Africa day 11, 18th Feb

It rained during the night, and was still raining when we got up.  We packed up the wet tents and chairs, then went back to the reception to pay our bar bill.

In Kaan we tried a supermarket for more wine, then ended up in a cash and carry warehouse where the wine was stored in a small locked room by the tills.  After refuelling the cars, we set off on the drive to the Khutse national park.  This extra trip was originally proposed by Rick and Mark, but they changed their minds and went to another area just over the border in South Africa.  However Ossie and ourselves still wanted to visit Khutse, and Chris had already made a campsite reservation, so the five of us carried on.

On the road we saw a couple of dead puff adders, and a white backed vulture swopped down just in front of us.  Lots of things to avoid in the road, cattle, donkeys, ostrich, large potholes etc.  The rain has stopped but it is probably the coldest day since we arrive bed in Africa.

On the long gravel road Chris stopped and showed us dung beetles at work.  They wrap their eggs in a ball of dung, then roll the dung to a soft area and bury it.  Their activity means there are relatively few flies in Africa. After that we also have to avoids running over any dung we see!

The road changed to sand, and then we finally arrived at the gates to Khutse Park.

Chris tells us elephants have been seen in the park.  It is extremely unusual for them to travel this far south, and we actually see two at the edge of a pan on our 26km drive to our campsite.

Then we see giraffe in the same pan, travelling past a small group of hartebeest.

The rain fell heavily again, and as we drove on we saw a tawny eagle in a tree drying his wings.

Our camp site is rather nice, a long drop toilet, an area to hang a bush shower and a firepit, plus masses of ground squirrels.  It also contains a lion print, and possibly an elephant print.  There was also a large millipede making a deep hole in the sand, which she then laboriously filled in again; we can only conclude see is laying eggs.  

We get the tents up fast to dry them out, then enjoy braaied chicken breasts for dinner, washed down with wine.  More rain looked likely, so we were all in bed by 8.30pm.

Africa Day ten, 17th Feb

A bad night for sleeping as there were lions roaring very close, then Mick thought he had been stung by a scorpion, though we could find no trace of it in the tent.  It turned out he had been sprayed by an acid beetle, and has several blisters on his neck and arm.  Chris tells us that they will be tender for about three weeks, and to make sure we wash anything that might have got acid on it.  This is only Mick's pillow luckily, but we find about three beetle corpses in the tent.

We said goodbye to Rick and Mark, then decamped and left the park.  The first part of the drive was the same as the day before, but as we started to get closer to people we started seeing cattle and donkeys on the road. After 100kms on sand roads, we drive 70kms on gravel before reaching Hukuntsi and a tarmac road.

We finally reach the Kalahari Lodge for our overnight stop, and the official end of Chris's guided safari.  A very colourful cricket it sitting on a post by reception.

 Armin and Leisel take a chalet at the lodge, so it's just us, Chris and Ossie camping. It feels very cosy and comfortable and more like a group of friends than a guided tour.  A bee came and sat on Teri's trainer lace, and tried to eat it.  Chris says it is the same bee as the so-called killer bee in America.  Not actually dangerous, but very persistent!

The evening meal is in the lodge, preceded by a few drinks, and Chris finally relaxes enough to have some wine.  A really nice evening, but the three of us are very glad that we have an extra two nights still to go.

Africa Day nine, 16th Feb

Mick and I woke early, and went down to the hide to watch the sunrise, but only saw a few birds and antelopes.  Conrad left us this morning to drive back to Capetown, and we only have one more night in the wilderness on this part of the safari.

We stop at the waterhole again, but there are only a few birds there.  Along the road we see geckos and an African Hoopee, then watch a herd of wilderbeest with young at another waterhole.

We see more ostrich with very young chicks, plus lots more wilderbeest.

Further we have another lion sighting, two males and a female under a tree.  As we sit there one of the males stands, just in the right place for a photo.

After a stop for lunch at about 11.30 we pass more wilderbeest and ostrich, then an oryx actually standing in a waterhole, surrounded by butterflies.

Finally we turn off the main road though the Kgalagadi park and re-enter Botswana.  We see more oryx, steenbok and Teri sees a pair of Eland, but sadly no leopards or cheetahs. After stopping for another snack we finally reach the Kaa gate to the park, and our overnight camping spot.  It's too hot to put up the tents straight away, so we sit in the shade by Chris's vehicle talking.  It's the last night camping with everyone, tomorrow Rick and Mark leave us, and Armin and Leisel are planning to upgrade to a room at the Kalahari lodge.  Chris cooks us dinner, then we sit around with glasses of wine trying to stop the very large moths from drowning in them!

Africa Day eight, 15th Feb

Mick and I got up early, and left the campsite as soon as the gates opened at 6am.  We watched the sun rise from a look out spot, then drove back to the turning for Botswana.  The road on the South African side of the river bed is very low, and it's much harder to see the animals as ours is a relatively low car.  We sit there watching some birds, and a couple of mice that sit in the road, then head back to camp.

After breakfast ourselves, Armin and Liesel and Chris and Teri explore the road south from the campsite.  As we drive we see a male lion on our left, then Mick sees a second head for a moment, with a strip of meat hanging from his jaws,  we think we have just missed seeing a kill!

We continued driving south, seeing several birds, and a hawk that screams at us through our open window.  He was about 2 meters away, and I was too astonished to get a photo.

Suddenly Chris stops, and the next thing we see is an African Wildcat walking towards us.  Chris tells us its a rarer sighting than a cheetah or leopard, and only the third he's seen in over seven years.  It crosses the road just behind us, but I get a last quick glimpse and see something hanging from his mouth.  Another kill?

Our lunch is borewas dogs at a picnic spot.  Despite the rules about never getting out of you car, and the bars protecting the toilets, there are picnic tables set out, with no protection, and lion prints in the bush behind us!

After lunch we head back to our campsite, pausing by the area where we saw the lions earlier.  We spot a female asleep under a tree, then see a male's head pop up and look around.  The lions are almost completely invisible when lying down.

Mick and I stop to look at another social weaver bird nest and see a hawk sitting underneath it, presumably hoping dinner will just fall off into his mouth.  Back at camp I buy a braai cookbook, then have a rest.

We head back out on the road south again, and suddenly find an old male lion asleep in the road.  

We wait for while, as the truck driver from the opposite direction is also doing, then a car from behind us cautiously edges past.  The lion ignores him, but when the truck also decides to move, he leisurely climbs back into the bush, then falls asleep again a few feet from the road.

We drove up to a watering hole, but it was deserted apart from a few birds, then we went back to camp, watching the sun set on our way.  Rick, Mark, Conrad and Ossie were back in camp, and they had seen four lions very close up, walking round past their car.  There was much laughter as they talked about their options, windows up or down, arms in or out, take photos or just sit tight.

We finish the day with a delicious curry, the. Are in bed well before 10pm.

Africa Day seven

We could lions roaring again as we got up, this time probably about 1.5 kms away. Today Teri travelled with Mick, and I was in Chris's car. Back at the small pan we saw two jackals, plus the same animals as the previous evening. Chris and I walked across for a closer look at the sociable weaver bird nest, though keeping a very keen look out for the lions.

We saw a family of ostriches, with the father carefully shepherding his young family away from the road.

A bit further on we passed the burned out wreck of a car. This had suddenly burst into flames about 18 months ago as a group drove through the park. The problem is how to get such a wreck out of the park. The South Africans say it is in Botswana, and the Botswana do not have the equipment to trail it out. 

We saw more steenbok deer, and I even got a photo of one. There are quite beautiful, with huge 'maps' in their ears. Difficult to see as they are the same height as the tall grass, and they run very fast.

Then we drove on towards Nossob, on corrugated sand roads with even more more undulations. Travelling at the front meant I saw more animals, including several more steenbok and an ostrich family.

As we reached Nossob we saw two secretary birds, then crossed the dry river bed into South African.

Nossob is so civilised compared to our previous camps. There are heated showers in a block, flushing toilets and a fence round the site. The gates are locked between 7.30pm and 6am, and you have to get a pass every time you leave the camp. There's even a shop, and a petrol station which takes cards.

After setting up camp we went for a drive north. The road here was very wide, meaning people can stop and look at animals while other cars can still pass them. We saw many of the same animals, but closer to the road than before. The Blue Wilderbeest are very striking, as are the Kari Busted birds, the largest birds that can fly in South Africa.

We also see a pair of tawny Eagles, and get some good close ups of Kari Busted and secretary birds. Many Hartebeest with young, springbok and wilderbeest. Nice drive and some fun to be had driving through the muddy pools. Back to camp where Chris is cooking a braai with choppies and borewas, pap and sous. 

There are ground squirrel and mongoose all round camp. The rest of us gather round chatting and drinking.

BBQ over, wine consumed and four of us walked down to the hide by the south gate. We sat there for about 40 mins, but only saw two hazy jackals, walking well outside of the lit area.

Africa Day six

Woke, after another sweaty night, to the sound of roaring. Chris told us it was lions, probably about 1km away. There were also leopard tracks right by the camp, leading to the shower where he had obviously stopped for a drink. They passed very close to Teri's tent!

Teri rode with Mark today as she is suffering a bit from the heat, and Mark likes the air conditioning on. We see more animals, and a single warthog in the distance.

At our morning drink stop we see yet more butterflies, then continue driving seeing more weaver bird nests and a steenbok deer, though I have yet to conquer manual focussing.

After lunch we take the road out of this section of the park and towards the campsite at Nossob, some 200 kms away. The landscape changes subtly, with small hills as we travel over the tops of dunes and down their sides. It's all still very grassy though, with many trees, though these are all small, and several are dead. In areas where there are lots of grass it feels a lot like driving through a sea, with the bushs and trees forming islands.

We camp half way to Nossob, with large storm clouds on the horizon. Some of us then drive to a small pan close by the camp and watch the springbok, oryx and wilderbeest there, and admire the nest of the sociable weaver bird.

Back at camp we shelter as a heavy rain storm hits, then Chris cooks us a pasta dish. As we start eating an electric storm starts, and continues to light up the sky for several hours. There is both fork and sheet lightning, and we need no extra lights while we sit outside.

Africa Day five

I'm up fairly early after a hot, sweaty night; just in time to see the sunrise.

We pack up our tents and then Chris gives us all a quick lesson about the origins of the Kalahari area, and the Boer war. Our concentration is effected by a jackal that wanders into our camp and seems as fascinated to watch us us we are to watch him.

We then drive round to the next campsite expecting to be able to fill our water containers, but a pride of lions have invaded the camp. There was a male, about three grown females and several cubs, all sleeping in either the A frame or on the ground in front of the long drop toilet.

We stayed and watched them for about 30 mins. Not much activity, they had obviously settled in for the day! We did see two of the cubs suckling on their mother though. We were quite glad it wasn't our campsite they had invaded - how do you pack up camp when lions are lying around, Chris reckoned they wouldn't be leaving until late afternoon. They were lovely, and we were very lucky to have seen them.

We continued to drive around, seeing oryx, springbok, ostrich and various birds. Again we were driving through clouds of butterflies! We saw another Kari Busted, and then a couple of yellow beaked hornbills.

After a drinks stop (couldn't use the toilet there as there was a bees nest in it) and a lunch stop, we reached our evening camp site. A luxury one, there was a shower (a tap over a hole with a half wall round it) and the cold water runs quite hot from the sunshine.

We can also see a bataleur, an eagle with red beak and feet, from the site, and have our own resident quail type bird running around.

Dinner is Bobotie, a South African speciality of spicy minced meat topped with an egg/milk mixture and baked, then served with rice and a peach chutney.

Africa Day 4

We left our campsite at just gone 9 with our full convoy of six vehicles. There was a hold up further down the road when we had to wait for a large number of cars and people who had arrived to attend a funeral. Must have been somebody very important as the police were there to sort out the traffic.

Next stop was Kathu for fuel, then a long drive past iron mines and a manganese mine. Lots of mine tailings which dominate the generally flat scenery.

We take the turning to Hoteszel, then turn again towards the border crossing at McCarthy's Rest. Takes a while to get across the two borders, but no real problems. First stop in Botswana is at Tsabong for a fuel top up. Botswana immediately feels more open than S Africa with less fences round the houses and more people walking in the streets. It's a very prosperous country with many diamond mines and a stable government.

Our drive through Botswana starts on a very normal road, but with butterflies on every verge. This Is something we find everywhere, butterflies, mainly whitish/green, but with some brown and some yellow ones. We end up driving through clouds of these wherever we drive in this area of Botswana.

Another driving hazard is tortoises; we see several crossing the road, including a large leopard tortoise that we stop and look at.

After a few hours the surface changes to loose sand. We travel on reduced tyre pressures, and meet no one coming towards us during the rest of our trip. One section is hazardous becauses there are many ants living in the sand leaving us having to avoid large holes made by anteaters: not a problem we've ever encountered in the UK.

We enter the Kgalahadi Transfrontier Park, and the trail changes to harder sand with bushes close on both sides. Another hour later we finally get to our camp site for the night. Tents up then Chris lights a fire to warm up our lasagne for dinner while the sun sets. After dinner we spend some time admiring the full moon before going to bed.