First Night On the Food Chain!

Day 3 Monday March 3rd 2008
From Khama Rhino Sanctuary to Central Kalahari Game Reserve

Whoo-ee, today was a corker! We started late as it took about two hours to get ourselves organised. I felt it was because we had camped late last night and weren't able to pack up properly in the dark (and it was our first day, so we were still getting our bearings). Simon was cross, saying we had to be faster in future!! Faster! Faster! Faster! Grrrr.... But we managed to get on the road without incident - in other words, no, I didn't smack him! He's too cute. Heheheh

The road is tarred all the way up to the Central Kalahari turn-off, and it was quick and easy going. We planned to get fuel at Rakops, the last "town" before the turn-off, and we reached it by about mid-day. However, while there are indeed fuel pumps in Rakops, there was no fuel!

A back track all the way to Mopipi to get fuel and ice put us over an hour behind schedule. We were unable to obtain cash or groceries here either (very small shop near the service station). By the time we made it back to the turn-off to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, we knew we were not going to make our camping spot in time. Knowing that we would be camping in the open, with nothing between us and a hungry lion, we were a little concerned.

The road into the Reserve is sandy, long, closed in by tall foliage, and slightly claustrophobic.
After a brief stop to let the air out of the tyres, it took about an hour and a half to do around 45km/28 miles. What a relief to see the Gatehouse loom ahead of us! The sentry/gate keeper/guard/ranger (whatever his title) was very thorough, and very slow, and the paperwork was interminable. I was bouncing up and down impatiently, trying to be polite, but so tempted to just tell the guy to get on with it! Obviously he's very bored sitting there all day and it was real nice to have company. We wanted to get it done and go find a camp site!

The average speed through the Kalahari, we worked out, was 36km/hr (22.4mph) over the soft sand. The roads were good, if muddy in patches, but we definitely could not make up lost time. We drove directly to our designated campsite at Sunday Pan, but it was getting late and we seemed to have lost the way. We passed a lovely spot with trees and grass and kept going to what seemed to be a cul de sac. We just couldn't work out where to camp.

Returning to the grassy tree spot, Simon pointed out that there was a signpost there but the sign had fallen off. He reckoned that this must be a campsite. We knew that we would be camping in the open and that there were no facilities in the Kalahari, so we set up camp. We had read that if there are a lot of droppings under the trees, it is best to camp clear of them, so we set up just on the edge of the tree line. It was getting late and the light was fading, so we worked fast to set up camp, eat, clean up and pack away before nightfall. It was odd trying to be a chameleon, with one eye on what we were doing and one eye scanning the bush for any sign of predators. I felt very nervous being back on the food chain!

There were Gemsbok (Oryx), Springbok, and Wildebeest grazing in the grassland around us and it was so good to be out in the open with them. I didn't get to take photos of them as we were trying to make the sundown deadline, but it was fabulous being out in the wild. I felt like a pioneer. Then the jackals started yodelling right around us and I felt like a very nervous pioneer! My chameleon ability moved up several notches and I was as jumpy as a rat at a rattlesnake convention. Simon found this very amusing.

Simon positioned our chairs so that we faced each other. If this sounds romantic, it was so we could look out all round for trouble! After dinner, we pushed the chairs up against the truck (hopefully no lions would think to crawl under the truck to get to us) and watched the stars for a bit. Then we climbed into bed for our first night out in the wild!