17-Jun-2005 -- This confluence point was visited during the annual Microlight Bundu Bash and is situated on Mr Francois Rossouw's farm "Saulstraat". As I did not receive direct permission from Mr Rossouw to traverse his property, I apologise unreservedly for any inconvenience I might have caused.

I was acting as ground support to my brother-in-law, Ian Carter who had flown out from the Azores to participate in the Bundu Bash. We had towed his microlight trike from Durban to Upington where he joined up with another 33 pilots; on Thursday, 16 June the group flew to Koppieskraalpan (26°56.628'S 20°20.086'E) to camp and fly around the pans. As I do not enjoy flying, I had decided to use the opportunity to visit various confluence points if possible.

On Friday, 17 June I set off before sunrise to find 27S 20E. To get there, one takes the R31 from Koppieskraalpan heading west for 31.5 kilometres before turning south for a further 44.7 kilometres which takes you to a position approximately 6 kilometres from the confluence point (27°00.240'S 20°04.124'E).

I had not organized permission to enter the farm with the owner but was fortunate to find a house and some workers cottages very near to the point where I needed access to the farm. One of the workers told me that the house (which had seemed unoccupied - it was sunrise after all!) belonged to the farm foreman and that I had to ask him whether he would allow the access gate to the farm to be unlocked. A rather bemused Mr Jurgens van Lill was raised from the depths of the house and greeted me in a pink tracksuit with a toothless smile. Having explained, in my best Afrikaans (which is not too good at all), what I was attempting to do, he handed me the keys to the necessary gates and explained that there was a farm road which bisected the Namibian border at a particular fence construction called "De Anker" (The Anchor) - we estimated that the point would be somewhere in this vicinity. A short drive later over a remarkably good road I arrived at the border fence, turned south through another gate and, some fifty meters east of the fence, I had arrived.

After having documented the Confluence point I set off back to the farmhouse to ensure that the keys were returned; to my surprise, I was met on the track by Mr van Lill and his "Butler" who had come to check if I was all right - typical of the friendliness and generosity of the people of the area.

A special word of thanks to Mr Frikkie Rupping of Upington for all his assistance in providing me with the names of the farms and farmers in the area and for providing directions based on his aeronautic maps.

Continued at 27S 21E.

The borderline with Namibia is running about 77 m west of the Confluence.