Riemvasmaak, the Wild West Coast and the Orange River

Our Annual Honeymoon Adventure

Some couples celebrate their wedding anniversary with a nice dinner, a weekend away or a quiet evening at home.

We like to call ours a honeymoon.

Not because it is our actual honeymoon, but because every year we try to treat our wedding anniversary as another chance to get away together, explore somewhere new and make fresh memories.

For us, the honeymoon should never really end.

And this year, our anniversary adventure took us through Riemvasmaak, the West Coast, Garies and eventually the Orange River.

It wasn't about luxury in the traditional sense. Our luxury was freedom. It was waking up somewhere completely different from where we had been the day before. It was cooking over a fire, driving remote roads, camping beside the ocean and ending the journey with our feet in the Orange River.

This was our annual honeymoon.

And it started where most good road trips do: on the road before the rest of the world was properly awake.

The Road to Riemvasmaak

The vehicle was packed and the adventure was underway while it was still dark outside.

There is something special about starting a long journey early in the morning. The headlights light the road ahead, everything behind you slowly disappears, and you know that for the next few days normal life can wait.

As daylight arrived, the kilometres continued to roll by.

Inside the vehicle there was the usual road-trip conversation, plenty of excitement and that feeling of anticipation that comes when you know you're heading somewhere very different.

Eventually, the scenery began to change.

The roads became quieter.

The landscape became bigger.

And the mountains started closing in around us.

We had arrived in Riemvasmaak.

Into the Mountains

Riemvasmaak is not a place that gently introduces itself.

It is rugged, dry and spectacular.

Towering rocky mountains surround narrow tracks that wind their way through the landscape. From above, the road looks almost impossibly small as it snakes through the enormous terrain.

This is exactly the sort of place that makes you appreciate travelling by 4x4.

Out here, the road isn't simply something you use to get to the destination.

The road is part of the destination.

Slowly making your way through the mountains gives you time to appreciate the scale of the place. There are rocky slopes in every direction, vegetation scattered through the valleys and seemingly endless open country beyond.

Eventually it was time to stop travelling and make camp.

And once camp is set up, another important part of any overlanding trip begins.

Dinner.

Fire, Food and a Proper Bush Dinner

There are few things that taste better than food cooked outside after a long day on the road.

As darkness settled over Riemvasmaak, the headlamps came out and the fire became the centre of camp.

Meat went onto the grid over the coals, accompanied by the little routines that become so familiar when you're camping: moving things around, checking the fire, finding the right utensil, opening another container and trying to remember where you packed everything.

There is something wonderfully uncomplicated about evenings like this.

No restaurant reservations.

No dress code.

Just the two of you, a fire, something good to eat and an enormous dark landscape surrounding the campsite.

It might not be the anniversary dinner most travel brochures advertise.

But for us, it was perfect.

From the Mountains to the Sea

Eventually it was time to leave the rocky interior behind.

We packed up again, climbed back into the vehicle and pointed it towards the coast.

This is one of the wonderful things about travelling through this part of South Africa. Within the same adventure, the scenery can change completely.

The dry, mountainous landscape gradually gives way to the unmistakable character of the West Coast.

And then suddenly there it is.

The Atlantic Ocean.

The road begins running through a landscape of low coastal vegetation, sand and rock, with the ocean stretching towards the horizon.

After the warm colours and mountains of the interior, the coast feels like another world.

The sky seems enormous.

The air changes.

The wind arrives.

And the waves never seem to stop.

Finding Our Place Beside the Atlantic

The West Coast doesn't need luxury resorts to impress you.

Give us a remote piece of coastline and somewhere to set up camp, and we're happy.

Our little travelling home was soon established beside the sea. The vehicle became the centre of camp, with the rooftop setup above and our equipment opening out around it.

Then came one of those moments that makes all the packing and driving worthwhile.

The sun started going down.

Standing beside the Atlantic as the light changed across the sky, we were treated to a beautiful West Coast sunset.

There was nowhere we needed to rush to.

Tomorrow's road could wait.

For now, this was home.

Life at a Wild West Coast Camp

Camping beside the ocean has its own rhythm.

You go to sleep listening to the wind and waves and wake up to an entirely different soundtrack from the one waiting for you at home.

Of course, mornings also require one very important thing.

Coffee.

The little camping table came out, mugs were prepared and the morning ritual began.

There is something about coffee made outdoors that makes it taste better. Perhaps it's the cold air. Perhaps it's the view. Or perhaps it's simply because you're drinking it while looking at the Atlantic instead of checking the time and worrying about the day ahead.

Once properly caffeinated, it was time to explore.

Exploring the Rugged Coastline

The coast here is not made up of neat promenades and busy beaches.

It is wild.

Rocky outcrops stretch into the ocean. White sand appears between them. Waves break against the rocks and pools of seawater collect in the gaps.

We spent time walking across the rocks and exploring the shoreline.

This part of the trip was slower.

There was no need to cover hundreds of kilometres.

Sometimes adventure is simply putting on your shoes and seeing what lies beyond the next rocky outcrop.

The coastline seems to continue forever, with the ocean on one side and a rugged, sparsely populated landscape on the other.

It is one of those places where you become very aware of how small you are.

When the 4x4 Becomes Part of the Story

Of course, a trip like this was never going to remain entirely relaxed.

The vehicle wasn't just parked beside the beach for photographs.

At one point we were right down on the sand near the water, with the Atlantic rolling in only metres away.

Soft sand changes everything.

Momentum matters. Tyre placement matters. And suddenly the vehicle that has comfortably carried you for hundreds of kilometres has to work for its living.

It is exactly these moments that make overlanding exciting.

You have to read the terrain, make decisions and sometimes accept that the route isn't going to be as straightforward as you expected.

With waves breaking nearby and the 4x4 sitting on the sand, it was certainly a more adventurous anniversary celebration than ordering cocktails beside a hotel pool.

But that is precisely why we were there.

Leaving the Ocean Behind

Eventually, every campsite has to be packed away.

The chairs go back in.

The tables disappear.

The equipment gets secured.

And somehow everything finds its place in the vehicle again.

We left the coastline and began travelling inland.

The West Coast slowly disappeared behind us as the landscape once again became dry and expansive.

The journey took us through the country around Garies and Namaqualand, where the horizon seems to stretch forever.

The scenery here is very different from the coast.

There are long roads, low hills, scattered vegetation and the unmistakable feeling that you are travelling through a part of South Africa where nature still has plenty of room.

Along the way, even the animals became part of the story, with goats appearing beside the road as we travelled through the dry landscape.

And then, after days of dust, rock, sand and ocean, another dramatic change appeared.

Water.

A lot of it.

The Orange River

Arriving at the Orange River after travelling through such dry country feels almost surreal.

Suddenly there is this enormous ribbon of water cutting through the landscape.

After the rough tracks of Riemvasmaak and the cold Atlantic coastline, the river offered something completely different.

It was time to slow down again.

And this time, there was really only one sensible thing to do.

Get into the water.

Sitting in the Orange River with the water flowing past was a fitting way to bring the journey towards its end.

For days, the trip had been about movement.

Drive.

Explore.

Set up camp.

Cook.

Sleep.

Pack up.

Drive again.

Now we could simply sit.

Feet in the water.

No road to concentrate on.

No camp to pack away.

Just the river.

More Than an Anniversary

Looking back at this journey, the places are obviously a huge part of the memory.

Riemvasmaak gave us mountains, remote tracks and nights around the fire.

The West Coast gave us the Atlantic, incredible sunsets, rocky beaches, coffee beside the sea and some proper 4x4 adventure in the sand.

Garies and Namaqualand gave us those enormous open landscapes that make a South African road trip feel like a genuine expedition.

And the Orange River gave us somewhere to finally stop, cool down and appreciate how far we had travelled.

But the best part wasn't one particular destination.

It was experiencing all of it together.

That is why we call these trips our honeymoons.

Our wedding day happened once, but every anniversary gives us another excuse to celebrate the life we are building together.

And for us, one of the best ways to do that is on the road.

This Is Our Kind of Travel

Overlanding strips travelling back to something wonderfully simple.

Everything you need is travelling with you.

Your vehicle is your transport, your storage cupboard and sometimes your shelter.

A table beside the ocean becomes your kitchen.

A campfire becomes your restaurant.

A rooftop setup becomes your hotel room.

And some of the most spectacular places in South Africa become your backyard for the night.

There will always be things that don't go exactly according to plan.

The road might be rougher than expected.

The sand might be softer.

The wind might blow harder.

Something will inevitably be packed at the bottom when you need it from the top.

But those moments become part of the story.

That's the beauty of travelling this way.

Every Year Is a Honeymoon

Maybe that's the biggest lesson from journeys like this.

We don't believe the honeymoon has to end when the first one is over.

Every wedding anniversary is another opportunity to celebrate.

Another opportunity to get away together.

Another opportunity to explore somewhere new.

Another opportunity to create stories that we'll still be talking about years from now.

For us, this particular honeymoon was about driving into the mountains and wondering what waited around the next corner.

It was about standing beside a fire at night in Riemvasmaak.

Watching the sun disappear over the Atlantic.

Making coffee beside the ocean.

Exploring empty beaches.

Getting the 4x4 onto the sand.

Driving through the vast landscapes around Garies.

And finally sitting in the Orange River after an unforgettable journey across some of South Africa's most beautiful country.

The vehicle came home dusty.

The camping gear needed cleaning.

And there was probably sand in places where sand should never be.

But that's a small price to pay for the memories.

Because years from now, we probably won't remember every kilometre we drove.

We won't remember exactly what time we left each morning.

But we'll remember the mountains.

We'll remember the fire.

We'll remember that West Coast sunset.

We'll remember the sound of the Atlantic outside our camp.

We'll remember the roads that made us wonder whether we should keep going.

And we'll remember sitting together in the Orange River at the end of it all.

This wasn't our first honeymoon.

And hopefully, it won't be our last.

Because as far as we're concerned:

Every year is a honeymoon.