Now what?

[nan]

poor of you Moggiedog


I can understand the feeling... was a bit the same for me during my last trip to SA... at home, 10000 km away

[Flutterby]

An awful start to your trip Moggie! How did you manage without ID?

[Mel]

Geez, Moggie! You are one brave lady to carry on with your trip despite the terrible incidence with your most important belongings!

Hats off.

I hope you managed to forget about the theft at least for a bit and enjoyed the treasures of the Kgalagadi.
She should have been extraordinarily good to you after all you went through to see her.

And good luck with getting your ducks back in a row again

[Moggiedog]

Final packing under way and it was a tad of a disaster. Somehow time had got away from me and I was throwing things in - hopefully what I needed rather than a load of junk.

At least the most important items had been packed. Pre-cooked meals. Many years ago I discovered the advantage of precooks- especially for a long trip. Only time would tell if I had packed the necessities in other departments.

At sparrows the following morning we were on the road. As per usual my mind was a whirlwind of "what have I forgotten?" Another concern was my one old lady (dog) at the age of 17 I was worried about her health - after all she is past her sell by date. Another concern was another little dog who had landed up at the vet every time I had left her for any length of time. The rest of the pack - well they would just be fat as pigs by the time I got home as they cope with separation by comfort eating.

The miles were eaten up as we bombed along at a steady pace - catching up on gossip and discussing our previous trips together. One thing I know for sure - laughter would be the name of the game.

The sun was peeping over the horizon when nature started calling. Being two woman alone we wanted to make sure we stopped in a place of safety. We eventually found a place - cannot remember where - but we decided it should be fine. Now the term spend a penny springs to mind - but fortunately the loo's were open and not the new trend of spend R2.00!


Back on the road feeling tons lighter we were highly amused by the "statues", artwork? on the middle mannetjie in the one town. For the life of me cannot remember where it was. (way too much has happened in my life - or I am going senile - not sure which.


Being a family forum - I will not share the comments regarding these works that took place in the car. I will leave it to your imagination and you can form your own opinion of what they symbolize. My problem is I sometimes have a mind like a sewerage works.

When one has a good travelling companion time goes fast and before we knew it it was time to re-hydrate a dehydrated vehicle as well as feed our grumbling bellies.


Jax noticed one of the tie-downs was not looking very healthy and on checking for a spare discovered they had been borrowed and not returned. Next stop was to find a place to purchase extra ratchet straps(if possible . We knew Kuruman would be the most likely place to purchase said straps. The sad thing about Kuruman is that it has become a den of thieves.
On our previous trip we were almost victims when we stopped at a stop street - fortunately there was no traffic and it was only quick reflexes that saved the perpetrator from being squashed like a bug. Knowing this, when we stopped, I was like a meerkat on watch. This didn't help - I was robbed of a bag containing all my documents (including our bookings for Botswana), my torches, head lamp and other items I deemed essential for staying in unfenced camps.

I sadly remembered the days when Kuruman was our overnight stop. It used to be such a beautiful, peaceful little place to spend a restful evening before the final stretch to KTP. If I had a choice I would avoid it like the plague - unfortunately it is unavoidable unless one wants to add many, many kilometers to the trip. (at least we got some tie-downs even if they were not of the best!)

At Hotazel I managed to report the theft. Our police force in Gauteng should take a leaf out of the Kuruman's police book. What a pleasure to deal with police officers who lean over backwards to assist. Not only that the mine security went out of there way to help me in reporting the theft.

Not in the best frame of mind we continued on to Vanzylsrus - where once again we had a thirsty vehicle. We also wanted to buy a couple of odds and ends before heading into the KTP.

We were staying at Leeuwpan a few clicks down the road from Kuruman. Due to the delays with the theft we would be arriving a tad later than expected but still well before sundown.

I got out of the car to open the gate and noticed a long black snake like thingamajiggie hanging down the fron of Jax's car - Now what!

[Flutterby]

Whew, lots of action and "excitement" before you even got there!

What was the snake-like thingy, I wonder?

[Lisbeth]

You sure know how to make a story full of excitement, drama and lots of laughs

Nothing worse than theft in SA and loose documents is absolutely terrible You were lucky to find helpful police, because as you say in Gauteng they have no idea and no will to do ANYTHING

[Richprins]

Hey, Moggie!

Nice to see you back on track!

What great storytelling again!

But down with Kuruman...a disgrace as you say! It may become a liberated city soon, though?
https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/20 ... ouncillor/

[Moggiedog]

Thanks for staying and waiting for me to get going again.

Mel, Nan, H.erectus, and anyone else I may have missed - glad to have you on my journey/horror story


RP - not sure about being on track - but one wheel is wobbly and the other is bouncing next to the track - but getting there.

Flutterby - fortunately was not asked to produce any documents. Luckily the wild card can be picked up with ones ID number and a physical card not needed

Lisbeth - agreed - but the most important no one was hurt and only material things taken - which can be replaced. (except for some items that are close to the heart for various reasons)

[Moggiedog]

A big black disc was attached to the black line and on closer inspection discovered it was one of the spots. Both lights had recently been installed but one screw was as tight as Scrooges wallet whilst the other screw was more like the ladies of the nights morals.Breathing a sigh of relief we balanced the light on the bull bars - a job for the following morning.

We drove to the building we presumed to be the reception.

There was no sign of human activity. We peered in the windows - but it was very obvious that everything was locked up tight. Now what - We were expected as we had booked in advance, the only thing we hadn't specified was whether we would be staying in the old farm house or in the tents.
Sadly we had no cell reception so we were in a bit of a quandary as to what to do.
Then movement!
A BIG bird - and a small cat. Not knowing whether the bird was friendly we decided discretion was the better part of valor and hopped in the car.

Big bird was very curious and circled the car with his/her head to one side.

Keeping a wary eye on big bird we hopped out the car and eventually found a place with weak signal.
Fortunately we were able to get hold of the owner who stated she would be back in a tic - she had just gone shopping in town and assured us big bird was harmless.

Having had a bit of a rough day we decided the farm house was a better option as there was hot water and flush toilets. We knew we had a good three weeks ahead of us with (if we were lucky) long drops and bucket baths.

Time to do a final check of camera batteries and other items that needed charging. This is when it gets frustrating that items have been stolen and you have to borrow chargers from friends.

The sun was sinking fast, as it does in Africa, our fire was burning bright. Big bird decided it enjoyed our company and was following us like a dog. We soon discovered it would not walk on the cement patio - so to avoid its over enthusiastic attention we sat on the patio.

Jax and I then hit the OB's. The less said about that the better - what happens in Leeupan stays in Leeupan.

We had not planned on an early start so when I woke up I crept about so as not to wake Jax and Kitty Cat who had decided she was going to sleep with us as well.

I ventured outside (the Sun was a bit bright - even though it was only just waking up) and I was immediately confronted by big bird. It had also decided that the patio was not so bad after all - I only hoped it wouldn't follow me indoors.

Jax was awake and up and about and I had managed to give big bird the slip! I left Jax to its attentions.

[nan]

like the Emeu sitting on the terrace