On our way to Mabuasehube and Berrybush, part 1: via tar from Morwa to the beginning of the cutline close to Khoka. Bram can take many ‘on the road’ pictures because Maud decided she’ll damn well drive her own car, even on tar in between all those bad chauffeurs who never should have passed their road test. As long as it is not too busy that is.
The cutline from Khoka to Mabuasehube main gate gate is way better then we expected; no driving 20 k’s an hour through deep sand at all. We can keep it in high 2 all the way, and do about 40 k’s an hour. So we’ll easily reach the camp where we appointed with Mien & Bernard well before dark.
GMP1 at Mpayathutlwa pan (giraffe’s stomach) – we all made it before sunset! So no rescue expotitions, no driving back the cutline to Khoka to look for us, or the cutline to Hukunsi to find Mien & Bernard. As for Frank & Jelle, we didn’t know if they were really on their way, so it was a nice surprise to see them driving in.
Sundowners at the pan’s edge, with an excellent view on the dipologolo (game).
The one and only lion Bram & Maud saw, real close to the campsite just before ours. We did see spoor, and heard them later on, but no more close visual encounters... Which doesn’t mean they weren’t close; this lioness was walking around only a couple of meters away from a bunch of happy campers who clearly weren’t aware of her at all. Our friends saw 11 lions at the next pan, 10 k's away.
We shared this campsite with the Van Niekerk’s, three South Africans who got lost on their way to their site, and once they found their bearings again by reaching Mpayathutlwa pan didn’t want to gamble on having enough fuel to make more detours. Those 4x4 chew fuel like there’s no tomorrow, especially in the deep Kalahari sand, so no matter how much you take (we took 200 litres), you always wanna be careful.
We are so lucky that the Van Niekerk family ended up with us, after being send away in a very rude way at the first campsite they encountered. They are very nice, and, an incredible stroke of luck, they invite us to do the wilderness trail & camp on their permit. Per day there’s only one party (minimum 2 vehicles, maximum 5) allowed on that trail. They booked it already May 2011. That shows how timely you have to be; we only started booking 2 weeks before departure, so we were way too late for all the special camps.
Our second night we camp at Gma4, Mabuashube (‘red soil’ in Sekgalagadi). Again there’s a lot of game on the pan, mainly antelopes (springbok, gemsbok, eland, red hartebees, wildebees) and jackal. It’s fabulous to see so many phofu (eland), the second-largest antelope in Africa. They are so impressive, especially the head-bull, but they tend to be shy.
It’s autumn, and icy-cold in the evening, night, morning. This is the time of the year when you start to notice the desert-extremes; hot days, but no more sweaty hot nights – in winter it can freeze overnight up to minus 15 degrees Celsius. So, get that fire started well before sunset, and convert the tailgate into a bar!
While one daring Flying Banana goes looking for food in the cab, the others decide to inspect their looks. You'll see the southern yellow-billed hornbill everywhere, and they tend not to be shy at all.
Maud's diphaphatha still don't look like they should, but they are digestible - and fresh.
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Our chef camp cook. Bernard seriously upped the standards for camp grub; delicious nice breakfasts, big lunches, yummy dinners – Bram will be so disappointed when it’s back to tins & soy mince on trips without the Chef.
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, at the South African side. After ploughing our way through the deep sand and over the dunes for a couple of hours we finish the Mabuasehube-Nossob Wilderness Trail, and hit the good gravel on the SA side. There are a lot of waterholes along the road, so game is concentrated there instead of on the pans. Since we have to do a lot of k’s today the good road is convenient but otherwise we don’t care much for this part of the park.
The landscape is still beautiful, but it’s way too busy, and hysterically regulated. The camps our side consist of a wooden pole & sign saying ‘campsite’, and there’ll be one party only per site. At the South African side the camps are totally fenced in and packed with tents and campers. When you are on the road you can’t even take a leak without being harassed about not being allowed to leave your car at all times. How did they teach their lions to not attack people when they are getting out at the one not fenced picnic site, and otherwise eat everyone who dares to leave the vehicle?
Our 4x4’s have been chewing petrol even worse then we estimated while driving through the deep sand. Okay, we didn’t need our jerry cans yet, but refuelling at Nossob is a must.
Our last night we spend at Two Rivers, after topping up our fuel at Twee Rivieren (yes, that’s the RSA side). Around here the gorgeous red dunes that also mark the first part of the road to Tshabong start.
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