Hi from South Africa
A bunch of kiting enthusiasts in South Africa just returned from a fantastic kiting trip (13 - 17 September 2006) to a place called Verneukpan (near Upington) in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa (Also known as the Khalahari)
Quick overview: The pan is a huge dried up pan ? 600sq/km, where numerous land speed records have been attempted in the past ? it?s a place with an interesting history.In South Africa there are not many kiting hot-spots. It took us the better part of 1 month to locate a spot suitable for world class bugging and to track down the owner. It is a very remote destination with almost no facilities and absolutely no luxuries. We had to take everything along, camping gear, kiting gear, drinking water etc. It should be mentioned that our buggies were equipped with electronic speedometers, 2 way radios and water bottles to enable us to tackle this bugging expedition. We camped on the edge of the best stretch of ?emptiness?, about 15 square kilometers of 100% flat surface and running strip of 8km return. The wind was fantastic all 4 days (20 to 40km/p/h ? gusting to 60km/p/h) and we never stopped kiting until the sun went down. Our average speeds were between 40 and 70 km/p/h with a maximum speed of 89km/h (4m Yakuza). At night we sat around the camp fire comparing buggy speeds the next morning, around 7am we were out again, being met by little Springbuck antelope.
A trip next year is already in the planning process (12 ? 16 September 2007) and if anyone would like to join please contact - djbotha@yahoo.co.uk
The buggers were:
Dirk Botha; Francois Vermeulen; Wesley Backhouse; Stefan Fouche; Frans Du Plessis and Kevin
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