Year: 2018

  • Thursday 15th & Friday 16th November

    Thursday 15th November 

     Up at 5.00am to do a drive before breakfast. Went to one waterhole for about 90 minutes.  Hundreds of birds of various kinds swooping into and drinking from the water. Saw a Lanner Eagle swoop into the flying birds and caught one for his breakfast. Consumed it in front of us after plucking all it’s feathers first. A couple of Brown Backed Jackal came for a drink. 

    Back to the camp for a shower and brekkie, filled with petrol and a little shopping. Bought some internet time to check mails and upload Blog. 

    Set off for Mata Mata Camp on the Namibia border for a two night stop. Not a lot of the bigger game, lots of different birds, small and large. Arrived at the camp about 5.30 pm. It has a floodlit waterhole. Saw a couple of Cheetahs although it was not dark. Loads of lions the night before though apparently. 

    Friday 16th

     Up at first light again Ugh!  It’s so much cooler at this time. Within 30 minutes we sighted or first Leopard, ran right in front of us. Sadly saw no more. Today’s sightings were, Pearl Spotted Owl, Eagle Owl, several Vultures, Giraffe, Secretary Birds and more. No lion today unless we see them tonight. Arrived back at 3.30 pm at went for swim in the small pool, did cool us off a bit. Filled up with petrol again for the  long drive to Hobas in Namibia. Saw two Cheetah at the water hole after dark. 

  • Tuesday 13th & Wednesday 14 th

    13th November

    Blog posts will be intermittent for a while as internet/WiFi not available in the middle of nowhere!! 

    Another longish day driving to reach the Kgalagadi National Park.  It is a long drive for most people as they probably live in Jo’burg or  Cape Town and it is 1000 km. Arrived about 5 pm, we probably took the wrong route from Kuruman, it was the least mileage but the last 150 km was on gravel Ugh !  We stayed at a camp called Two Rivers which is on the Botswana side. The whole Park borders Botswana. Only 4 camp spots   at this site and we were one  of two campers  so nice and quiet. No light pollution and lots of night sounds. Steak on the barbie with a little veg plus the obvious bottle of red 

    Wednesday 14th November

    Woke at dawn about 5.30. Quite cool at this time. Had to do some immigration formalities (complicated)  On the road at 9.00 am for drive to Nossob Camp about 140 km. Lots of small water holes on the way for game viewing. Saw Springbok, Wilderbeast, Gemsbok, Lioness with three cubs and a Honey Badger to name a few. There are no Elephant in this Park. Arrived Nossob Camp at 5.30. Fenced Camp so secure from wildlife. Nice camp site with our own ablution and kitchen/wash up area plus electric hook up. Not that « wild ». 

    Salmon and veg for supper. 

  • Monday 12th November

    Monday November 12th

    Up crack of dawn for Jeff to take us to the Bushlore depot in Midrand

    After all the paperwork, checking of the inventory, filling up with diesel,  we were on our way from Jo’burg at 10.00 am.  Long day driving to our first night stop at the Red Sands Country Lodge at Kuruman arriving at 17.30. Nice site with it’s own little ablution block. After unpacking all our cases and organising the “kitchen” and a quick glass of rose we took ourselves off to the Lodge and indulged ourselves in  a dozen peri peri King prawns and a bottle of Zonnebloem Shiraz, £15 a head. Wonderful. It’s warm , 34 deg  but not to bad at time of writing, it’s 21.30 and nearly time for bed on the roof!!

    Good start !

    Still in SA so good Wi Fi ?

  • Friday 9th to Sunday 11th November

    Bus on time to terminal 1/2 at Heathrow. Transferred to terminal 5 and then relaxed in the lounge for a couple of hours. Plane on time. No problems.

    Satuday

    Arrived Jo’burg a little ahead of schedule, Jeff and Cheryl picked us up and arrived at their house before lunch. Beautiful warm day. Had a little snooze in the afternoon. Out in the evening to a super Portuguese restaurant in Turffontein. King prawns and La Motte red.

     

    Sunday

    Borrowed Jeff’s car and went to Woolworths to do food shopping .

    BBQ in the afternoon. Bruce Grubb and Denise came, an  old Clearspan Structures colleague not seen we left SA in 1982. Great to catch up. Cheryl’s mum and son Gregg also cam with there two children Connor and Jarred. Ribs galore!!  Hot day 34 dogs.