BluTuna goes West again - minus the BluTuna.
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:18 pm
Saturday 12 / Sunday 13 September 2105 : Home -> Twee Rivieren.
This trip nearly didn't happen. Eight days before we were due to go the BluTuna was hit at high speed (100km/h+) by a red missile driven by an imbecile who wasn't watching where she was going.
I had just stopped at the end of a queue of cars waiting to exit the freeway when I saw a red missile coming at me diagonally across three lanes. There was no attempt to brake and the impact was hard but they built the BluTuna tough! Unfortunately, the damage was enough to put the BluTuna off the road for a couple of weeks; the red missile is off the road permanently.
We decided that we would hire a vehicle for the trip and we found a Nissan NP300 double-cab with a tow-bar so we could take our off-road trailer with us; or so we thought!
The Nissan was collected the day before we left and when I got it home I hooked up the trailer to see if all was OK. It wasn't! As I lowered the trailer onto the tow hook, I could see the whole tow bar on the Nissan bending under the weight - YIKES! I had visions of watching the trailer tumbling down the road behind us still hooked to a broken-off tow bar.
So at 17:00 on the day before we were due to leave, I was on the phone to the rental company trying to organise a replacement vehicle - we ended up with a Nissan X-Trail - that didn't have a tow bar and that we could only collect at 10:30 the next day - because they didn't have anything that had a heavy-duty tow bar available.
Plan C was implemented; this involved leaving the trailer behind and going with our old camping gear, the problem was that we used to use a luggage trailer to cart this around so a huge reduction in mass was called for. Eventually, we got the tent, stretchers, bedding, mattresses, 55 litres of water, clothes, cameras, chairs (including Stargazer's chaise lounge), fridge, lights and sundry other bits and pieces crammed into the small SUV and we were off - a few hours later than planned, but we were off!
Our stop for the night was at Red Sands Country Lodge about 15kms past Kuruman. The plan was to get there in the early afternoon, set up camp and relax for the afternoon and evening. We got there at about 19:30, changed our booking to a chalet and had some sandwiches before we hit the sack.
Breakfast was included in the price and it was a good one, including cereal, filter coffee and a large plate of bacon, eggs, sausage, tomato and mushrooms - YUM!
Suitably stuffed with good food we were off for the second half of the long road, we eventually arrived at Twee Rivieren at around 15:00 which gave us time to set up the camp and to get out for a short drive.
First up, scenery! A Camelthorn with Sociable Weavers' nests.
Secretary Bird.
A Lanner Falcon with supper.
First Springbok and Oryx.
A perfectly positioned Tawny Eagle.
Somehow, Stargazer sighted this Owl through the bushes. We got quite excited because we thought it was a Cape Eagle Owl which would have been a lifer for us but according to the books they don't occur in the Kgalagadi. This was apparently a rare rufous morph of the Spotted eagle Owl which has orange eyes.
And our first PCG - a juvenile.
This trip nearly didn't happen. Eight days before we were due to go the BluTuna was hit at high speed (100km/h+) by a red missile driven by an imbecile who wasn't watching where she was going.
I had just stopped at the end of a queue of cars waiting to exit the freeway when I saw a red missile coming at me diagonally across three lanes. There was no attempt to brake and the impact was hard but they built the BluTuna tough! Unfortunately, the damage was enough to put the BluTuna off the road for a couple of weeks; the red missile is off the road permanently.
We decided that we would hire a vehicle for the trip and we found a Nissan NP300 double-cab with a tow-bar so we could take our off-road trailer with us; or so we thought!
The Nissan was collected the day before we left and when I got it home I hooked up the trailer to see if all was OK. It wasn't! As I lowered the trailer onto the tow hook, I could see the whole tow bar on the Nissan bending under the weight - YIKES! I had visions of watching the trailer tumbling down the road behind us still hooked to a broken-off tow bar.
So at 17:00 on the day before we were due to leave, I was on the phone to the rental company trying to organise a replacement vehicle - we ended up with a Nissan X-Trail - that didn't have a tow bar and that we could only collect at 10:30 the next day - because they didn't have anything that had a heavy-duty tow bar available.
Plan C was implemented; this involved leaving the trailer behind and going with our old camping gear, the problem was that we used to use a luggage trailer to cart this around so a huge reduction in mass was called for. Eventually, we got the tent, stretchers, bedding, mattresses, 55 litres of water, clothes, cameras, chairs (including Stargazer's chaise lounge), fridge, lights and sundry other bits and pieces crammed into the small SUV and we were off - a few hours later than planned, but we were off!
Our stop for the night was at Red Sands Country Lodge about 15kms past Kuruman. The plan was to get there in the early afternoon, set up camp and relax for the afternoon and evening. We got there at about 19:30, changed our booking to a chalet and had some sandwiches before we hit the sack.
Breakfast was included in the price and it was a good one, including cereal, filter coffee and a large plate of bacon, eggs, sausage, tomato and mushrooms - YUM!
Suitably stuffed with good food we were off for the second half of the long road, we eventually arrived at Twee Rivieren at around 15:00 which gave us time to set up the camp and to get out for a short drive.
First up, scenery! A Camelthorn with Sociable Weavers' nests.
Secretary Bird.
A Lanner Falcon with supper.
First Springbok and Oryx.
A perfectly positioned Tawny Eagle.
Somehow, Stargazer sighted this Owl through the bushes. We got quite excited because we thought it was a Cape Eagle Owl which would have been a lifer for us but according to the books they don't occur in the Kgalagadi. This was apparently a rare rufous morph of the Spotted eagle Owl which has orange eyes.
And our first PCG - a juvenile.
Eagle owl is stunning 