KNP Nov’08 Continued
5 November
We woke early – before the sky had a chance to turn pale. The camp was silent, thus we resorted to whispering. If we were to be delayed another day, we had to give up our planned trip to the Botswana side. We decided that the repair of our vehicle was more important, since we still had a number of days left in KNP. So the whispered conversation went until we had a “knock” on our vehicle’s bonnet. It was Albert who came to report that the truck driver had just radioed in and that they would be arriving at about 09:00 in Nossob with the part. We were elated.
By noon, we were packed and ready to leave. Partner had a badly injured index finger from assisting with the repairs. After struggling with the new part for what seemed like ages to me as I waited in the shade of our camp site’s trees, partner returned with a vehicle that “walked proudly” with a new SPRING in its step. We bandaged the bleeding and badly swollen finger and set off in the direction of Mabuasehube. We decided that we would head to Lesholoago where we were booked for our second night since our Matopi overnight was spent in Nossob waiting for a car part.
Another 45 degrees day presented itself, but we were “old hat” with the dune road and estimated that we would arrive at our destination round about 17:30. That would still give us enough daylight to set up camp, check for tracks and see the sun set over the pan. In our excitement we forgot something vital – our fuel supply from an overheating tank that played up on the way to Nossob…
Fifty kilometers into the trail we had our first hiccup from the vehicle. It started spurting and loosing power. We carried on until we found a tree with enough shade to cool down. After twenty precious minutes, we switched on the engine and all seemed fine. We deduced that it was just a thick patch of sand in the road that caused it. By now we were almost 70 kilometers into the trail and at stage we had decide to turn around or carry on to Matopi to sleep over and return the next day to Nossob to have the problem seen to. Partner got that far-away look in his eye which told me he was doing his Einstein thoughts. He stopped underneath a shady tree and asked for a cold beer and a dish cloth. I frowned. He just smiled and said; “And also look for lions and stuff while I’m busy with the engine…” So he did something with the dishcloth in the engine and drank the beer while we waited another precious half an hour.
I looked at the sky as we were traveling deeper into the Botswana section of the Park. Huge cauliflower clouds started to gather on the horizon and the wind pushed into the direction we were traveling. Our going was slow, as the sand was thick and very loose, but at least the intervals of stopping and waiting for the engine to cool down became less frequent. Partner made a small modification with the dishcloth that cooled down the supply to the petrol pump. It is good to have an engineer on your side when you are traveling in Africa…
By the time we arrived at Matopi, things had cooled down rapidly – a preceding shower of welcome rain left traces in the sand. We could smell the rain but it was running ahead of us – cooling the road to make our passage safe. We did a quick calculation and worked out that we would still make it on time to our destination– perhaps an hour later, but we were comfortable with that. That was before our path crossed with herds of Gemsbok and newly born calves, a Gaint Eagle Owl that sat close to the road and looked at us with sleepy eyes, or the Caracal that sat in the yellow grass and allowed partner enough time to take good pictures… Then a sunset with huge pink candy-floss clouds, a dark indigo blue brooding African storm on the horizon and the sun that sailed over the horizon like a shimmering cauldron of molten copper… We were running late but sometimes one knows that God paints certain pictures only once and only for you at a given moment.
We arrived at Bosobogolo camp site after dark. It was empty. We had another hour left of traveling to reach our destination, but we were dead on our feet after a day that stretched our limits. We decided to wait for a half an hour before we set up camp, just in case some else arrived, but by 20:00 we were quite sure that no one was heading our way. We quietly erected our rooftop tent and had a quick bite. Darkness enfolded us and on the horizon across the pan, we watched the first summer rain dance across the earth in big shafts of bright yellow lightning…
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