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Thanks
Will take your advice and book Mabua 4 and will also book up Matopi
Cheers Jodie

mabua 4 by IndiajaneCT, on Flickr

Jodie, here is the first one of Mabua 4 - just testing loading and will load a couple more

sorry struggling to load other photos and the one above doesn't really show you anything much except a sunset! will carrying on trying....

Mabua 4 by IndiajaneCT, on Flickr

getting there!


Mabua 4 by IndiajaneCT, on Flickr

A couple of the sites have these A frame platforms which we didn't use - this was the one at Mabua 4 - Mabua 2 and 3 (which are very close together and would only work if you were camping in a larger party have them) but Mabua 1 which is not on the pan doesn't (Mabua 1 is on a hill overlooking the pan but has no facilities)

Near Matopi - this was Feb last year, very green - loads of rain!


Near Matopi by IndiajaneCT, on Flickr

Hi IndiaJane
These are fantastic photo's thankyou. I will put my photo's on when I get back from my trip
Cheers
Jodie

Enjoy to the fullest Jodie - we had a fantastic time.

The resident pride did come and visit. It currently comprises 2 males, 3 females and 7 cubs. It is a "time of plenty" in the Kalahari at the moment.

Intend to really enjoy myself thankyou have been to the Kalahari 4 or 5 times now wanted to do something different and thought 4wd through Mabuasehube would be a change. Not long now!!
Cheers

just got back from a 4x4 Eco Trail.

It was a very interesting and very wet trail. The first day of the trail we had some lions and cheetah. At Swartbas the evening we heard the lions roar (Which had all the guests scattering for their vehicles).

On the second day towards Rosyntjiebos we saw plenty baby gemsbok and general game, at Rosyntjiebos we had some rain and a very relaxed evening.

The third day towards Witgat (where we normally have plenty lion activity) we came across a porcupine which was killed by a leopard the morning. No lion tracks (at that stage), due to the predators being active in this area the vehicles were parked in a circle as requested by the guests.
As we woke up the morning there was so many lion tracks about 200m from the campsite, and it was clear that a huge male lion walked towards the waterhole but didn’t get to the water hole, maybe too much noise from the campsite.

I will post pics of the trip as soon as I have downloaded them.

KG

Here are some pictures of the latest 4x4 trail I did.

The Bush toilet - With a view



Bush Shower with a view.



Just after the first days rain on the trail.


Setting up camp.


Needed to keep the kids busy, so I asked them to make 'faces' out of Tsammas.



Waking up with a stunning sunrise.

The two girls did enjoy it so much to make their little faces and it kept them busy for a while. They gave me such a nice little post card when they left, and they took the tsammas on the whole trip and played with them.

Well the Eco trail seems to be a lot tougher than I imagined and evidently will test your 4x4 skills!

This is what one guy who did the trail had to say:

"1st day all 5 vehicles (Disco 2, Disco3, Toyota SRT x2 and Hard body) failed miserably to make it up the dunes at 1st attempt.

Sand very soft in places, speed and low tire pressures needed.

Big Bertha, the largest of the dunes you face can be a challenge. Not Atlantic dunes challenging but it still caused the Hardbody driven by an Atlantic Dunes player to take the escape route. The car was heavily loaded though.

2R Nossob direction probably slightly harder as many of the dunes have steeper south facing slopes. Great way to get a taste of what an overland trip in convoy will be like.

2 x Toyota’s picked up punctures on the trail."

It seems everyone had a great time and can't wait to go back to Kgagaladi - that special place.

One interesting tip is that some of the drivers brought along shade netting to form a fence barricade around the back of their 4x4's for protection from predators. Camping in the open desert, drivers formed a circular laager to keep out predators.

Also he doesn't recommend ground tents due to the wind.

Nice point there about the shade netting and laager formation.

Thanks for that info Still can't wait to go though, even with the ground tents Interesting that he mentions ALL the 4x4's didnt do so well ....... Maybe our Landy won't be such superior company after all

Like the guy who did our 4x4 training said "The problem is notthe car, the problem sit between the steering wheel and the driver seat"

The trail is more challenging from Twee Rivieren to Nossob as the other way round.