Upington To Harnas Wildlife Foundation and Back in the RAF

[saraf]

Hi Guy’s
Thought I would share some experiences with you all.
Schalk van der Merwe whom recently bought a RAF 2000 came for training in upington for the month of Oct to Nov. After his training was complete we decided to fly his RAF back home to Harnas Wildlife foundation about 60Miles NE of Gobabis , Namibia.
The trip was organized, fuel, accommodation and all the necessary paperwork for border control ext for our flight with ZU RBU and ZU EPM. Our flight would take us form Upington, to Ariamsvlei (special permission was given for us to land at Ariamsvlei and walk to the border post to get our passports stamped. ), Aroab, Arenos, Gobabis and finally Harnas.
On the morning of the 15th of Nov we started our trip to Harnas Wildlife foundation. Schalk and me and Eben Snr and my mom Ansa.
The first flight to Ariams was great and after about 1h we landed at Ariams where we walked to the Petrol station. Mr Fourie organized us with some fuel and a bakkie to be able to drive to the border post to do what we had to do. We spent about an hour and 30 min getting refuelled customs and border clearance’s before we were heading for Aroab. Another 90 Miles further into the Kalahari Desert with just dunes and trees everywhere. Having an engine out is not an option as it will take people day’s to find you in this type of terrain , just ask Flying-I, he did this trip in his Microlight.
The dunes on the way to Aroab is amazing to see, there are miles and miles of red sand dunes lying from East to West with bright white pans all over the place. It is also amazing to see how the landscape changes form flat ground to red dunes with bushes to red dunes with trees as you go along up to Aroab.
Arriving at Aroab we were greeted by J.G Maritz an old school friend of mine whom I was “ooming” all the way to Aroab just to find see who the “oom” is in person on arrival. JG owns the garage and a guest house in Aroab and brought us some fuel for out next leg of more than 190miles.
Till now the weather was great and we were having a little of a tailwind assisting us. After refuelling at Aroab we headed off to Arenos , the longest flight of the trip. Half way into the leg we were greeted by a nice little head wind that jammed a nice little spanner in our ground speed and ETA. Luckily for the long range tanks fitted to the RAF we were not bothered at all as we had more than enough fuel to get to Arenos. After 2.8h in the Air we landed safely at Arenos where we were greeted by the Garage owner Bertie and his wife and a couple of local people, Who informed us that our hotel accommodation was cancel by them and that we had to taxi the gyros to their house where we were each given a ice cold beer and enjoyed a braai and steak with them.
Next morning we were on our way to Gobabis 114miles north of Arenos. Arriving at Gobabis we again refuelled and were on our last leg of the day to Harnas. Now all of the dunes have disappeared and you could see that we were getting closer to Botswana with only trees underneath the RAF’s and no place to land in case of an emergency. Again the 2.5 Subaru just purred like a kitten pushing us along at 90mph. May I ad that the Zulu headsets is one of the best investment I have made, with Blue tooth to my Cell phone and listening to music in surround sound all the way. Even organizing a welcomeing committee for Schalk from the air.
Upon arriving at Harnas we were greeted by more than a 100 people whom all works on Harnas. What a site to see so many people waiting for you to land. (I felt like a seleb for a moment)
After a low level we turned for finals on 35 (1.2km grass strip) for landing and was followed by my mom and dad.
After everyone was greeted the RAF’s were taxied to the hangers and we all were on our way to the Harnas lodge and restaurant for a nice breakfast followed by a meeting with the oldest cheetah on Harnas “Goeters” who is 27 year old. Next Eben Snr and Ansa was shown where they would be spending there week at Harnas and I was taken to my Room whom I shared with 2 Macaws an African Gray and a Lion cub called Martha.
The rest of the day was spent resting and relaxing alongside the swimming pool at the lodge.
Next morning Schalk and I went for some flights over the Farm and to do some landings and takeoffs to make sure he is comfortable with his surroundings and landing strip.
The rest of the time at Harnas was spent with all the animals and even walking with the king of the beasts. A 4 year old male Lion called Zion.
Eben Snr and I headed back home on the 20th of Nov. Leaving at 6h30am at Harnas and arriving at 15H50 in Upington, 950km later.
I will attach the photos tomorrow.
Eben Jnr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMk3kLMjjew ( Short clip of us coming back)
www.harnas.org

[Lieb Liebenberg]

Hi all,my name is Lieb Liebenberg and I am from ARANOS-not Arenos.Hope you enjoyed the trip.Greetings.

[JLK]

Interesting.

As my skip inkom.........


Johan Kriel

Okahandja

[saraf]

Hi Lieb

Jammer oor die verkeerde spelling van Julle mooi dorp. Trip was wonderlik en die mense op Aranos baie aangenaam en vriendelik.

Groete
Eben Jnr

[Lieb Liebenberg]

Eben,
Die dorp se naam is n samesmelting van name van die Arao-bome wat in die omgewing groei en die Nossob-rivier wat daar verby loop.n Bietjie geskiedenis vir jou!

Groete

[Learjet]

What a lekker trip! Looking forward to the pics

[saraf]

Hi Lieb

Baie dankie nou weet ek ook ,so volgende keer as ek met my span in Mei 2010 daar verby kom kan ek vir hulle dit vertel....

Groete
Eben

[saraf]

What you can expect to do at Harnas............

Net seker maak jy het jou BRUIN BROEK aan!!!!!!!

[Gyronaut]

Dit klink mos nou lekker!!

Gee foto's! Moenie ons so lank in spanning hou nie Eben!!
Ek kanniewaggie!

Len

[saraf]

Here are the photos.

Enjoy.

Eben Jnr

[saraf]

And some more

[saraf]

ASM

[saraf]

ASM

[saraf]

ASM

[saraf]

ASM