|
Updated Information
|
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
125km |
Meals
Chicken hand grenade |
Weather |
Chobe National Park,
Botswana
Witt & Jen |
19 July,
2004 |
Savuti Camp |
18°33.928’S x 24°03.750’E |
Odometer: 28316km |
Sunny, 87(F) Degrees, |
|
We started toward chobe at
about 930 this morning. The road was corrugated as it passed through a few
villages, then became a sandy track requiring us to air down our tires. We
saw a number of birds and a steenbok on our way to the park entrance. We
arrived at the camp site at about noon. When we booked the campsite in
Maun, only one campsite, at linyanti camp, was available and only for one
night. We spoke with the ranger at Savuti who told us we could spend two
nights here instead. We took showers and relaxed for a few hours before
leaving for a game drive at 330. At Savuti waterhole we saw a herd of male
elephants and sat watching them spar, accompanied by lots of trumpeting,
for about an hour. As they moved off, one decided we were too close and
started flaring his ears and tossing his trunk, an indication that he was
considering a mock charge. We quickly started the car and backed up about
fifty feet, which seemed to satisfy him. Our route back to camp was
blocked by the elephants, who didn’t seem to be in the mood to be trifled
with, so we took an alternate track. Our fun with elephants was not over
for when we got back to camp we found one wandering around the campground.
He came to within a few feet of the car, and we hoped he wouldn’t smell
the grapefruit we had inside. Later in the evening we met Willie, a South
African expatriate living in Vancouver who, among other things, runs
self-drive safaris in Africa. We had met him previously in Etosha in
Namibia. He told us that there is a pride of twenty-two lion in Chobe that
has grown so large and strong that it has taken to tackling elephant and
has killed a few. He gave us good advise about the park and about the rest
of our travels in Africa. Being on the path between several campsites and
the ablution block, we met several other people on their way past, and
after socializing we didn’t finish dinner until 10pm. Tomorrow will be an
early wake-up! |
A banded snake eagle eating, of all things, a snake Elephants sparring near Savuti This guy was not very excited about us watching him
|
|
Updated Information
|
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
86km |
Meals
Lamb Potjie with dumplings |
Weather |
Pieper pan,
Botswana
Graham & Connie |
19 July, 2004 |
CKP-1 Central Kalahari Game
Reserve camp site |
21°46.098’S 23°11.913’E |
Odometer: 36882km |
Cold, am, Hot mid day, 85(F)
degrees |
|
It didn’t take us long in the
morning to reach Pieper Pans. We spent several hours circling the pans
looking for the lions we had been told were there, but no luck. We did see
lots of ostrich, springbok, gemsbok and wildebeast. Finding our campsite
turned out to be another chore. Distances are so great in the park, that
sequentially numbered campsites can be a great distance apart. Add to this
the fact that half of the signs are missing and finding the right location
can be tricky. It didn’t help that the waypoint on the Shell map of the
park, while labeled campsite one, is actually a water holding tank a short
distance away. Anyway, we finally found the campsite, right on the edge of
the pan with a beautiful view. We settled in for some lunch and then
circled the pans again looking for the lions. We did see a selous
mongoose, who kept us entertained for a long while. Also more jackal and a
large herd of kudu. But no lions. Back at camp we started the potjie going
and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, watching the animals on the
pan. |
Our afternoon entertainment
|
|
Updated Information
|
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
90km |
Meals
braai'd sirloin |
Weather |
Chobe National Park,
Botswana
Witt & Jen |
20 July, 2004 |
Savuti Camp |
18°33.928’S
x 24°03.750’E |
Odometer: 28406km |
Sunny, 82 (F)
degrees |
|
We woke up early and spent the morning on a
game drive down to Savuti marsh. We saw lots of elephant and antelope, but
no cats. Another drive in the afternoon took us back to the same area, and
again we saw lots of elephant. We grilled some steaks for dinner and had
an early evening. |
This yellow hornbill was very fond of himself
|
|
Updated Information
|
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
167km |
Meals
Borewors on the braai with pap and
breedie |
Weather |
Xaxa,
Botswana
Graham & Connie |
20 July, 2004 |
CKX-1 Central Kalahari Game
Reserve camp site |
22°17.187’S 23°34.968’E |
Odometer: 37094km |
Hot 90(F) Degrees
|
|
We were supposed to camp at Xade according to
our booking, but that is right in a village, and being antisocial, we
decided to push on and poach a spot at Xaxa. Xaxa is close to the center
of the park, and is as far out in the middle of nowhere as you can likely
get. It is a long and rough road getting there, with some large soft dunes
to cross. The track undulates continuously, bucking the truck around in a
way we were later to discover was quite bad. These are like corrugations
on a whole car scale, each being half the length of the car and 2 feet
deep. But the rewards of the rough ride were tremendous. The campsite at
Xaxa is on a hill overlooking a valley and waterhole. It has to be one of
the most beautiful campsites we have had on the whole trip. We refrained
from setting up camp immediately in case someone came to claim the site,
but that did not happen. We had the whole valley to ourselves, apart from
a herd of kudu, some steenbok and several circling vultures. We had a nice
evening by the braai, and went to bed early, to be ready for a long drive
in the morning. |
View from the Xaxa campsite
|
|
Updated Information
|
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
93km |
Meals
Pasta with tomato sauce |
Weather |
|
Chobe Forest Reserve,
Botswana
Witt & Jen |
21 July, 2004 |
Bush Camp |
18°12.626’S
x 24°24.342’E |
Odometer: 28499km |
Sunny, 88(F)
degrees |
|
We went on a game drive this morning and just
turned around to head north toward Kasane when a tour driver told us about
a pride of lion nearby. We found the lion and settled in on top of the car
to watch them through binoculars Unfortunately they were too far away to
photograph. They exhibited typical daytime lion behavior, lying in the sun
and napping. As the day got warmer, we had a chance to count them as one
by one they got up and migrated into the shade of a nearby bush. In all we
counted 22 lions, all females or cubs. We met Mike and Lynne, a couple who
run a B&B in South Africa who were on holiday in a rented Land Rover and
chatted to them while watching the lions. We watched for about two hours
before heading back. We had made it out of the park and into the Chobe
Forest Reserve when a disturbing noise from the left rear wheel started to
get noticeably worse. I had been trying to convince myself that it was a
branch caught in the wheel, but upon jacking up the car I discovered that
the hub was very loose. It was still 100 km to Kasane, so we decided to
attempt a repair. I took apart the hub to find that the outer bearing was
in good shape, which meant that it was the inner bearing that had gone. I
didn’t have the proper tool to remove the brake from the hub, so I used a
vice grip, completely buggering the bolt head in the process. I eventually
got it off, with help from a couple of passersby who stopped to see if we
were okay and a few calls to Charlie at Flatirons Land Rover in Superior.
I was able to replace the bearing and the hub seal and re-attach the hub
by nightfall. I had commandeered our fluorescent light to finish the
repair job, so Jen built a nice, big South African style fire to keep the
animals at bay and made dinner on the other side of the car, occasionally
interrupted when I need help with something or other. After dinner and a
few sessions of scrubbing the grease off with hand cleaner, we crawled
into bed, leaving the car in the road for the night. Tomorrow I will need
to finish tightening the brake and re-attach the brake line clip that I
removed, and we should be on our way. |
Witt packing the bearings
|
|
Updated Information
|
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
231km |
Meals
Raman and scrambled eggs |
Weather |
Khutse Game Reserve,
Botswana
Graham & Connie |
21 July, 2004 |
KH-9 Khutse Game Reserve
campsite |
23°20.498’S 24°29.926’E |
Odometer: 37280km |
Hot 90(F) Degrees
|
|
A long drive indeed. From Xaxa to Khutse was
230km on slow and rough roads with more suspension destroying undulations.
We saw very little game in the deep desert. Then we picked up ostrich and
springbok again just before we came into Khutse Game reserve. There are
lots of pans in Khutse, most of them dry. Our campsite was at Khutse Pan I
and we shared it with a single mongoose. |
Dunes getting out of Xaxa Graham's in trouble....again!
Dunes getting out of Xaxa
|
|
July 22 --- > |
