at the end of the series.

Those of us who know Namibian hospitality, knew what their after party was going to be like. For Eric and Gustav it was an eye opener on how much Jagermeister could be consumed in one evening!! All in all, we had a brilliant weekend, and it is fantastic to be amongst genuine people who really appreciate the travel and time involved to get to these events.

Round Four and Final of the Series will be held in Francistown on 2 September. Zambia has challenged Botswana to beat Namibian hospitality and it’s a challenge we intend to take up!