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Wow Bushbuddies you don't have many sleeps till you are in the KTP

From what I can gather the reason for our continual problems with broken leafsprings is due to the shocks on our Isuzu not being able to handle the corregations experienced in the KTP, and hence siezing and resulting on abnormal strain being placed on the leafsprings. (Isuzus have a bit of a reputation in this regard in the park, not just ours! )
We did put new shocks on before our trip, but they obviously couldn't cope. Since then Isuzu have replaced all our leafsprings and added an extra one into the pack. We are going to put off road shocks onto the vehicle before our November trip.
Wrt the bull bar, a bolt fell out from under the bullbar so with all the corregations the bullbar broke at one of the joins at the top. A quick welding job sorted that out.

The good news is that the SANParks staff are great and know how to deal with all the common motor ailments which occur in the park

DAY 14 Cont…

After chatting to Marius and hearing that the road had been ‘sleeped’ from Mata Mata down,and that the driver had seen a lioness and her 2 cubs near 14th borehole, Gav and I were out and back on the road to make the most of our almost last afternoon in the park.
Wow….. as I am writing this, along with my hubby, I cannot believe that we are, once again, nearing the end of our trip.
Oh well enough of the gushy stuff and on with the report.

We got to 13th b/h and decided that because the grader had been around we would try the loops…..Oops big mistake. The grader had only graded the top road and the loop was worse than ever. We bounced our way around, just waiting for another leafspring to go, and saw very little on our way around.
We got to 14th and once again (foolish folk that we are) decided to try the loop and boy was it bad. We got to the end and decided that it was time to wend our way back to Urikaruus via the top road.
We travelled for about 300m when I happened to glance up on my left and there she was…………..

Mommy with 2 cubs



They had been sleeping and as we drove by they started to stir and sat up, otherwise we would probably have driven right past them.
(right place at the right time).
We had this sighting all to ourselves and it was wonderful.

One cub started to wander down towards the car





And I started to get very nervous as some of you may know that cubs like to use car tyres as teething rings, with dire consequences. Thankfully he did not come all the way down but he found us very interesting. The other cub (seemed to be the more nervous one) came down and they started to clean and play with one another.




We were joined by another car but as they had quiet far to travel before closing time they left us with the sighting all to ourselves.


The cubs rejoined the mom and they started to play.



We had leave this very special sighting and on our way back to Urikaruus I managed to catch this sunset with my old camera.



Back at Urikaruus we enjoyed a last evening in just one of our favourite places. What an awesome day.

Day 15 Our last day

The lions roared again during the night, but seemed further way, so we both had a better night's sleep.
We awoke to a cold, gey and wet Saturday morning in the park. It was almost as if the Kalahari was upset because our holiday was into it's final day in the park
We decide on a short out and back drive up towards 13th borehole and back before packing up to be out the chalet by 9am.

Sunrise!



It seemed as if all the animals were finding shelter from the miserable weather anywhere but in the Auob River riverbed, and we saw very little.
This gemsbok did however come out of hiding for us.




We decided to turn around inbetween 13th and 14 and headed back to Urikaruus

All was quiet at the camp as we got ready to leave, bar this PCG who came to drink at the watwerhole



Our plan was to wend our way down to Twee Riveren and check in before going on the night drive that evening, which we had booked on the day before.

I decided to take a lst picture of Kamqua



and got this shot of a secretary bird:



All was very quiet, even the resident martials were missing. As we trundled along quietly enjoying the peace and solitude. A bit anoyed by the rain spoiling our vision we came around a corner, and our whole day was about to change......................

DAY 15 Cont

I personally had thought that most of the animals, including the birds and raptors, had been raptured and all that remained behind were the naughty animals and birds who did not get the nod…… including Gav and I!!!!!!!!!!
We did see loads of crows but I refuse to take photos of a bunch of noisy ruffians…….. that I can also see and hear in my very small back garden in Lakeside, Cape Town.

Well all was about to change (As Gav mentioned earlier )

Just after Gemsbokplein we came across a small traffic jam…. And in the middle of the Auob river lay this family….



Then all of a sudden, they got up and started walking down the road. We dutifully followed



Oh boy Gav and I were about to have another domestic …….. who was going to take pics on the dry side of the vehicle (yes it had started to rain even harder). We noticed that they were stalking lunch, but 5 Gemsbok where between them and the large herd of tasty springbok and kept on giving the game away.



They walked across the road, towards the springbok and used the cars as a shield (they are soooo clever)







We drove ahead, towards the herd, and waited for them to approach us.



They caught up with us at the intersection with the lower dune road, just before Auchterlonie. Mom was out in front, using us as a shield, watching the springbok who must have caught wind of this and bolted up over the dune. Mom was up and off in pursuit. It all happened so quickly that we were left stranded at the bottom.

We drove up hoping to catch sight of them again and saw this.






We had spent 3½hrs with them and it was such an awesome experience, the pics do not do justice to the experience because of the bad light and rain. So with our hearts having decended to their proper places Gav and I decided to go onto Twee Rivieren.

A bit further down the road we spotted these guys running off to the right.



WOW the Kalahari had done it again and really come up trumps on our last day!!! as if to say "Keep coming back for more"

When we got within cell range I phoned TR and cancelled our night drive as the weather was really not great,and we had decided that we would rather spend a bit of time at Samevloeiing watching the sunset. Also we were running a bit late as the cheetahs had caused a bit of a delay…..

Samevloeiing was very quiet but peaceful and it was nice to just be there. After a while, we made our way to Twee Rivieren.

About 400m before the gate we heard that fateful noise again CLUNK. Yes we had broken another leafspring.



I am pleased to say that God was on our side this time because we were able to continue, at a snails pace, back into the entrance to TR. We left the truck at the entrance and walked to the reception area and organized for a mechanic to meet Gav at the workshop the next morning.

We got back to the truck very slowly made our way to our chalet not knowing if we were going to be leaving the next day…… as it was a Sunday. This is what the truck looked like (a bit lopsided and it was the side that had just been replaced at Nossob).



DAY 16
Gav got up bright and early and I am pleased to say managed to get the leafspring welded and by 9am we were on our way back to Cape Town.