Friday 20th February
As
Kang Lodge was not a place to hang around for long, we were on our way
for breakfast at 7am. We went to the trucker’s Ultra stop just up the
road and on entering we saw the most unimaginative buffet for the price
of P60, almost £7 or $11. We were certainly not having that so ordered 2
eggs on toast and a cup of tea. That was cooked fresh for us and it was
sufficient, especially as it only cost £5 for the two of us. We are
quite surprised at how expensive Botswana is compared to South Africa.
I’ve been told I’ve had it too good for too long in the ‘land of the
plenty’ and welcome to the rest of Africa. We had considered driving to
Maun today, a distance in excess of 500kms. Given the high quality of
the roads that would be easily achievable. We then discussed having a
side trip from Kang into the Kaa Kalahari and maybe a look around. Kaa
Kalahari is one of the last great unfenced wilderness areas in Southern
Africa and as it was right on our doorstep we decided to ditch Maun for
today and take a circuitous route to Ghanzi and night stop there. We set
off for Hukuntsi, 112 kms south of Kang. This road is tarred although
quite potholed and after dodging many of them for some kilometres it was
easier to let our new state of the art shocks and suspension do some of
the work. They were more than capable, as we’re finding out on a daily
basis. Once we got to Hukuntsi we then had just over 200 kms on what we
believed to be a gravel road, according to our map. Along this route we
would see lots of Pans and definitely feel like we were in the bush.
After a few kms of gravel we suddenly came face to face with the deepest
sand we’ve ever seen on a road (Road??).
Where was the gravel then. We stopped and had a chat
about it, wondering if it only lasted until over the next hill, 600 or
so metres away. The only other option was to turn around and drive over
100 kms back to Kang. We had no desire to see the Ultra stop or Kang
Lodge again so we decided to press ahead. We deflated the tyres
considerably, selected diff lock low and as I was driving, John probably
said a quiet prayer. We take it in turns to drive, alternating who
starts the day and then splitting the trip at a convenient point. I was
in the drivers seat at this point so it was my call. Off it was then
with some trepidation for these two inexperienced overlanders and on the
advice of the Land Rover manual which we quickly scanned, I selected
the highest gear which was comfortable for the drive. That happened to
be 3rd as it gave huge amounts of power in low range to push through the
sand. We were both pleasantly surprised to see how efficiently Dusty
coped with this. The sand was really deep although there was a compacted
track along some of the way that we could follow.
We were travelling very slowly at some stages and as
we came over the first hill it was obvious to all that this was not
going to be a gravel road. We potentially had 200kms of this ahead of us
and with almost full fuel tank and 50 litres of diesel in jerry cans on
the roof we knew we wouldn’t have a problem with fuel. The consumption
increases dramatically with this type of driving. We also had 60 litres
of water, 10 litres of beer, fruit & food, a bottle of Bushmills
and if it all became too much plenty of winch straps and pulleys. Let
me tell you now that we spent 8 hours on that sand although we did stop
for that cheese and onion roll again. As we were driving along this
track I happened to mention to John that it would be interesting if we
meet another vehicle as the area outside the already soft track was deep
and sandy and very unwelcoming. Well what do you know, less than an
hour later we met the only vehicle in that 200kms. Just a little nerve
wracking for a few moments. We were now entering into a thunderstorm
area and the sky was black.
We also came across one pan that was completely flooded and it was basically just a swamp.
It wasn’t too bad but
dusty bit and chewed it’s way through and yet another obstacle overcome.
Of course at this time the sky decided to dump it’s contents on us and
as only in Africa, it absolutely pelted down for quite some time. Now
even seeing the track was becoming a challenge. We hit a dry patch of
weather again and a hard pan crossing area so we were through the worst.
We had entered a much more defined track a while back
and were able to increase our speed a bit, almost getting to 40 kph on
occasions. However, more drama was to come because we now found
ourselves on dirt tracks little bigger than goat tracks really and
absolutely in the middle of nowhere (where we’d been for hours anyway).
If it wasn’t for our GPS, fitted with tracks 4 Africa (an overlanders
must) we would have really questioned where we were or where we were
going because nobody appeared to use this track. Every so often you
would come to another track heading off in another direction but T4A was
perfect in it’s routing. What a great invention. John had great fun
also on a lot of the track as it was a constant battle to keep dusty
pointing the way we wanted to go.
Suddenly, there was a gravel road and we
were now close to the Trans Kalahari A2. However, another slight detour
was required because a whole heap of gravel was dumped in the road,
completely blocking it.
Perhaps it is their intention to gravel the entire 200kms at some stage. I wish them luck.
We
arrived in Ghanzi at about 6pm and stopped at a lodge about 5kms from
town, and 3 kms down a flooded dirt track. When we pulled up it was as
if we were aliens from outer space the way the few locals looked at us.
Happily, the owner, who was also the barman, supplied us with two cold
Heineken. We asked about his accomodation costs and we then traipsed
across muddy ground to a very uninviting chalet tent that he wanted P650
(£70)f or. We quietly chuckled, finished our beer and headed towards
town, stopping at Kawha Lodge a few kms along the road. A very nice
chalet, no. 6, was shown to us and it had two bedrooms, perfect for us
because we are not sharers. It was P530 (£60) and we said we'd have a
wander into town and come back later if we want it. We both felt it was
perfect but I have a habit of wanting to be absolutely sure, from too
many years of travelling. As it turned out, it was. We returned within
45 minutes and checked in, paying at the same time. We were taken along
to chalet 6 by the security man & when we opened our door, it
was like entering a sauna. There was a moment of confusion because
suddenly I'm wondering if we accidentaly switched something on 45
minutes earlier. Then we saw that both rooms were flooded, the bed in
the first room was soaking wet as well. When we had a look around we saw
that the geyser, situated above the room, had obviously died at the
mere thought of being used and dumped it's entire contents of scalding
water down below it, into the room. There must have been 50 gallons in
it. Thankfully, on this occasion it really does pay to shop around
because we may well have been standing under it when it burst. On to
another 2 chalets, both very nice and separate, for the same price. We
also ensured that there wasn't a boiler above the bed!
We
didn't venture out again and had dinner in the restaurant, 2 sirloin
steaks, and we shared one of the bottles of wine we have stashed in
Dusty.
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