BluTuna goes West
Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 12:07 pm
Since I was at primary school I've been told to "Go West young man". They think they are being funny but it got old really quickly. I usually treat the instruction with the contempt it deserves but as July marks the 10th anniversary of our first and only KTP trip I thought that it was time to GO WEST even though I'm not so young any more.
I have mixed recollections about the first trip, the most enduring was the state of the roads.
The last 60Kms of the R360 before Twee Rivieren still ranks as the worst piece of public highway that I've ever driven on, the washboard effect was so bad that it took 90 minutes to cover the distance.
The roads inside the Park were not much better and the excuse was that the KTP's grader was broken so we had bad 'vibes' for the whole holiday. My poor old Toyota Venture never recovered from the trip.
I swore that I would not return until the R360 was fixed and last year I learned that it has been tarred, so, KTP here we come.
I also remember the good vibes - the eye-popping scenery, the exquisite morning and afternoon light, the magnificent vista of the Milky-Way at night, the exotic animals and birds that we don't see in the KNP and how numbingly cold it was in the early morning :)
We are setting off early on Saturday 1 June from Johannesburg and are staying overnight at Kalahari Guest House which is 50kms north of Upington on the R360. An early start from there should get us into the park and up to Mata Mata for our first night with plenty of time to spare.
You will have to wait until we get back to civilisation before you get to hear about our adventures unless I get the itch to do something when we are staying at Twee Rivieren.
Meanwhile, here are some of the pictures I took way back in July 2003.
Springboks
A slightly blurry Bat-Eared Fox - the best pic I managed of this animal
Yellow Mongoose
Ground squirrel
Oryxes
A Camelthorn tree with Sociable Weaver nests
A BBJ
I have mixed recollections about the first trip, the most enduring was the state of the roads.
The last 60Kms of the R360 before Twee Rivieren still ranks as the worst piece of public highway that I've ever driven on, the washboard effect was so bad that it took 90 minutes to cover the distance.
The roads inside the Park were not much better and the excuse was that the KTP's grader was broken so we had bad 'vibes' for the whole holiday. My poor old Toyota Venture never recovered from the trip.
I swore that I would not return until the R360 was fixed and last year I learned that it has been tarred, so, KTP here we come.
I also remember the good vibes - the eye-popping scenery, the exquisite morning and afternoon light, the magnificent vista of the Milky-Way at night, the exotic animals and birds that we don't see in the KNP and how numbingly cold it was in the early morning :)
We are setting off early on Saturday 1 June from Johannesburg and are staying overnight at Kalahari Guest House which is 50kms north of Upington on the R360. An early start from there should get us into the park and up to Mata Mata for our first night with plenty of time to spare.
You will have to wait until we get back to civilisation before you get to hear about our adventures unless I get the itch to do something when we are staying at Twee Rivieren.
Meanwhile, here are some of the pictures I took way back in July 2003.
Springboks
A slightly blurry Bat-Eared Fox - the best pic I managed of this animal
Yellow Mongoose
Ground squirrel
Oryxes
A Camelthorn tree with Sociable Weaver nests
A BBJ
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please.
I read your report with great interest 
