For some, construction vehicles are purely workhorses and just a necessary part of the building process. But the first few trucks that were used to build Gondwana’s canyon lodges, thirty years ago, had ample character and were regarded as rather special, some even remaining on site and becoming part of the décor at Canyon Roadhouse.
It was still early days, long before the well-known hospitality company, Gondwana Collection Namibia, was born. The seed was planted when I bought a farm with Lothar Gessert adjoining the Fish River Canyon to create a conservation area and offer hiking trails. The Gondwana Collection would later grow from these humble beginnings.
In 1996 we bought the farm Karios and started to build what would be our first lodge, Canyon Lodge, to fund the conservation effort. We were building on a shoestring and it quickly became apparent that it was very expensive to hire the truck and tractor needed to transport the rocks for the bungalows and the sand from the riverbed to make bricks. Already pressed for funds, we tried to think of other alternatives. When Lothar heard of an old truck for sale at Buchholzbrunn near the Konkiep River, a farm near to where he grew up, we went to investigate.
There we found the old Ford truck that would be the first of a bevy of beloved canyon vehicles. Although still running, the rusted truck needed some work and a new tyre. We negotiated with the owner, who agreed to part with it for R15 000, the amount we would have had to pay to hire a tractor for a two-month period. Lothar took the whole day to drive it back to the canyon, but he arrived smiling proudly like a new father.
The Ford truck served us well. When it was finally put out to pasture, it stood outside Canyon Lodge as part of the frontier-type decoration and then it was moved to Canyon Roadhouse as a permanent fixture. When I reminisce about the early canyon days, I realise that it could have been the dear old Ford truck that inspired me to create a fun, informal and colourful automobile ‘museum’ at the Roadhouse, where the guests have the unusual opportunity to dine among the colourful ‘old-timers’.
When the Ford was no longer able to be coaxed into life, we looked out for another vehicle to replace it. By then Alain Noirfalise and Sonia Corsini had joined the team and Alain heard about an old army Bedford truck for sale on a farm on the western side of the canyon and went to take a look. He purchased it for R3 000, filled up the tank with petrol and drove it back towards the Gondwana canyon lodges. It was a long way, first on the Lüderitz-Keetmanshoop road, then on the gravel road to the south past Naute Dam, and it took him the good part of a day to get home. It was a battered old truck, with no windscreen and no windows. The doors didn’t close properly and there were no seats. Alain had to make do with a makeshift seat on an old beer crate. While driving, as he puffed on cigarette after cigarette, he could feel a fine spray on his face, but assuming it was water from the cooling system and being too busy keeping the truck from stalling and encouraging it up the hills, didn’t give it much thought. When he eventually returned home after a challenging day on the road, Sonia immediately commented that he reeked of petrol. The old truck had been spraying up a fine stream of petrol the entire journey. Alain’s guardian angel was with him that day and instead of going up in a plume of smoke, he, thankfully, lived to tell the tale. The Bedford lasted for several years and was used to build Canyon Village before it was eventually sold.
Years later, when the second building phase of the Roadhouse was underway, we got wind of an old Chevy truck in Swakopmund and purchased it for a slightly higher price than the previous vehicles. I knew that when the building was finished it would fit in nicely with the automobile museum I had in mind. But the old Chevy didn’t even have enough left in it to make it back to the canyon. By the time we got to Rehoboth, just south of Windhoek, it had taken its last breath and had to be towed all the way home. It became one of the centrepieces in the Roadhouse, where it still stands beaming happily today.
My reputation as ‘the crazy guy who buys old trucks’ had already proceeded me when we found an old red International truck that had been used in the salt works on the outskirts of Swakopmund. This one made it back to the canyon and was used to transport bricks. The throttle soon ceased functioning and someone had to sit on the mudguard next to the open bonnet and regulate the speed for the driver. It just made it through the building phase before it was transformed into a unique reception cubicle in the Roadhouse’s foyer.
There were some smaller trucks and bakkies in the mix of vehicles that the company bought over the years. One of the last of the larger classic trucks was an old Mercedes bought from the Plietz workshop in Lüderitz. We hoped to repair it for use around the lodge, but had no success. Even after we made some mechanical repairs and rebuilt the panelling in the cab, which had disintegrated during the journey, it was deemed only suitable for decoration and it too made its way into the automobile restaurant sooner than anticipated.
After that, the team, now with more funds available, could afford newer and more reliable vehicles, but none remain as dear to us as those first old jalopies.