Kgalagadi/Mabuasehube with Pooky and gang.

[pooky]

11th Sept

Just a little bit of background about this area of KTP.

There are several pans in the area which do fill up with water when the rains come. But when the pans dry up
the big herds of game migrate nearer to the delta to get water. Such was the case when we were there as we saw very little
game, a few gemsbok, 3 or 4 wildebees and several steenbok which ran as soon as they saw us.

Mabuasehube has 4 campsites, we were on 2&3 which were together and shared ablutions, No 4 was about 400M away
and No 1 was about 1K away. None of these sites had water, the piping was there but dry The water that we did find was
slightly salty which rusted all the metal. Maybe thats what happened to the piping. The man at the main gate in to Botswana,
said that some of the boreholes had dried up as well. But all would be fixed after their independence celebrations at the end
of September

One of the other pans, Mpayathutlwa, had water in one of the showers and at the waterhole. People had taken to putting
containers under the tap for water. The lions had learnt this and visited any time day and night. I have seen pics of people
sitting at camp tables with the lions drinking in the background. and if something goes wrong the lion will be in
trouble
One of our party decided to have a shower here when the site was empty. The yelling coming from the shower was funny
because the water was freezing cold.

I have read that these two campsites have been taken over by a private concern. They don't intend upgrading but the
price is going from P30 to P180 If they don't at least upgrade or keep the toilets clean I'm not sure how many people they will get

Some pics
Early morning light over looking Mabua pan.


No 1 campsite was way over on the right.


A redbilled spurfowl looking for water in the wash up basin


A northern black korhaan.


white backed vultures at one of the other pans where there was water


Yet another glorious sunset.


And the whole gang having supper under the A-frame.



I am away for the weekend - see you next week!!!

[Alf]

Sad that they don't so anything about the water problem

[Mel]

Increasing the price for the campsite without doing any repair work is totally crazy and unacceptable!
I'm sure there are hardcore campers out there who appreciate everything being rusty but I'm also sure
they won't be happy to pay such a stiff increase for their experience. Would be stupid to do so...

But like you said - not much water around, so the birds look for anything they can get. The francolin
in your basin looks quite funny if you forget the dire situation for the creatures in that area.

And the solitude must be an unbeatable experience

[Richprins]

Seems hardcore self-drive, sort of, pooky?

How many rands to a Pula? (rands in lower case... )

I REALLY love the gathering pic!!!

Maybe in summer there is plenty water and interest is lost?

Kusasa is not a major thing re. planning in Africa?

[PRWIN]

Only notice your travel tale today and love it so far.

We are heading out there in July staying at Polentswa as well. Did you stay at #1 or #2? I suppose toilets will be the same at all sites.

Wonderful to know about the cheetahs near Nossob, but chasing an animal away from its kill is very sad and unbelievable. I wonder how much long they will be busy with the chalets that started in 2015 already.

We had bookings before at Mabua but never camped there or drove the 200 km road due to problems with the trailer's coils hold the shocks in place. And now the huge price increase for a campsite without water. Foreigners must fork our $35 per person per night.

Interested to see what you spotted around Mabua.

One last question. Do you drive a diesel 4x4 or petrol. Since Nov there is a notice out about problems filling up with petrol and that it is not available at all camps after 8 am until gate closure. So if you don't overnight at Nossob you can't fill up, which can be a huge issue for people staying further north.

[pooky]

Sad that they don't so anything about the water problem

Very sad Alf. Probably financial, but also a bit of lack of interest.

[pooky]

Increasing the price for the campsite without doing any repair work is totally crazy and unacceptable!
I'm sure there are hardcore campers out there who appreciate everything being rusty but I'm also sure
they won't be happy to pay such a stiff increase for their experience. Would be stupid to do so...

But like you said - not much water around, so the birds look for anything they can get. The francolin
in your basin looks quite funny if you forget the dire situation for the creatures in that area.

And the solitude must be an unbeatable experience

Lets hope they will upgrade a bit. But I am sure with upgrades will be more price increases.

Time will tell, we will have to go back sometime - to one of the other pans

[pooky]

Seems hardcore self-drive, sort of, pooky?

How many rands to a Pula? (rands in lower case... )

I REALLY love the gathering pic!!!

Maybe in summer there is plenty water and interest is lost?

Kusasa is not a major thing re. planning in Africa?

It is quite hardcore Richprins

R1.30 to a Pula or there about's. I have just paid for accommodation in Botswana and the rate was between R1.30 and R1.36.

If the rains are good in summer then the pans are all full -plenty of water - but still not in the pipes

Kusasa never comes RP

[pooky]

Only notice your travel tale today and love it so far.

We are heading out there in July staying at Polentswa as well. Did you stay at #1 or #2? I suppose toilets will be the same at all sites.

Wonderful to know about the cheetahs near Nossob, but chasing an animal away from its kill is very sad and unbelievable. I wonder how much long they will be busy with the chalets that started in 2015 already.

We had bookings before at Mabua but never camped there or drove the 200 km road due to problems with the trailer's coils hold the shocks in place. And now the huge price increase for a campsite without water. Foreigners must fork our $35 per person per night.

Interested to see what you spotted around Mabua.

One last question. Do you drive a diesel 4x4 or petrol. Since Nov there is a notice out about problems filling up with petrol and that it is not available at all camps after 8 am until gate closure. So if you don't overnight at Nossob you can't fill up, which can be a huge issue for people staying further north.

Thanks for coming on board PRWIN.

We were at #2 Polentswa. #1 is right on the edge of the river. #2 is higher up with a nice view. Unfortunately the toilets are all
the same We took one of those PVC shower buckets to hang up which work very well - just take it down after use otherwise it
might become a play thing

The workers in Nossob are from elsewhere and I don't think they realised that their shouting would frighten the cheetah - or maybe they don't really care. I don't know how much longer they will be there but there still seemed to be a lot to do.

There are other pans with campsites, some with water that haven't been privatized. Lesholoago is one with water and a nice outlook, Monamodi also has water but not such a great outlook. Khidding is quite a big camping area, but I don't think there is water. Mabua, in my opinion, has one of the nicest outlooks

We all had 4x4 diesel vehicles. We did all have jerry cans with extra fuel, because of the thick sand. I haven't seen the notice but
it surely will be a problem

Hope that answers some of your questions PRWIN - I will also comment further in the TT.

[pooky]

12 & 13th Sept

I have combined these 2 days as we saw very little. The 2 vehicles without trailers went back to Nossob on the 4x4
route,which has a compulsory overnight stop. There is just a tree where they stopped, no facilities at all!! The road though is
apparently better than the one we came on. No trailers to do damage

A yellow billed hornbill catching some early morning sun.


reviving the fire for breakfast. Our tent is on the left. Take note of the gap between the two tents.



A kori bustard in the shade of the lone tree on the pan.




Ground squirrels having a rough and tumble in the sand.










we drove around to some of the other pans and to the main gate into Botswana. This pretty bush was near the gate.
Not sure what it is


There was a beautiful brick ablution block at a small campsite near the gate, but it was locked - no water.
Water for the offices and staff quarters was brought by water tank from Tshabong, but 115ks away. We discovered that
one can come in that way. From Ashkam there is a border post, Pitsbok or something similar From there the road is
tarred to Tshabong then 115ks of gravel with about 20ks of sand. A much better road and although slightly longer is less
time. Passports would be required but less strenuous on man and vehicle That will be our choice next time - even to return
and then into Twee Rivieren



And then there were 6 of us. Note how close the trailer is to the A-frame. We had already taken down the awnings and
shade cloth 'hedge' behind our tent so that we could get an early start in the morning for the long trip back to Nossob.
Just before this pic was taken we were sitting on the edge of the slab looking out over the pan. All of a sudden something
slunk out of the grass along the edge of the pan. Leopard. There were some springbok on the pan and the leopard was
heading towards them. Quite scary sitting out in the open with a leopard walking around and it was getting dark.



Every night we had heard the lions, first night quite far away then slightly closer. At 1AM we woke up with a lion roaring
right in the campsite. I sat bolt upright. Our friends in the trailer tent also sat up and looked down on a lioness standing on
the concrete slab in front of their tent. There was a bright moon. The rest of us never moved because we couldn't see the lion.
Eventually we heard her 'umph umph' as she walked away. Our hearts were pounding. Eventually there was just an 'eish' from
our neighbours.



After this beautiful sunrise we checked out all the lion spoor. There appeared to have been 3 lion. The spoor went right
around our tent through the gap between the two tents, stepping over the guy ropes. look carefully you can see the spoor
in the sand. Maybe it was a good thing I didn't see the lion that close



After packing up we set off. We were at the back to start with. Stop, stop, leopard. Right next to the road
under a tree - with lots of twigs - Our friends drove right past without seeing it. But then they called on the radio
that a leopard ran across the road in front of them.
We did see quite a few steenbok, but nothing else.






A tea and coffee break. We had changed order at Matopi, so we were in front. This trip we had seen 3 cars going
to Mabua. One blue jerry can had fallen off the back trailer. Someones lucky day if they found it. It was empty though



Although the game sightings were very short the last night made up for it with the excitement. I think summer when the
water is a bit more plentiful sightings would be better. It was an experience which I wouldn't have missed, and we will be
back, but not from Nossob.