ckgr – Clancy Abroad

Letiahau 06 to Powerline wild camp

No lions overnight. I finally figured out how to film overnight with the GoPro outside the camper,but nothing turned up. I got going early, leaving at 7:15am, it was a fair drive to the gate.

I remembered from doing this drive years ago, that this bit of the CKGR is not difficult to drive. Its mostly through pans, and not very sandy. I made pretty good time, having a couple of people pass me coming towards me. I eventually met up with an enormous Isuzu camper.It was twice the height of Clancy. I thought it was a Unimog truck, but no. I stopped to talk to them, and told them where I had come from. They asked about the sandy tracks, but I told them there is no way they would fit in the narrow tracks to Khutse.

I made it to the CKGR gate at Matswere. I paid the bigfoot lady with my rapidly dwindling amount of cash for the two campsites (bigfoot only take cash, no credit card) The I went to pay my fees for the park. They at least take credit card. However multiple attempts with multiple cards, and the machine didn’t work. So in the end (because I didn’t have enough Pula) I paid him Rand, which I had plenty of.

So onwards down the rough road to Rakops. I got to Rakops and the first thing I went to was the ATM – not working – dead. I had tried two ATMs in Letlhagkeng, both not working. I had paid so much Pula cash to people who wouldn’t take card I had used it almost all up. I was down to about $A20 in Pula. I tried a couple of places in town who said they did cash out, but they didn’t. I said about the non functioning ATM at one place and he said it was a power cut, but he didn’t know when the power would be back on.

So I decided I would spend my last Pula on a campsite about 6km out of town. I got through the first gate but was stopped at the second. 20 minutes of pressing the intercom and blowing my horn got me no response. So I gave up and tried the ATM again in Rakops – still not working. I decided I needed to hang around town, so I backtracked 10km towards the CKGR on the rough track to a wild camp on iOverlander next to some power lines. Seems OK, no lions only cows.

Oryx along the road, there were lots, multiple times.

Ostriches as well, try are so much taller than Emus

The massive Iveco, about twice the height of Clancy

Camped at the wild camp next to the powerlines

Piper Pan 02 to Letiahau 06

Again after another visit by lions overnight I was careful getting out of the camper, checking around for lions. No lions again this morning, but the lions have dragged things around and knocked over boxes. I later learnt that they have taken the solar panel cloth cover. After I left I searched up and down the track, but I could not see it. Looking again at the lion tracks left last night, I think there were some cubs as well.

I drove down to Piper Pan to find the pan with the most animals yet. I picked up the binoculars and the first thing I saw was an Africa painted dog (or wild dog). Never in my travels before in Africa had I seen one. There were antelope and Cape Buffalo spread all over the pan, and the flocking birds (yet to be identified) milling around the waterhole.

I took the long scenic road around Piper Pan, getting a better view on the other side. I continued north west. The road was corrugated and slow going, I spent most of my time in second gear doing 15kmh. After an hour I suddenly came across another vehicle. They were coming towards me. The first other tourist I had seen for 7 or 8 days. I pulled off the road for them so they could pass.

I was crossing another pan, when a leopard jumped out of a bush I was approaching and ran across to hide under another tree. Once he was in the tree you could barely see him, his camouflage was so good.

A bit later I came across two more vehicles coming my way, I again got off the road for them. There were more antelopes and kudi. The road is nowhere as sandy, I will have to pump my tyres up this afternoon. I have had them at low pressure for ten days or so. At 1pm I got to Letiahau camp, which was shady, but I don’t always like shady as I need sun for my solar panels.

Tomorrow I have to start early. I have nearly 80km to go to get to the gate.

One of the Lion prints left during the night

Solar panels for the waterhole protected from Elephants

Xade 02 to Piper Pan 02

In the morning I got out of the camper tentatively. Got hold of my Bunnings long handled shovel and looked around carefully in case there was a lion anywhere around, the lion from the night before. No lion – all safe. It was very cold this morning 10C, the coldest morning I had since South Africa.

I packed up to go, it was only 10km to the Xade gate, and I wanted to explore options.

I got to the gate, and after discussions with the helpful guy manning the gate, he found out I could get two bigfoot campsites in northern CKGR, and exit out at Rakops. This is sort of what I wanted to do all along, but got scared off with alternator troubles. However I thought I had enough diesel to do it. Its 266km. I had to pay at the Rakops exit.

I loaded up with more water, and headed of towards Piper Pan 02. It was a late start, so it was going to be a hot drive. I crossed more pans than I was used to, with several bits of eroded road on pans that had got wet last rains. I arrived at Piper Pan 02 just after 3pm. This is my 12th day in the Kalahari.

UPDATE: Another Lion visit around midnight. He pushes a storage box over, and drags the mat in front of the camper about a metre. I just see him in the moonlight. Other than that he doesn’t make any noise.

Staying in the warm during the cold dawn

One of the many pan crossings on the way to Piper Pan

XaXa camp to Xade 02 camp

After dark I took out my spotlight and managed to get an overexposured picture of a couple of owls flying around. At 2am I heard a lion down towards the waterhole. The roaring continued for a few minutes then went silent, in the morning I saw no sign of the lion.

I had calculated 40km to Xade 02 camp, but I had miscalculated, and it was actually 60km. I was slow to get going and so I did a lot of the journey in heat. Firstly I went down to the waterhole to see. A few vultures, but nowhere a many as yesterday. No other wildlife. I drove 14km to rejoin the main track. I passed another burnt out rusted 4wd by the side of the track. The track was sandier than the previous day, and I spent more time in second gear doing 15kmh. I also saw three Kori Bustards on the track. Another elephant skull was also by the track.

I turned off the main track towards Xade 02, about 1km off the main track. It was cleared enough (there had been reports it wasn’t cleared). Its a little uphill out of the pan, that is covered with brushes with yellow flowers. The plants I think are ‘swarthaak‘ an Acacia like species. They are only growing in the flat part of the pan, that probably gets some water when there are rains. I need to add, because until you get to Africa, you might not realise, that almost every plant in Africa, at least eastern and southern Africa is spikey. They grow thorns, some big, some little, but there are always thorns. It makes it really hard to get through the scrub, because you constantly get caught by the thorns.

I set up for camp. I was here for two nights. It will be good to not be on the move for a day. It got cloudy later, a rare thing. I have had only one cloudy day in three weeks. It made for some good sunset pics. I haven’t seen another vehicle now for 5 days.

UPDATE: About 10pm on the second night, I got woken up by a roar outside. I opened the door and in the almost full moon I could see something walking through the grass about 20m away. I grabbed the spotlight and there was a male lion. He stopped, looked at me, and then continued walking away.

The waterhole in the morning at XaXa, with a few vultures

Swarthaak with yellow flowers growing on the pan

It got cloudy (rare at this time), so some nice sunset pictures at Xade 02 campsite

Bape camp to XaXa camp (or Xaka?)

I knew I had a long way to go, 120km, so I was up at 6am to leave as soon as I could. A few things went wrong but I did get going by 7:30am.

2km up the track I found very fresh Elephant tracks, it looked to me from the previous night. I then did a sharp turn west. I realise that traveling east and west is easier. The dunes which are low and far apart tend to run west east. So when you are heading north you are constantly crossing dunes, which makes it much harder going. When heading west you are running mostly in the interdune space that tends to be less sandy. The track west is somewhat overgrown. You constantly hit bushes either side. I should have pulled my mirrors in, and that mistake cost me one broken mirror on the drivers side. As well I managed to rip off the rear right-hand mudflap. The mudflaps are a running joke, I rip one or both off every trip, I am always fixing them.

I went through a section where elephants had pushed over trees, and generally caused mayhem.

I stopped for a stretch on the track at one time just randomly and in front were Elephant tracks, and at the back I thought there were lion tracks. I was making good time, I spent a lot of time in third gear meaning I was doing 20km and hour or more. 80km in I saw some giraffes on the road ahead. I crept up, and could see two adult giraffes and one baby. They got off the road, but they were happy to watch me while I watched them. I left them to it, with one of the Giraffe I could hear but not see ripping things of trees.

I turned over the road to Xade up to XaXa (which on the park map is called XaKa, but tracks4Africa has XaXa). I went to the solar powered waterhole that was full of vultures, and another flocking bird that I couldn’t identify. The vultures were riding the thermals all over the place. I drove up the sand dunes to the campsite that looks down on the plains.

Stopped on the track for a stretch. There is nowhere to pull off

Khankhwe Pan to Bape camp CKGR

Well I am deep in the Kalahari now. It is 72km from Khankhwe to Bape. I have not seen another vehicle now for two days, however I have gone through two villages much to my surprise.

I left Khankhwe about 9:30am. I am going to have to leave much earlier tomorrow morning. I have 123km to drive tomorrow, and the sand is much easier to drive on in the cool of the morning. The whole route is fairly sandy. I stopped part way and lowered my front tyre pressure even lower.

The first thing I encountered was a burnt out and rusting 4WD. I wonder what happened there.

17km out of Khankhwe suddenly there was a young girl running to me from the scrub. I stopped to talk to her, and within a couple of minutes her Mum and several siblings had turned up. There was a village about 1km away, and they were just out looking for animals. The girl really wanted my Bluetooth speaker that was sitting on the dash. She knew the brand name as well. I did point out she needed a phone to provide the music for the speaker, let alone a solar panel to charge it, none of which she had. She just wanted to dance to music, teenagers the same everywhere, even in the middle of nowhere. This village Kukumane had 50 people in it. No cell phones, internet or anything like that. No vehicles, they got their supplies by donkey cart that I guess would have been a two day drive away. They were a friendly lot, I took their picture and continued up to the village. I talked to a guy in the village. I didn’t totally understand but I think these were San people who didn’t want to relocate. They were living the nomadic herder lifestyle of their ancestors.

It was hot and slow driving in the sand. A lot of the time I was only doing 15kmh, if I was lucky in a stretch I got up to 25kmh.

The road started to deviate from the track4Africa map, and I found myself in another village. Within a minute or so I had a dozen people outside my window. They were friendly, told me how to rejoin the road, and I was on my way.

Another 20km or so and I arrived and Bape campsite. This campsite is just a clearing, no drop toilet or anything. It is wilderness.

A burnt out area of the CKGR that the rangers at Khutse warned me about.

The trip so far through the Kalahari in red

Moreswe Pan to Khankhwe Pan

Another cool morning, about 12C, but by the middle of the day it’s 32C. Real Desert weather. I saw some ostriches on the pan but not much else. I wonder if the diesel powered pump for the waterhole is too erratic for the animals to trust it.

I packed up and got going by 9:30am. It was a 60km drive to Khankhwe, at about 25kmh. I stopped at the Moreswe waterhole, but there was nothing there, not even birds. I headed north passing Elephant droppings on the track quite often, but didn’t see any elephants. I saw a few antelopes along the way, and stopped in a Molose waterhole to see a group of antelope and a sole Cape Buffalo. I saw some other campers at Molose, and stopped to talk to a ranger who was headed south. About 1pm I arrived at Khankhwe Pan. This is the last stop before crossing the CKGR. It is 72km to Bape campsite. Later in the afternoon I jacked up the rear wheel so I could rotate the tailshaft, and I greased the tailshaft.

Khutse 01 to Khutse 03 to Moreswe Pan

My time at Khutse 01 was ending, but I was worried that I didn’t have enough diesel to cross the CKGR. I really didn’t plan for crossing the CKGR. I thought it might be possible, then I gave up the idea. However when I asked the rangers at the Khutse gate they thought it was possible. So I sent a WhatsApp message to the Bigfoot tours guy at the gate about whether I could get some dieel as the nearby village of Kaudwane. He thought I could a couple of days earlier, but when I got to the gate he wasn’t there. The ranger rang him, but he didn’t think he could get the diesel until Sunday, and by then I was meant to be way south of Khutse GR in Moreswe Pan. Reluctantly I decided I would have to drive the 120km back to Letlhagkeng to the service station to get more diesel.

I drove down, passing a couple of ostriches with chicks walking along side the road. I also passed a couple of donkey carts, there are often several on this road. I tried to get some cash out of two ATMs in town but one was broken, and the other one was not giving out cash. I needed cash because the service station could not take my credit card. So I dug out all my cash, about $A180 in Pula, and went to buy as much diesel as I could with my cash. While I was in town, I saw five South African vehicles who were obviously heading to Khutse. They were the first white people I had seen in about ten days.

I headed back north, and stopped at the Khutse gate to refill with water. It was getting late and I knew I would not get to Moreswe that evening. So I headed to where I previously camped Khutse 01 but could it was overtaken by the South African group of 5. I found an empty Khutse campsite Khutse 03 and camped for the night.

Next morning I got away early. I headed eventually west along the cut-line seeing some antelope and ostriches along the way. Then I headed south passing a couple of vehicles camped at Molose pan. After lowering my tyre pressure about 11am I arrived at Moreswe Pan.

It was fairly hot. The temperature at one stage was 37C inside the camper, probably 34C outside. I am camped above the pan, and can look down at the waterhole. Not a lot of animals though, not compared to Khutse pan. Two nights here, then I head north to start crossing the CKGR.

Not a great picture but two ostriches and their chicks

Driving into the setting sun towards Khutse campsites

Startrails at Khutse campsite

Awning out since its going to be another warm day

South of Khutse to Khutse Game Reserve

I spent an hour or so trying other things to fix the alternator, but they didn’t work. So I decided I would continue on and charge the cranking battery with solar. I headed north towards Kaudwane were I could pickup cell phone service again. I stopped and rang BigFoot tours only to find that they had an office at the Khutse gate. So I drove there and much back and forth with BigFoot tours and the Botswana parks, I worked out I would stay 7 nights in Khutse GR. 3 nights at Khutse 01, 3 nights at Moreswe 02 and one night at Khankhwe. Then I would cross the CKGR (Central Kalahari Game Reserve) towards Ghanzi in the west.

I filled up with water at the gate, and then drove the 12km out to Khutse 01 campsite. Khutse 01 (according to iOverlander) is a prime location for lions working their way towards the waterhole about 500m from here. However in two days no lions, or sounds of lions. I saw some Cape Buffalo on the way in and some springbok. I drove to the waterhole at dusk this afternoon and saw some Elan antelope (I think) and some more springbok. I found an elephant skeleton next to the waterhole. Other than that it was been a relaxing two days being stationary.

A Silver Lining

(aka – We drove across the Kalahari Desert in 2WD and got another flat tyre)

We spent our last night in the CKGR at Deception Camp 1, then set out on Wednesday morning to drive out of the Reserve, get back on the sealed road at Rakops and head south towards Orapa. We got a mere 6kms down the track when Tyre Dog pressure monitoring system started letting us know that we had a puncture.
Damn.
So we pull over to a clear flat spot off the single vehicle-width track, grab our 2 jacks and other tyre-fixing stuff and get on with it.
Just as Greg was getting the first jack underneath, 2 government Landcruiser utes stopped. I thanked them for stopping, explained that we had a flat tyre but we were okay and thought they would just keep on driving, but they pulled both vehicles off the track and all 6 passengers got out to assess the situation. Within seconds the 2 drivers were on the green mat-covered ground with Greg, sussing it all out. Someone got a jack from one of the utes, so we had 3 jacks, and they got to work.
The group works for a mobile health unit, based in Ghanzi. They had visited the 2 lodges within the Reserve and were on their way to a clinic in Rakops. There were 2 Health Care workers including Registered Nurse Onalethata Matsenkule who trained in Melbourne and lived in Australia for 9 years. He has even visited Adelaide! In addition to the 2 drivers, there was a mechanic and a female assistant mechanic.
We had an almost heart-stopping moment when one of the drivers moved out from under Clancy a split second before the jack collapsed in the soft sand, but otherwise it all went smoothly. I chatted with Onalethata while Greg and the men replaced the tyre. I showed off Clancy’s interior, the guys chatted about how fantastic 1H and 2H Toyota engines are, then Greg showed them the electrical features of the camper. We gave the group a 6-pack of Sahara Cider, thanked them all profusely and waved them off to get to their health clinic.
The rest of our drive out of the Reserve was uneventful, although the last part of the unsealed road back to the B300 sealed road near Rakops was the worst of the whole CKGR route.
We pulled off the road at the turn-off to Rakops and had a very late lunch. Just as we were finishing, a government car pulled up beside us ….. it was our friends the drivers and health workers! We were happy to see them and let them know that the rest of our drive out of the park was fine.
It was such a lovely experience, meeting this group of friendly, helpful locals. Shame about the tyre – we’re up to 5 punctures for this trip so far. Hopefully not on track to match Season 1’s tally of 10 punctures and 2 blow-outs.