This route starts at the Vioolsdrift/Noordoewer border post between South Africa and Namibia. Shortly after crossing the border into Namibia, take a left turn (2.4km) at the Engen garage and follow the meandering Jan Haak road along the Orange River for about 160km to Rosh Pinah.

This scenic drive passes through the Aussenkehr area, famous for its export-quality grapes and the Aussenkehr Nature Park. Ask at the Norotshama River Resort reception desk for information on the unique features to be found in the park.

Apart from a number of lodges and camps along the route, points of interest include the Orange River crossing, the abandoned Lorelei Copper Mine with its dated machinery, and the soon-to-be-reopened Sendelingsdrift pontoon crossing.

The Geology of the Lorelei Copper Mine:

The Lorelei Copper Mine exhibits typical Porphyry copper deposits. As hot igneous stock intrudes into the rock already present, it encounters underground water. The stock heats this water, which begins to move in large circular paths. As the water moves downward, it becomes hotter and leaches copper and other metals from the different rocks it encounters. As the metal-rich water moves back upward, it cools and changes its chemistry, so that chalcopyrite and other ore minerals are precipitated along the edge of the stock. The immediate sources of the metals are the rocks surrounding the igneous stock, the circulating groundwater is the transporting mechanism, and the cooling and changing composition of the groundwater is the precipitation mechanism.

In addition to forming ore deposits, this circulating water can form large bodies of altered rocks, known as alteration zones, surrounding the stocks. Minor copper mineralization can be formed away from the stocks within thin planar bodies known as veins. However, this mineralization does not usually contain enough copper to be considered ore.

As water and wind erode the surface of the earth, they remove the tops of the igneous stock, alteration zone, and porphyry copper deposit.

*Information supplied by Gisela Hinder – Senior Exploration Geologist

The route boasts scenic views of the river and surrounding desert mountains, which typify Namibia’s southern regions. The Orange River brings life to the surrounding arid lands and provides a habitat for varied birdlife, including red bishops, African darters and fish eagles.

The Orange River:

The Orange River, also known as the Gariep or Grootrivier, is a major South African river, discovered by indigenous people but only explored by Europeans in 1760. It was named by Colonel Robert Gordon after the House of Orange. Another account of its naming suggests that it may have been called after the orangey colour of its water.

The Orange rises in the Drakensberg mountains along the border between South Africa and Lesotho, about 193km (120mi) from the Indian Ocean at an altitude of over 3 000m. While in Lesotho, the river is known as the Senqu and parts of it freeze in winter, owing to the high altitude. It then runs 2 200km (1 367mi) westwards, along the south-western boundary of the Free State and then through the Northern Cape province, eventually meeting the Atlantic Ocean in the west where it forms the southern border of Namibia and the northern border of South Africa’s Northern Cape Province.

*Information courtesy of http://www.wikipedia.org

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