Africa Wild

Mel wrote:The young and fluffy hyena is still very cute But, ja, the older one looks a bit... mean

I don't think I've ever seen a weaver so far up north. But then again, I haven't seen many weavers in the KTP anyway.

The goshawk with the kill is fantastic too

Thanks Mel.

We didn't see many weavers I must admit.

That goshawk was awesome

10th Sept

We packed up at Nossab with this beautiful sunrise to start the day. Tyre pressures were reduced to 1 bar for the thick
sand.



The turn off to Mabuasehube. 200ks of thick sand and the worst corrugations one could wish for It was heavy going
and took us 8 hours. There was next to no game en route. A long tiring day to say the least.



The first 20ks were the worst from a dune point of view and inevitably one of us got stuck in the sand up one of
the dunes. The trailers made it even more difficult and they do damage the road, making it extremely bumpy where
they get wheel spin up the dunes. We needed momentum to get up the dune and we had to hang on to everything.
It was shake,rattle and roll until the road leveled out a bit..



SO in the back ground with his hand in the air. When we all got back into the cars SO said did we realise this was
lion country and there we all were out of the cars. I must admit I did check around





Some of the scenery along the way. Lovely parkland with long grass to.....



to bare ground.


A mid way stop for coffee and something to eat.


This from a few years ago I believe. Apparently when the grass is long in the middle of the road it can build up
around the exhaust and eventually it will catch alight.



We arrived at our camp site at Mabuasehube pan, set up and then relaxed with another beautiful sunset.



Again no water at all and a disgusting toilet. We heard that about three years ago there had been water here but
either the pipes had broken or the boreholes had run dry. The water hole in this pan also had no water. The lions and
leopards have learnt that there can be water in the drain from the shower and they regularly patrol around looking for
water. Amazingly there were quite a lot of birds and there were half plastic bottles in the sand where people put water
out for them.

I kinda admire you lot! You happily embark on a journey that is strenuous and tiring, fully aware of the fact that you might not even be rewarded with something really special along the way but with a high risk of getting stuck in the sandy dunes. And then you put up with disgusting toilets and not water in the pan to attract any animals... Genuine love for the Wilderness

I'm really curious to learn more about that area. Don't think I'll ever see it myself (the road alone is enough to put off the SO with his bad back, let alone the fact that we would have to camp ) but still - I'm really curious.

Looks like quite a strenuous journey!! Well done on making it!

Catching up.

A great start to your trip but a cape cobra living with you

Love the camp setup, but petrol down the long-drop.

Some great lion sightings, however the leopard at Polentswa takes the prize for me

Mother cheetah and 4 cubs and then a kill, pity about the workers and the noise

That young hyena checking you out gave me a laugh

The turn off to Mabuasehube. 200ks of thick sand and the worst corrugations one could wish for It was heavy going
and took us 8 hours. There was next to no game en route. A long tiring day to say the least.

I would have cracked, well done for making it

A great adventure there, pooky!

Strange no water...I'm sure a lot of income comes in? What does it cost?

Fortuner again!

Mel wrote:I kinda admire you lot! You happily embark on a journey that is strenuous and tiring, fully aware of the fact that you might not even be rewarded with something really special along the way but with a high risk of getting stuck in the sandy dunes. And then you put up with disgusting toilets and not water in the pan to attract any animals... Genuine love for the Wilderness

I'm really curious to learn more about that area. Don't think I'll ever see it myself (the road alone is enough to put off the SO with his bad back, let alone the fact that we would have to camp ) but still - I'm really curious.

Thanks Mel for your interest. I will elaborate some more in the next episode.

Flutterby wrote:Looks like quite a strenuous journey!! Well done on making it!

Thanks Flutterby. It was quite a trip and the worst was knowing that we had to do it all again to get back

Bushcraft wrote:Catching up.

A great start to your trip but a cape cobra living with you

Love the camp setup, but petrol down the long-drop.

Some great lion sightings, however the leopard at Polentswa takes the prize for me

Mother cheetah and 4 cubs and then a kill, pity about the workers and the noise

That young hyena checking you out gave me a laugh

The turn off to Mabuasehube. 200ks of thick sand and the worst corrugations one could wish for It was heavy going
and took us 8 hours. There was next to no game en route. A long tiring day to say the least.

I would have cracked, well done for making it

Welcome aboard BC.Thanks for popping in

One is always in anticipation of a great sighting - but... it doesn't always happen - but there is a bit of excitement to come
still. The peace and quiet and stars at night were glorious - and we will be back

Richprins wrote:A great adventure there, pooky!

Strange no water...I'm sure a lot of income comes in? What does it cost?

Fortuner again!

The Botswana campsites were very cheap - P30 per head. Perhaps part of the problem that nothing has been
upgraded.