Botswana; Kalahari Transfrontier Park May 2012

Trip Diary
Botswana - Kalahari Transfrontier Park
Wednesday to Sunday 16th to 20th May 2012

Wednesday

Chris had to work this morning but I had taken leave for the day and so Beatrice and I finished loading the car. Chris keeps much of the really heavy stuff in permanently. Beatrice had a breakfast date with one of her friends at Mugg and Bean and I went shopping in the meantime for the last of the provisions. When Beatrice was back she packed the cooler box and I made sandwiches so that by the time Chris came home from work everything was ready to go.

We felt very efficient as we hit the road and then Beatrice remembered her head torch. Oops! But never mind we were not far from home and so back we went. At the same time she remembered her pillow so at least we went back for two important things. Just as we passed the turn to Woermann and Brock Chris asked about the chicken and Beatrice asked me if I had put it in the cooler box oops! and so we stopped quickly to buy some. So about an hour later than we planned we hit the road for Gobabis. We sent messages to Andy to find that they too had just hit the road and by the time we had stopped off at the airport to collect emigration forms we found ourselves in convoy with them which is always reassuring. The road to Gobabis was quiet and we reached the border post just past Gobabis while it was still light. Mandy had booked us into Eastgate lodge which is a hop and skip from the border. We checked in and found our little bungalow. Very fine, clean and with all you need for an overnight stop. We all got together at our place because the other bungalows are a bit small and filled in our emigration forms while waiting for the others to arrive. Mandy and Andy had cooked cous-cous with a lamb tagine for supper, very tasty.

Thursday; from the border almost to the park!

We got up early and hit the border just as it opened. Since we had already filled in our forms we were first through and drove across the Botswana side before the lorry drivers. The official on the Bots side was a bit shirty and required from everyone the specifications of our destination even correcting spellings in a couple of cases!

Eventually we were on the open road. We turned south at Charles Hill and from then on we were in Len’s hands. He had looked up the short cuts to the park on a GPS application called Tracks for Africa which was working a bit intermittently on his lap top. The first settlement that we reached was Makunda. Here the Botswana government was improving the road system and had tarred quite a few streets – we got a bit lost and all whizzed past an interested local farmer, turned round and whizzed past him again. He watched us calmly  – tourists! We found the right road and set off for the next town; Kule, or Kole according to some notices. We drove happily through, admiring the infrastructure. Botswana does seem to be investing in good school buildings and teachers’ houses and in neat admin offices. The next settlement is Ncojane and we take a wrong turn. It is after 55 km that Mandy notices we are travelling due east – wrong -! We turn around and take the road to the south east. After a while on this road Len, who is in the lead, screeches to a halt. His GPS device shows that we have missed our turn, we back track to what is clearly a back track literally. This is where our smart new vehicles will acquire real patina! This looks like a track normally used by donkey carts but probably isn’t or the poor donkeys would be lacerated by the thorn bushes. As it is our cars scrape through the bush with the thorns screeching along the sides like fingernails down a blackboard. The track is beyond winding, it negotiates its way through the bush like a switchback ride around every obstacle that it encounters. The sand alternates between deep and hard packed and rocky. You can tell that the drivers are having a whale of a time. This is why you come to Botswana! From time to time the dense bush gives way to more open country with blond high grass and thorn trees and we think – yes! Then the bushes crowd in again and we have no view of anything.

From time to time we see an animal or two, a couple of springbok, a hartebeest standing under a tree, ground squirrels and mongooses and a flash of red as a Crimson breasted shrike flies across the landscape.

At one point, as the land has opened out again we arrive at a pan. Flat white earth and the odd tuft of grass or scrub, but there must be water because there are dozens of animals, springbok in particular, very plentiful, and a family of bat eared foxes investigating the smaller fauna, one appears to have caught a mouse or something equally small. We watch for a while but it is getting late and we can’t linger too long.

Near to this pan there is a campsite and Chris and Len are interested in staying the night since reaching the Kaa gate of the park is unlikely today. The rest of us are less keen and want to press on as far as possible so that tomorrow is not entirely spent driving. Being a democratic group we decide to keep going but rather than continue on the intrepid road we turn towards the gravel road that runs more directly to the turnoff to the park. Boring, boring, cry the intrepid ones. The landscape is by now completely beautiful, deep pale gold grass filtering the sunlight as the sun sinks in the sky; dark green thorn trees standing with the grass up to their knees. We see quite a few steenbok and duikers, small antelope who disappear quickly into the grass when we alarm them. We turn off onto the road to the park, deep red sand, deep tracks, you hardly need to steer! The sun has sunk lower and it is clear that we should make camp as soon as possible. So in between our exclamations about how beautiful the landscape is we look for a likely camping spot. Since Len is in the lead he and Karen are in charge. Apparently there is a pan nearby and they are quite keen to find it, it doesn’t appear. We pass likely spot after likely spot and just before we start yelling out of the window in frustration, Len turns off the road. There is a lovely swathe of grassland and some nice trees. No bush for lions to hide in – very important!

We set up camp quickly and Karen and Len prepare the meal; they are ‘on’ for this evening, chicken curry and rice – nobody intends to braai meat this weekend – interesting. The evening starts with gin and tonics – lovely. The contrast of a sophisticated drink in such a rugged situation makes the drink taste even better. I don’t actually drink much because I’m worried about the lion issue and don’t want to be found in a compromising position by a hungry predator at three in the morning. Len makes a fire in a sandy place, Beatrice rakes it clear and we collect wood since it isn’t the park yet. We sit around the fire getting closer and closer to the flames as the night falls and the cold settles down. Our chairs cluster closer and closer together as the circle draws in and by around eight o’clock we have given up the chairs and are standing shoulder to shoulder. Like penguins in the Antarctic we move to warm our fronts and then our backs and then our fronts again. Chris has the thermometer on the table and as it nears freezing point we decide that we really have had enough and we race towards our beds. Thank heaven for feather duvets! Beatrice has decided that the car is the best place to sleep being the most lion proof possible place. Chris has set up our new mega loo seat and communes with nature under the stars. Brave man.

Friday into the park

Breakfast is a chilly affair, Len announces that he heard a lion in the night at around four in the morning. Makes me glad that I avoided having to leave the tent. Gin and Tonic – what a cool drink – minimum liquid, maximum kick!

I have totally lost my bearings by now but fortunately the drivers have a better sense of direction and we hit the road as quickly as possible since it would be good to be at our destination, Swartpan, by lunchtime. The deep sand track continues through the beautiful country, and continues, and continues. We seem to travel forever - maybe we’re trapped in some sort of time warp and will keep on driving through this same gently undulating country forever! The landscape is lovely but monotonous and one becomes thrilled by the smallest deviation from the usual. We drive for a couple of hours seeing plenty of oryx, this is perfect oryx country, as well as springbok and hartebeest and the smaller buck. The gate to the park is very smart, paid for with European Union money. We are told that the pump is broken at Swartpan and so there is no water, we fill up all of our receptacles ‘just in case’.

The road to our camp takes us past a number of pans, all peopled with animals. At one point, while we wait for Andy to put some fuel into his car, we stop at a pan and watch a group of oryx who equally curiously watch us until they decide we might be dangerous and run off with a frisk of their tails. At twelve we pass another campsite and ponder for a moment about stopping for lunch but no – we are only two hours from Swartpan and we keep going. The dunes undulate and so we can regularly have a wide view of the Kalahari, so lovely so full of vegetation and so dry. The birds and animals here all have drought-proofing which is why we can’t believe our eyes when a small herd of eland gallop across the dunes in front of us. At first we can’t work out what they are, Chris thinks that they look like cattle, I think that they look like zebra but they have horns and they move in a strange way, unlike other antelope. I look through the animal book but I can’t recognise them, surely they can’t be eland? Then Karen confirms it – hey! My first properly wild eland!

We reach a splendid pan at around two o’clock. Is this really Swartpan? How great is that! There are dozens of oryx, springbok and hartebeest grazing gently. We pass the entrance to campsite number 1 and standing there, armed with a large catapult is a retired South African who is camping here for four days with his wife. One car – brave. Our convoy carries on to campsite 2. A lovely sandy circle in the shade of tall thorn trees. It looks welcoming and from the circle one has a good view of the pan and the oryx. We choose our spots and set up our tents. A detail of kids and adults dig the loo and put up a screen. Our loo seat is placed throne-like over the hole. The view from loo to pan is very good, one can sit and contemplate the landscape very happily.

We set out the tables and chairs and Diane starts to prepare for their cooking evening. She takes out what seems to be an enormous amount of spaghetti but after all there are eleven of us and Jason is still a growing boy!

We walk down to have a closer look at the animals and counting on the herd principle to protect us we keep fairly close together, Andy and Mandy arrange their chairs to watch us from the camp so if anyone is eaten they will have a good view. After a while at the edge of the pan we relax a bit and walk closer but the animals spot us and race off. We take photos of each other instead in the evening light and then return to the camp. This evening is red wine tasting, tomorrow we will enjoy the white and rosé wines. We settle in for our tasting, Chris wants us not only to rate the wines but to try to guess the cultivar. I get everything wrong!!! But the wines taste nice.  Dianne serves the food, gem squash, garlic bread, spaghetti and sauce. We tuck in but there will still be plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Jason has cooked brownies for dessert and there will be plenty of those for afternoon tea tomorrow!

The night is not so cold and we chat around the fire for much longer than last night not needing to adopt the penguin principle. Eventually we head for the tents, there is a jackal looking for pickings and we shut away all of the food in the cars so that visitors will be discouraged.

Saturday. One day to relax!

Last night, around midnight there was a spotted hyena in the camp, Dianne screamed, Len shone his mega torch and there was some excited discussion which our family missed entirely. It mooched around the camp drank the water in the wash basin, sniffed at Jason and Catherine’s tent and Mandy and Andy’s tent and tried to get into Andrew and Dianne’s. Andrew says that he was ready with a pillow to attack it if it broke in. I didn’t wake up until three, my normal time to go to the loo, by which time the excitement was over and all was quiet in the camp. I looked around for eyes with the torch and saw nothing, glad not to have known about the hyena at the time. We reckon afterwards that perhaps the scream sounded like a vulnerable and edible something which is why Dianne and Andrew got so much attention.

This morning there was a bit of an east wind so we sat in the sun until the day warmed up. Breakfast was leisurely for the first time since today is the only non-driving day of the weekend. Mandy and Andy got the cards out and a poker school was established under a tree. Mandy proving to be the wiliest of players. The poker school carried on for most of the day since the kids really enjoyed playing cards. Eventually it was just the three of them playing as darkness fell. Apart from relaxing in the camp Andy took people out in his car for two drives around the pan. The first, before lunch, we saw large numbers of hartebeest and oryx and quite a big herd of springbok. On the second drive before supper we saw the same characters after we had taken an exploratory drive to the west and come across the border to Namibia – we are so close! A pair of secateurs and we would be in Aranos and the drive home would take a few hours, as it is tomorrow’s drive will take most of the day! We meet the South African and his wife. He says that he saw the hyena drinking at the waterhole this morning with a bloodied muzzle – fortunately he had not feasted in Dianne and Andrew’s tent but elsewhere! There were vultures around but we couldn’t find what they were eating and a Bataleur eagle, distinctive with its very short tail, was soaring over the pan.

For lunch Chris made a big salad and we ate Dianne’s leftovers. For supper he made chicken curry in an Indonesian style but it had a lot of liquid and so we ate it as soup, it was very tasty and everyone had seconds and in some cases thirds! Beatrice and I helped with the preparation but the cuisine aspect of the meal was Chris’.

While we were out on the first game drive with Andy, Jason realigned the pit loo however the earthworks around the edge were a bit unstable and when I paid a visit I found one side of the loo support sinking gently into the abyss. Eventually, being a folding contraption, it folded and deposited me on the ground. Fortunately I was thrown off at an angle not into the pit and suffered only wounded dignity and sand in places it did not belong. Jason dug another hole. My next loo experience was at night. I was minding my own business communing with nature when Karen chose to explore the part of the bush where I was sitting with her spotlight. The beam happily caught me only on its periphery before I yelled!

The evening was quite balmy but we had to get up before dawn cracked and so we all got to bed early. The night was not entirely peaceful. A hyena and some jackals had a violent disagreement nearby and in the early morning a lion made his panting roaring sound four times, such a thrilling noise, as long as its far enough away! Dianne and Andrew were the only ones who slept through the lion.

Sunday – back home the long way round

We had made our teas and coffees the night before and packed all the necessaries for breakfast into the cars in an accessible way so once the camp was demolished we left as the sun was rising. We quickly checked the waterhole but nothing exciting was happening although Led spotted some very large lion tracks on the road. Maybe that lion last night was closer than we thought! The tracks led from the South Africans’ camp Hope they are ok! We turned off in the direction of the gate 70 odd kilometres away. Of course we knew the track by now and so we were looking out for the Eland around the waterhole nearest to where we had spotted them before. They were there and we got a splendid view of them in the sharp morning light. What a treat! Further along and Len is still looking for lion tracks. We round a bend and nearly drive into him, he has stopped for more tracks. Andy rounds the bend and nearly drives into us – oops rephrase – drives into us. He braked but we were too close to the bend. We get out to survey the damage and stop Andrew Len, oblivious, drives off in search of the lions!

Eventually we get going, our rear door has taken on a new shape and Andy has lost his front spoiler Len is still looking for lions and finds them. Two black maned Kalahari lions resting by the side of the road. They eye us for a while and then make off into the bush, one of them limping badly, Beatrice and I feel sorry for him. Is she working towards an Androcles moment? We drive off before she acts on impulse.

We reach the gate around 8am and take another route towards Hkunsi. Andrew and Andy both need to find fuel quite soon so the route we took before will not work. But what a blessing that we took this route! It starts off a bit slow, bushy and scrubby, not very wonderful but it opens out into beautiful country – almost park-like. The wonderful blond grass carpets the landscape and well shaped camel thorn trees provide shade for the animals, and there are plenty of animals. Towards the end of the sand road we come across two enormous herds of springbok, over a thousand strong. It is the most amazing sight of the weekend. Len keeps saying ‘pristine’, what a privilege and it really is such a privilege to be here in such a lovely place.

After a fill up we drive off to Kang on the trans-Kalahari highway. We are going east on a newly made road. Not the right direction but we need the speed of the tar road to be able to make it home as quickly as we can. It would be nice to have the odd road sign to indicate that we are going to the right place but no such luck – at least here is only one place due east of here!

At Kang we fuel up and I take over the driving at last – tar road is no problem but I am not so secure on deep sand. The trans Kalahari highway is just a matter of counting the kilometres and watching out for cows. As the dusk grew the cows got more difficult to spot and Len, who was still in front, used his hazard lights to indicate rogue livestock on the road. At one point he drove past a group of people by the side of the road – should be no problem after all people have more sense than cows, except not in this case. A young person (man?) walks straight out into the road in front of me, head down ignoring the car bearing down on him at a close range and high speed. I swerve and hit the horn but it’s as if he/she is deaf and there is a small child hovering ready to follow. I miss him/her by a whisker and he/she shows no sign that this was a near death experience. Either the person thought he/she was a cow or else was drunk.

This was scary enough but later on I experienced a ghost cow mooching along the middle of the road and completely lost my nerve. Chris had had his sleep by this time and took over the driving. After a painless transition through immigration we met up in the Wimpy at Gobabis for our final joint meal of the weekend and the headed back to Windhoek. We arrived home at half past midnight and discovered that our bashed in rear door would not open. Beatrice had to crawl in from the front of the car and drag the bags and boxes out. Gosh tomorrow I have to hit the ground running, hope I succeed!

Naukluft Tiras Trip May 2012

2012 May Naukluft Tiras Trip

Day 1: Monday 30^th April

Christof writes:

This date constellation with May Day falling on a Tuesday and Cassinga Day falling on a Friday gives an employee the wonderful opportunity of taking 3 days’ leave and getting a total of 9 days. It is also the first week of a 4 week school holiday for Beatrice. Alex is in Germany with his Eco-Club on a fully sponsored exposure trip to Wolfsburg, after which he will be visiting friends and family in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. So it’s just the 3 of us: Cathy, me and Beatrice on this trip. All our usual friends had other plans for this week.

The reason we did not leave on Friday afternoon, as is common with our trips, is that Beatrice first had her Landesjugendtreffen (Annual Church youth camp) near Okahandja. She came back by Monday lunchtime, as planned.

Then it was hurry, hurry to get to Naukluft NWR camp before 5 o’clock, when they close the office there. We went the straightest route via Rehoboth, Klein Aub and Buellspoort. Just after Buellspoort I noticed a tyre puncture, luckily before the tyre shredded. First puncture ever on the ‘new’ Kombi after some 25,000 km. Struggled a bit to get enough ground clearance, fully loaded. Beatrice positively surprised me by REALLY taking charge of the operation. With this delay we arrived slightly delayed at the campsite and thus had to make do with the ‘campsite’ that was clearly a last resort campsite … no braai, no concrete table and stools and the tent place sloping.

I cooked, Beatrice still had a terrible sleep deficit from her church camp (!) and almost fell asleep at the table, so we had slightly undercooked food. To bed early.

Day 2; 1^st May – May Day!

(Cathy) - Pinch and a punch it’s the first of the month! Today I am legitimately on holiday! Ok the rest of the week I am on leave but somehow it feels better to know that nobody is at work anyway.

I didn’t sleep well last night – two reasons really, firstly the tent was on a slight slope and secondly I drank too much Windhoek Light. At least I wasn’t drunk but I SNORED – too embarrassing! And I woke myself up from snoring oh goodness! And then of course I had to go to the loo 4 times in the night due to … well that’s what happens with beer – even when its light!

But this morning was lovely. Beatrice was the last up due to catching up on her zzzd’s and we had breakfast and chatted to the farmer family who were camped next to us. They had been to Sossusvlei and were on the way home today – farms can’t be left for too long. After a leisurely breakfast we moved camp to number 3 where the farmers had been and then drove to the office, which had been closed when we arrived yesterday, to pay our fees. The people there told us all sorts of ghastly stories about the baboons so obviously things have not improved in the past 20 years or so since we were last here. On the way back to the camp a klipspringer couple lingered for a while by the car before gambolling off over the rocks. After battening down the hatches and baboon proofing the camp we took a wonderful walk along the Naukluft river for a few blissful hours. Gosh its beautiful! There has clearly been good rain here and everything is blooming. Bushes that one normally passes without a second glance have sprouted delicate pastel coloured flowers. The grass is high. The trees are all in full leaf; even the Moringas, normally so ratty looking, are luscious and the Quiver trees are flowering. The walk took us through tunnels of reeds, over boulders smoothed by eons of fierce rushes of water, across the river at various places where the stepping stones were dubious and up hillsides thick with grass and other vegetation. Beatrice and Chris helped me up, over, around and across the obstacles. I was never good at boulders. The path was marked by yellow ‘footsteps’ which appeared from time to time in improbable places. The full trail is a 7 hour circuit that takes you from the river valley, across the mountains and down again to the river. We walked for an hour and a half until the trial left the river and then turned back. Dappled shade is so much nicer than burning sun. When we returned to the camp it was already lunchtime and so we polished off Chris’ lamb stew from last night and doodled around the camp in the heat of the day, reading resting and sleeping. In the afternoon we walked the latter part of the trail to the point where the end of the trail leaves the hills and joins the river. Also very beautiful. The sights in the late afternoon sun were augmented by the smells of the aromatic plants that we brushed past; some lemony some a little too pungent and some smelling just like lineament. We met a Dutch couple from the camp who had done the whole trail and were very tired and fed up with searching for the yellow footprints which become scarcer as the trail progresses and the man with the paint pot either lost enthusiasm or ran out of paint. The few footprints there were had a decidedly sketchy character compared with the carefully painted ones at the start.

We were nicely tired but not too tired as we settled down to a glass of wine and Beatrice prepared to cook. A middle aged Portuguese party of 8 arrived with much fuss and bother and set up camp next to us with a revving of engines and a creaking of roof tents. It was interesting to watch the ways in which the men tried to adopt the alpha position and have their way with the organisation. Like a herd of antelope really.

Supper was rice and chicken, very tasty, thank you Beatrice – my go tomorrow.

Day 3, 2^nd of May (Beatrice writes)

I woke up with the sound of my parents trying to wake me up, so eventually I did. We had breakfast and then Daddy drove off, to get the tyre fixed in the next town. Meanwhile Mummy and I read our books. Mummy of course was worrying nonstop whether it would be the last time she ever saw her husband (yes, I am exaggerating…a bit) and was getting more and more annoyed, that there was no cell phone coverage. So when Daddy appeared she leaped up and all was well again. We had leftover lunch with a salad.
Alex is now in Brandenburg with the Meier-Ewerts, and is fine- we know this since Daddy received an sms when he was in town.
Around 3 we set off for a walk, the same way as last afternoon. It was a nice walk and we saw a Kudu about 20m away from us. My aim for the walk was to come back with dry feet-did it work? No! We walked further than yesterday and therefore saw new streams and trees, which Mummy took hundreds of pics of.
On the way back Daddy felt the urge to ‘explore’ even though it was obvious it was going the wrong way. After we walked until the path reached houses we turned around to walk the exact way back.
We got to our campsite and Mummy started cooking. While that was happening the baboons where going crazy and making such a racket (someone said that there had been a leopard).
When it was campers-midnight (aka half hast 8!!!) I went to bed and read some more.

Thursday 3^rd May  (Christof writes)

Our aim on this trip is to stay over for 3 nights a time – makes setting up camp really worthwhile … and then two mornings with no hassle of packing. Today we have to drive all the way to the Tiras Mountains, some 360km on dust roads. Therefore we are getting up relatively early and on the road by 9. At one stage Cathy and Beatrice stand next to each other, both without shoes arguing who is the taller. I take the walking stick from the car and put it on their heads, almost level but tilting up slightly to Beatrice’s side. This is the day Beatrice was finally taller than her mother! (She reminded me to write it in the diary!!!)

First we have the Naukluft mountains on our right, then over the Tsauchab river (which flows into the Sossus vlei) and further south with the Tsaris mountains to our left. We are driving through the Namib rand private nature reserve and within a stone’s throw of the family hideout, where we have stayed so often. This has been the third exceptionally good rainy season in a row … the grass is standing high and still quite green … springbok and guinea fowls especially with many young. As planned we arrive in Helmeringhausen just before lunchtime and it’s time for the obligatory circular sms, with many responses. Alex is in Potsdam, but has decided that walking all the way to Sans Souçis is not really called for. Tonight he will be at Eckart and Kerstin in FFO. After this no cell phone cover till Sunday morning in Aus.

The local hotel, which Cathy and me remember as particularly ‘authentic’ from our Dec 1991 repatriation trip, has now been tarted up for tourist buses and lost all its character. By authentic what we mean is that the bar was the attraction for all the local crusties who would prop it up through the day calling for the occasional top up. Apparently these characters were not compatible with tourists and if you want to get rid of the bar flies the solution is simple. Rip out the bar. Cathy was very concerned about where they have all ended up getting their regular ‘dop’. But we have a light lunch before we go shopping … this is a one-shop-town. I had ordered some blocks of ice by phone from Windhoek, which they had promised to make for me … to be picked up Thursday lunchtime …   We were delighted that they had the ice ready for us, but due to the cold nights and moderate daytime temperatures, our 2 big blocks of ice from Windhoek had hardly started melting yet, so we can only take a bit of the ice. I offer to pay for all the ice, but they refuse, saying that no doubt some overlanders would have a need for it too. But then a really bizarre bit of coincidence happened: Amongst the ‘goodies’ that Wilfried had just brought from Paris was a Belgian Lindt chocolate which was layered and had big squares, therefore only 10. We had rationed this chocolate to one square each per night … lovely!! The night before only one square was left and we had shared it too. I had jokingly said, “we can always buy some more at the Helmeringhausen farm store tomorrow”. And, we could not believe it, amongst all the junk and trinkets and 50kg mealie meal bags they had the same type of Lindt chocolate on a shelf … naturally we had to buy a bar of it (Beatrice had not announced the price and only later she told me it had been N$51 (!). But it tasted as good as Wilfried’s original.)

After that, the last hour to the farm ‘Gunsbewys’ next to the Tiras mountains. We had been here almost exactly 10 years ago with the Muellers, the Brueckners and Nicky Marais. The sprightly (must now be getting close to 80) Gertrud Graebner, still her old self, she remembered us well and drew my attention to the Namibian Satellite photo map she had mounted on the wall … 10 years ago they were fresh off the press at the Ministry of Agriculture and I had given her one. I had forgotten it. The campsite was almost unaltered, but she has built some ‘rooms’ in the meantime. Also solar hot water for the morning shower.

Lighted the fire for the braai and watched the spectacular sunset with all the different colours changing over the Tiras mountains and the silky grass plains leading up to them. By 6 pm its properly dark except for the soon to be full moon. While I’m finalising the meal it’s getting colder and colder and I get the thermometer from the car. It is 16 degrees but an hour later it is down to 10 degrees. When I get up at 01:00 for a leak it is 2 degrees. Fortunately we are well armed and suffer no adverse consequences.

Friday May 4^th

Cathy again; such a beautiful place and so quiet. We wake up to the sound of birdsong but stay in the tent until the sun is high enough to have taken the chill off the morning. By the time we emerge it is 16 degrees and we move the table to the shade for breakfast. Frau Gräbner has set up a small museum since we were last here and has been taking groups of children on eco weekends – she’s such an energetic woman! Her husband’s books are placed in a special corner of the museum. He seems to have been a biologist. After reading through the information we see that a trip to the ‘schlucht’ where we were before is still a possibility. This is on another farm ‘Numis’ about 20km from here. The farmer and Frau Gräbner have and arrangement where a key to the farm gate is under a stone except it isn’t. Fortunately she gave us a spare ‘in case’. We drive through a stand of lovely camelthorn trees, park the car and head up to the split in the mountain that harbours a small stream rushing through the boulders and creating pools that step down the mountainside. The rock is red granite and so the surfaces mostly have purchase except where the water has worn them smooth. I seem to remember the climb was more difficult than it is today, maybe because ten years ago Alex and Beatrice were small and I was worried about them, particularly Alex with his experimental approach to climbing. Today Beatrice is totally capable and I can just enjoy the surroundings. Once we reach sufficient altitude the view back over the desert is spectacular. Framed between the red granite rocks the red dunes in the distance are lapped by a sea of milky green grass almost to their peaks. The colours are bleached to pastel shades in the midday sun. We climb up past several rock pools and Beatrice regrets not having her swimming stuff with her. After a very enjoyable time clambering over and around the rocks we return to the car for lunch. There is a concrete bench under a tree and Chris drives the car into the shade so that we can eat our sandwiches in the cool; Beatrice still regretting not having swum in the pools. Every place here reminds us of the time that we spent ten years ago when everyone’s kids were smaller and delighted in simple things. Good times but we’ve all moved on, some people’s kids have long left home and others are on the brink and itching for independence. We are lucky still to have Beatrice with us. In the early afternoon we return to the camp and relax until the heat of the day has passed. The contrast in temperature between night and day is from 1 degree at night to 28 or so in the day – the plants and animals that live here have to be tough!

Later in the Afternoon we are about to make tea when Frau Gräbner appears and offers to drive us up to the dunes where we had been planning to have a sundowner. We eagerly agree and get ourselves together quickly. We jump on the back of her bakkie, Beatrice keeps her company in the cab and she zooms us up to the dunes. Then we have lots of energy to climb to the fourth row of dunes which gives us a wonderful view over the farm and the mountains as the sun is setting. We crack open our bottles and munch a couple of peanuts and watch the colours of the mountains and dunes change in the fading light. The red and green of the dunes becomes very intense and the mountains fade in lilacs and blues and the grass sways like a huge wheat field in the breeze. Barking geckos start to call and flocks of birds search for safe places to roost in the grass. There are thousands of birds here of all types and dimensions taking advantage of the grass seeds and the bonanza of insects. We can see from pictures in the museum that in some years there is no grass here at all so we have been lucky on both of our visits.

Beatrice cooks Spaghetti Bolognaise for supper and we watch the thermometer fall alarmingly fast. Pretty soon it is campers’ midnight (8pm) and soon after that we retreat to the tent to warm up under the blankets. Minimum drinking for me this evening – going out of the tent in 1 degree of cold is not to my taste!

Day 6, 5^th of May (Beatrice writes)

Today I woke up at 5.15am!! to go with Frau Graebner and the Swiss couple on a dune tour at 5,30 am. So I got up in the freezing cold and then we were off. It was a nice walk over the dunes stopping occasionally so Frau Graebner could show us something interesting. At 6.30 or so we sat down and had provitas with coffee (I am not a coffee drinker, but if it’s that or nothing!) while the sun came over the furthest mountain and put everything into a beautiful light. We all chatted nicely and set off for the highest peak. Frau Graebner is especially interested in the different types of grass, so we learnt a lot about that!
Around 9am we came back. I ate breakfast with the parents, who were just getting up, had a shower and went to sleep! If you can’t sleep in the holidays when can you??
When I woke up it was lunchtime and we ate bread with a nice salad. Afterwards we read a bit and waited for the temperature to be cooler.
At about 3.30pm we then drove to a place where bushmen had lived. The directions were a bit…complicated? E.g. park your car and walk down the riverbed for 200m in brackets left. But the riverbed went straight ahead! Anyway we walked (straight) through the high grass. Saw ‘rubbing stones’ and ‘singing stones’ (which actually were really cool, because when you hit the flat rock it makes a loud sound and the further you hit into the centre, the deeper the sound- like a drum.) 
Then we walked to the big social weavers nest. A part of the nest had fallen from the dead tree. I walked to the one side and saw what I thought was a branch move. Well, I can assure you, it was not a branch! That is unless you have seen branches eat baby weaver bird and well, move! It was massive, fat and black. Probably a black Mamba or a Cobra.
We didn’t stick around to see it’s facial markings, that is for sure!
Afterwards we still saw other bushmen’s objects but I was too conscious about what I was walking on and chose paths without much grass.
We drove on and found a nice spot for a sun downer. And the moon that rose was round and enormous!!
We went back to the camp and it was Mummy’s go to cook, yet we all helped. The moon was really bright and the parents (more Daddy but still.) where almost obsessing about it as if they were going to turn into werewolves or something- luckily for me, they didn’t. And so we enjoyed the meal and went to bed.

Day 7: Sunday 6th May (Christof)

Really the driving-home day. On the road by 9.00. Later, on the tar road, we get a second puncture. Fortunately we have 2 spares and by now we are  a routined tyre-changing team, with Beatrice doing the most. Lunch at the Cañon Hotel in Keetmanshoop and then the last 500km up to Windhoek, where we arrive just after dark. Was a really good, relaxing trip – happy to be home. Both Cathy and me have a full working week ahead of us. Fuel consumption under 9l/100km!

Next trip: Trans-Kalaghadi Transfrontier Park – we are only going to the undeveloped Botswana side, together with the Brueckners, Corhubs and le Roux’s in 10 days time.