After a few days in Maun and a little luxury staying in a
lodge with everything cooked for us we have now got back on the road in our
“trusty” home from home. It was not a long trip as the different legs of this
holiday go but certainly took some time. The first section from Maun was
approx. 80 kms along a tarred good quality road but often stopping or at least
slowing down to let cattle, goats, donkeys and the occasional wild animal
cross. After the 80 kms and approx. 90 mins we turned off the main road for a
40 kms slog through deep sand to Nxai Pan. This area of Botswana is part of the
Makgadikgadi Pans National Park and is a huge area where many years ago,
between 5000 and 10000 years the area was one huge lake. It is now completely
dry and had huge salt Pans. The 40 Kms journey to Nxai Pan took some 3 hours
and had the car overheating a little in the hot afternoon sun so we stopped a
few times to let it cool down.
Also on the way were a group of Baobab Trees named after an
explorer from the 19th century and he painted them in a series of
artworks. Baines Baobabs as they are know still look almost identical today as
when the painted them. They are impressive as they are in the middle of a pan.
Our campsite was further on on the edge of the large Nxai
Pan. Each evening we had Jackals around as we were cooking and trying to steal
food. (Makes a change from the monkeys and Baboons). Have to say the Jackals
were partial to some Veggie Curry leftovers that I created on the camp fire
last night.
The flat scrubby area around the pan is home to Cheetah
although we couldn’t find any but did manage a couple of lions just as the sun
was going down as well as many other
animals and birds around the water hole including a few elephants one of which
liked making patterns in the air with the sprayed water.
We are staying at a “funky camp” called Planet Baobab for
tonight then out on quad bikes onto the Makgadikgadi pan for a night under the
stars (or rather a full moon as it is really bright at the moment.
Mike and Jan
No comments:
Post a Comment