4 Raindrops and a Herd of Eland…

Day 13

Somewhere between Dutlwe and Sekoma to Mpayathutlwa Pan (Botswana)

Distance : 269.5 km

The new day dawned dull and miserable. The cool weather from the previous night had not completely passed through yet so we staggered around the camp site having breakfast, coffee, tea and tidying up.

Ready to leave – only footprints and tyre tracks left behind

Once breakfast was done we broke camp, cleaned up behind ourselves and started the journey to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP).Another day of cut line driving, some tar and then the long haul cut line to the gates of the KTP.

Move ’em out head ’em up get ’em up Rawhide

The journey was broken by some impromptu fast food takeaways when we stopped for fuel in Sekoma – best slap chips we had for the whole 3 weeks!

6 Russian and chips…

After refuelling we hit the road again and a ‘short’ hundred odd kilometres later we almost over ran the turn off to the KTP. Once off the main road and through the gate we stopped to reduce the tyre pressure before heading down another (bloody) cut line…

The sign…

The entrance…

The road…

 

Just in case you were confused by the huge interchange, this is the Main Road…

In general, this cut line was in not too bad condition – we had been on far worse in the Central Kalahari – and we made relatively good time. If you can call 120km in 3 hours good time… Although we did have a short stop for a bit of lunch and some much welcome refreshment.

As we neared the KTP gate at Mabuasehube the weather started to change. The light overcast clouds started to break up as the wind freshened, but they were replaced by much darker storm clouds that were gathering in the south east.

Building up

A short stop at the gate to present our credentials and bookings, sign in on the register, pit stop and off we continued. All the while the horison grew darker and darker as a couple of fat rain drops splattered down on the windscreen.

This was completely different weather to anything we had encountered to date on the trip. The only variations so far had been heat, cold, wind and some overcast, low hanging clouds.

As we drove deeper into the park towards our camp site at Mpayathutlwa Pan the storm drifted away from us until we were once again covered in sunshine. However, as we rounded the pan and came up to our camp we were presented with a stunning vista across the pan. The pan itself was bathed in sunshine but the far rim was covered by thunderclouds that provided a dark and threatening backdrop.

By now the wind was whipping around the cars so we disembarked from the vehicles and drank in the scene unfolding before us before quickly fortifying the camp site A-frame in preparation for the storm that could hit at any moment.

There was a brief break from our frenetic activity when the cry of “Quick, check out the eland on the pan!”. Out of nowhere, a large herd of eland, at least a hundred strong, belted across the pan only to stop at the far end and begin feeding on the dry grass.

Eland on the pan!

The storm moves on with a rainbow wave goodbye

The storm continued to pass us unscathed until it blew itself out, providing a fantastic backdrop for the slowly setting sun to throw an evening light show for us.

While we were fortunate not to be panel beaten by the storm, the changeable weather did result in temperatures dropping even further which, in turn, lead to a dash for warm clothes, some coffee and the inevitable ethanol induced internal warming solution…

Getting cooler

Prepping supper

Post dinner drinks and the camera is not the only thing that is battling to focus…

Followed by dinner… And bed… Before the mist rolled in…

Facts for the day (taken from the GPS readings on Google-Earth so don’t blame me for the Max Speed reading):

Distance 269.5 km
Min Alt 1001.140 meters
Max Alt 1109.560 meters
Max Speed 5232.8 km/hour (John, your Cruiser is getting faster and faster…)
Avg Speed 29.4 km/hour

3 Dumb Gemsbok and a Cut Line Camp…

Day 12

Khutse Game Reserve to somewhere between Dutlwe and Sekoma (Botswana)

Distance : 298 km

As you can see from the picture below, the day started with everyone in a phenomenally good mood…

Don’t worry, be happy…

The temperature had dropped overnight so it was a bit chilly in the morning and with a fairly long day of travel ahead of us no-one was racing around full of energy.

The Motley Crew in all its glory!

The plan for the day was to leave the park and travel south to Letlhakeng, hang a right and head west towards Dutlwe. At Dutlwe we would leave the tar road and take the north-south cut line down towards Sekoma. Camping for the night was to be somewhere along the cut line road…basically where ever we could find a “comfortable ” spot.

Once breakfast was done and the vehicles packed we headed off across Mahurushele Pan towards the gate. There was a fair amount of game that kept us entertained – including a small herd (three of) gemsbok that decided we must be bad news so they took off at a gallop when we drew close. The only problem was that they ran parallel to the road, about 50 m into the grass, so all they achieved was a large amount of breathlessness as we comfortably kept up with them. Eventually they stopped, gave us a completely uncomplimentary glare, turned 90 degrees to the road and disappeared into the bush. Not the brightest antelope then…

3 Dumb Gemsbok

Once at the gate we checked out of the park, loaded up on fresh water and headed out towards Letlhakeg.

This picture is for Cut Line Kevin – you see the straight line through the middle of the map? Yup, that’s his – he owns it now!

Pumping tyres and water

The Cable Tie King

After 10 days in the bush Dietwin had lost the ability to read…

White Kalahari, Red Kalahari

That’s Us!

Southern fence of the Khutse Game Reserve

For the next 2 hours exactly nothing of excitement or interest happened so rather than bore you with 25 paragraphs of meaningless scenery descriptions I will just fast forward to…

Letting down tyres at Dutlwe

Late afternoon found us at Dutlwe, the point of departure from the tar and on to the cut line. The goat infested area close to the main tar road soon gave way to a more grassed and bushy area where cattle appeared to be predominant. Cattle fences soon appeared on either side of the road and we eventually started coming across farm gates which we let ourselves through.

Gate Master 1

Gate Master 2

After an hour or so of cattle fences and gates, and with the sun starting to get lower and lower on the horizon, we began to look out for a place to camp for the night. At this point we were closed in on both sides by 2.5 m game fencing and the visions of spending the night camped in the middle of the road started to cross our minds. Then just as we were resigning ourselves to this eventuality, both fences turned 90 degrees away from the road and the perfect camp site opened up for us.

After a short reconnoitre we ended up camping on either side of the road. While we put up the various tents Dietwin set about constructing a masterful braai pit which was put to good use that evening as the temperatures plummeted when a cold front came through from the cape.

Cut Line Camp

Temperatures dropping fast…

We had a nice quiet night – no game to disturb us, just the gentle lowing of some seriously confused cattle who decided to camp down next to us. Although, shortly after supper, as we were sipping hour post dinner aperitifs, a set of car lights appeared down the road heading towards us at speed. As it drew closer, the car slowed down, obviously confused to find tents and lights on either side of the road. I imagine thoughts of road blocks and breathalysers was crossing the driver’s somewhat anxious mind. As they passed through our camp, the bakkie load of farm workers burst into smiles and waves which we, naturally, returned along with raised glasses!

Comment of the day :

Looking up at the glorious Milky Way Galaxy carving a line of light across the night sky, “Hey Kevin, check it out, a Cut Line in the Sky!”

Facts for the day:

Distance 298.0 km
Min Alt 1001.620 meters
Max Alt 1151.230 meters
Max Speed 160.9 km/hour
Avg Speed 28.8 km/hour

7 Giraffe with a Suicidal Death Wish…

Day 10

Mahurushele Camp 03 to Molosi Pan and back (Khutse Game Reserve)

Distance : 108.3 km

Chirp of the day : Nico, with a piece of dry wors in each hand, “Balanced diet”.

We were all up before sunrise, coffee percolated and downed with a few rusks before heading out for a morning game drive to Molosi Pan.

On arrival we found the pride of lion scattered across the pan, most of them lounging around in the morning sun. A few of the youngsters would play catch briefly before flopping down into the long grass again.

While we were sitting watching the lion to the south of the pan, a small herd of giraffe slowly eased out of the bush from the north and made their way down to the waterhole. The lead giraffe spent a some time edging closer to the waterhole while keeping an eye out for the lion. Eventually he leant down and began drinking but was soon up again, shifting nervously away from the water. The rest of the herd remained 30m back, keeping lookout.

The whole herd then moved around the waterhole and headed south towards the area of the pan that the lion were occupying. Bizarrely, they then started running at an angle past the lion, not more than 100m from the closest one before stopping and looking at the bemused felines.

This was it, we thought, the lion were about to sample a little giraffe tartar!

The giraffe then had another little burst for about 50 metres, stopped, milled about for a while, checked the lion out again and then wandered into the bush. Absolute disinterest from the pride, just a few yawns and heads down again.

30 minutes later the giraffe re-appeared north of the waterhole and wandered unconcerned up to it and began drinking. To all intents and purposes, it looked like the giraffe had deliberately run past the lion to see how hungry they were. When there was no interest, they doubled back and had a relaxing drink with none of the pressure associated with being on somebody else’s lunchtime menu…

After spending another half an hour watching the lion doing absolutely nothing we headed back to camp for breakfast and a quite day re-arranging cargo between the vehicles.

Later that afternoon we headed back to the waterhole in the hopes of finding a bit more activity but this was not to be. The lion had had an even more relaxing day than us and were still spread around the pan.

This is when you realise that, once you get out of the car, you are no longer at the top of the food chain…

We ended up watching the sun set behind a pair of springbok play fighting near the waterhole before heading back to the camp for a well deserved supper.

Facts for the day:

Distance 108.3 km
Min Alt 901.250 meters
Max Alt 1099.500 meters
Max Speed 453.8 km/hour
Avg Speed 8.5 km/hour