Onwards and Upwards

Sorry about the long text only blog so far but the internet connections are the slowest I have ever used and I cannot upload a picture yet but as soon as we can you will know

We left the main gate at CKGR, eventually joined the tarmac road and headed the 250 or so Kms north up to the Western side of the Okavango Delta and our next stop of Guma Lagoon Camp where we will have ensuite chalets and dinner cooked for us instead of us doing all the work.

The drive was good, stopping to fill up both tanks with fuel along with the onboard water tanks. We were worried about the fuel in the CKGR but came out with probably 40-50 litres of diesel still on board so all was ok. Besides fuel we also needed drinking water plus vital supplies of beer and wine

We also had to pass several “Vet” check points where they check for red meat as foot and mouth is rife in parts of the country and they are trying to stop it. Most control gates just wave you through but you do meet the odd “jobsworth” as in one police lady who objected as we didn’t stop on the stop line, in fact we missed the first completely where she informed us we should have stopped and waited until she called us to the next one. We are talking here marks on the road not big signs so she asked us for 1000 Pula (approx. £100.00 in fines. We discussed not paying and a bit of charm let us through. The next one we were more careful but it was back to normal with an old guy sitting in a chair flapping his hand to say go through

Guma Lagoon was an interesting drive and the first real test for a novice 4x4 driver. Thick deep sand for 10 kms so lower tyre pressure by half put in 4x4 and locked diff and of we go but still end up stuck in the deep sand. Get out the shovel and clear a couple of feet in front of each wheel, stick the Land Cruiser in low range and of we go, great fun at about 5 mph all the way but we got there

A boat trip plus a day on a Mokoro, a type of wooden (ok Fibreglass) canoe poled along like a punt by a professional “Poler”. He was good, knew all his birds and pointed out many things so we saw many different birds and many up close

After 2 days at Guma we then left back across the sand in low range before hitting the road, getting out the compressor, re-inflating the tyres and driving to the Sacred Tsodilo Hills for a night.

This small range of rocky outcrops in a flat landscape are quite amazing and are Botswana’s only World Heritage site and home to the San people and their ancestors. Many ancient Rock Paintings

depicting Rhino, Elephant, many antelope and Dancing Penises. Yes you are correct one panel shows 4 men dancing nude after a hunting trip and they are quite excited in more ways than one.

We were accompanied by a San guide who was born and lived on the hills until they were all moved to a village close by. A really wonderful experience

We have now moved on again this time across the border to Namibia and we are on the Caprivi Strip for a few days so more to follow plus many pictures

Mike & Jan