Dog Day Afternoons.

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Dewi
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Dog Day Afternoons.

Post by Dewi »

♫Ring-ring, ring-ring. ♫

The telephone rang insistently until I picked up the receiver and said "Hello?"

"Hey Dewi. Get your backside onto a plane, we are off to Botswana." Said J.

"But we don't have the Kombi." I replied…"It's still kaput after we hit that donkey roadblock on the way to Nata last year. How are we going to get there?" I enquired a little apprehensively.

"A Boer mak'n plan." Said J. Excitement in his voice. "Just get yourself on a flight here and we will soon figure something out. I'm thinking Zim, Zam & Nam as well while we are at it."

So I called my travel agent………"I've retired." He said. "But I'll pass your details onto a friend of mine who is in the business and she will sort you out, don't you worry."

So, off I flew, arriving in Pretoria with no real idea of where we were going.

"Let's have a braai and sort this out." Chirped J.

"Good plan. I like it so far." I answered, popping off a lid from an ice-cold beer.

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Two days later we were packed and ready for the off. We would be leaving early the following morning. As I packed the last of our supplies into the Hi-lux we'd hired for the trip, I realised that we had not bought any lip-ice to fend off cracked lips in the dry heat.

"No problem." said A. I have two spare for you both to use.

So off we went, leaving early and heading North for the border post at Groblersbrug/Martin's Drift. We were not looking forward to going through the border as it had taken an age to go through all the formalities last year, so it was a surprise to get through immigration, customs and vehicle checks all within fifteen minutes of our arrival there. The only untoward thing that happened were the strange looks we got from officials and fellow travellers alike.

We hopped back into the Hi-lux and I took one look at J and burst out laughing. He in turn, looked at me and also burst into fits of laughter.

Turns out that A had given us a couple of tubes of the kid's lip-ice. Both of which were bright pink in colour! No wonder we had such funny looking stares as we went through border control!

Once we stopped laughing and the jokes were exhausted, we both realised that despite the embarrassment, it sure meant that we were dealt with quickly and efficiently.

Before long, we were sitting in camp, enjoying a beer with our neighbours and relaxing in true wilderness with no fences.

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A roaring fire and the sounds of the bush simply cannot be beaten.

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Dewi

What is the good of having a nice house without a decent planet to put it on? (H D Thoreau)
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Richprins
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Re: Dog Day Afternoons.

Post by Richprins »

=O: =O: =O: =O: =O:

Now that is how a trip should start...tring tring, ok, pack, go, get there, braai drink. No mess no fuss! \O

Lipstick makes the post go faster... ..0..


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Flutterby
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Re: Dog Day Afternoons.

Post by Flutterby »

Great start Dewi! \O

I think you should start selling that lip ice at the borderpost to get people through quickly! lol


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Re: Dog Day Afternoons.

Post by Lisbeth »

:shock:

Great! here we go 0*\ 0*\

Is one of those kind of sleeping cabins on the roof big enough for you? -O- lol or do you have to bend O**

So the thing to do, is to avoid Gabarone :yes: \O


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Re: Dog Day Afternoons.

Post by RogerFraser »

^Q^ ^Q^ Thats definately my kind of start to a trip

We generally have to plan and plan and ... before any trip O**

Love the first picture ,so looking forward to being able to overland in a year or so time once the youngest rugrat is finished with school .None of my family have experienced true fenceless parks and I was probably about 12 the last time I did .

0()


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Richprins
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Re: Dog Day Afternoons.

Post by Richprins »

Maybe you must get one of THOSE 4 cross 4s, Rog? =O:


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Re: Dog Day Afternoons.

Post by RogerFraser »

Richprins wrote:Maybe you must get one of THOSE 4 cross 4s, Rog? =O:
:yes: Probably a good first ,step now where was that plan .... O**


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Re: Dog Day Afternoons.

Post by Richprins »

:twisted:

Looks like J knows his meat, I must say...wonder what Robert's opinion is? 0()


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Re: Dog Day Afternoons.

Post by Dewi »

Thanks for the comments RP, Flutt's, Lis & Roger. \O

They were roof tents Lis, and very comfortable they were too. \O

J's braai's are delicious RP. O/\

Just do it Rog. \O

Sounds like a good plan there Flutt's. lol \O


Dewi

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Re: Dog Day Afternoons.

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J's friend Ruel had joined us and on the morning he was to leave, we had a special encounter.

Ruel went off to shower as J and I stretched the tiredness away after a comfy night's sleep in the roof tents. I put the kettle on and was about to fetch my toothbrush when Ruel shouted "Wild Dogs!" J & I looked up to see a small herd of Impala galloping by closely followed by a pack of Wild Dogs. It was all over in seconds and none of us had any time to react.

"Wow! What an experience." We all chorused. And what a thrill it had been. Seeing these apex predators in full hunting mode mere metres away whilst we stood out in the open, mouths agape. "A once in a lifetime experience.

Or so we thought.

Fast forward to J & I's last night in true wilderness on this trip. We were in the camp site adjacent to the one above. We had decided not to bother with taking the tents down to go for a drive and opted to stay in camp all day relaxing and enjoying the bush. After all. The campsite is famed as a place where the wildlife comes to you.

By noon, J was dozing off in his chair, so decided to get into his tent for a nap. I wondered around camp watching birds, elephants, hippos and crocs, but nothing really exiting was happening. By four o'clock, we were starting to think that we had made a mistake and should have gone out for a drive. I marinaded our T-bone steaks for that evening's meal and we then sat down with a beer, chatting about what a great trip we'd had. As the sun set behind the camp, we lit the fire and once the coals had formed, put the T-bones on to braai.

Thwunk-thwunk-thwunk-thwunk. "What the hell is that?" I started to say as an Impala soared over at full gallop, fear in it's eyes. We both stood up to see a Wild Dog heading straight for us. We could not move. We were frozen on the spot. The dog simply veered to one side and skirted around the fire. I'll swear that he kicked sand on our T-bones deliberately as he sailed on by! Six other dogs were behind him, also in hot pursuit, but they veered slightly wider around and headed off in the same direction as the lead dog.

We walked to the edge of the campsite and stared into the twilight, not quite comprehending what just happened. As we stood there, all seven dogs came trotting along back up the entrance road to the camp. They had obviously lost their chance of an early supper and were on the look out for other prey. As they melted into the bush, we both saw another movement behind them. Two Honey Badgers were snuffling around in the grass, heading in the same general direction as the dogs had just gone. As soon as the Badgers were lost to sight, a Rufous-cheeked Nightjar flew overhead, hawking for moths. We watched it glide by and into the gloom just as two Pearl-spotted Owlets started a duet in the tree above our heads. We returned to our camp chairs. Opened another beer,(the previous ones having been kicked over in all the excitement) and started to toast our good fortune at having seen a second Wild Dog hun…………

Thwunk-thwunk-thwunk-thwunk. …..

Deja flaming vu. An Impala raced through our campsite, Wild Dogs close behind. All hell broke loose again, beers flying everywhere. Not ten minutes after the first hunt of the evening, the dogs did exactly the same thing again!

We were elated that night as we sat around the fire, drinking our whole supply of beer and polishing off two of the best T-bone steaks we have ever had.

Even if they were a bit gritty!

Photographers impression of scared Impalas.
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Artists impression of Wild Dogs.
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T-bones.
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Oh. I forgot to mention that the dogs had 13 hungry little mouths to feed just a few hundred metres away. I guess you'll be wanting to see them in a bit? -O-


Dewi

What is the good of having a nice house without a decent planet to put it on? (H D Thoreau)
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