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This Journal was written by Adriaan on Michelle's iPad as we travelled. Herman did some slight editing and adding, otherwise it was Adriaan's original work. 3-10 January 2011.
Molopo: 1 day
We left Hout Bay at 04h00 on a long trip to the Kalahari. We passed through the Knersvlakte and the Cederberg mountains. The steep Van Rhyns Pass brought us onto the huge dry expanse of the Northern Cape. We met my good friend Oliver Schuurmans in Upington. We stocked up in Upington and I joined them in their Disco 3 for most of the holiday. Our first stop was at Molopo lodge. We experienced a lot of rain and thunderstorms and the Kalahari looked spectacular. The lounge and chalets were waterlogged with an excessive amount of rain which we experienced. Even though it was raining it was still very hot and humid so we decided to take a dip in the lovely pool. For the price we were paying, wasn't worth the stay.
Nossob: 4 days: (Day:1)
Our next stop was Nossob. We took a drive through the Kalahari Transfrontier Park to reach our desired destination. We didn't see much game, but it was a pleasant drive through the typical red Kalahari sand dunes. We stopped at a picnic spot to have a quick drink and a snack. Right after our picnic, we saw a spectacular sight of 3 male lions resting under a tree after a hot exhausted day. We arrived at about 3'o clock and set up camp pretty quickly. We had a lovely braai. We stayed up late and enjoyed our coffee. At about 00:30 pm the lions started roaring and kept us awake. Experiencing the thunderstorms and rain in the Kalahari was an amazing experience.
Day 2 - We got up at 6'clock to take a drive. In the first 10 minutes we saw a amazing sight of lionesses who were snoozing peacefully. We carried along slowly and saw a few oryx, springbok, red hartebeest, black backed jackal and an amazing view of bat-ear foxes which were cubs with their mom. We saw a rare type of agama which was called a ground agama. Oliver finally saw a spotting of a Secretary bird which he has never seen one before.
We went back to camp to have breakfast and played around with adorable ground squirrels and got some good shots with them. After our tasteful breakfast, we decided to take another game drive because there were rumours going around about a lioness who is chowing on a blue wildebeest carcass. Hmmmm...
Getting back to the lion story, it was actually all true! It was an amazing sight! Oliver was getting bored and decided to drive the car. All in all, he isn't bad driver except that he hasn't got his license and it felt quite dodge, but...he is only 6 years away! While he was driving uncle John said not above 40/km but he didn't care and the clock was soaring at 50/km! We stopped at a weird place where we were not allowed to get out, but we did it anyway to have a drink. We then made our way back to camp and saw the lion carcass again. We stopped at a water-whole and saw a magnificent herd of Oryx. Aunty Michelle quenched for her authentic " Gin & Tonic" so we are desperately rushed back for it!
There's one thing about the Kgalagladi which I can't understand is that it is soooo dry and it's most common animal is birds! That's maybe why they have so many wind pumps! Oliver is really enjoying this whole driving thing! He drove all the way back to camp which is about 30 km. At least we have a very comfy and safe car, a Land Drover Discovery 3.
The most important gadget on this trip has to be the classic old Bushwakka! It really made an impact on this whole trip and we would have been lost without it! Eventually after Olivers "FANTASTIC" driving, aunty Michelle finally received her "authentic" Gin & Tonic.
Day 3: We woke up at 6:00am to go for our game drive. We made a frantic search for the car keys for about 30 minutes. We eventually found them luckily cause it is our only pair of keys in the whole continent cause our spare keys got stolen! We eventually started our game drive really amped, but unfortunately we didn't see any game. Luckily we saw the lioness again, because she is pregnant! So far that has been all we have seen today except the cute baby wildebeest. We are on a painful search for cheetahs, leopards and wild dogs but we just can't find them! This whole story is just a matter of luck! All in all, we are not actually trying to hard to look for game! Oliver got back into the driving story again. This time he was warming up the clock to 60/km! We couldn't stop laughing about this driving story! Michelle needed the bathroom, so we had to quickly race back for an emergency situation! The same lioness got up and went to go drink and all the buck scattered away. We are waiting to see if she will go for the kill!
She is calmly sipping the water away. The lioness was unfortunately to interested in the jackal threatening to take her kill! So far, that has been our day! The afternoon got piping hot so we decided to take a nice dip. Currently we are chilling and enjoying our drinks. We heard a continuous owl chirping so I looked and there was an amazing White- Faced owl in the tree. There was also a Eagle owl! We are currently going on a night drive.
Day:4 - Woke up at 5:55 and my sinuses were completely blocked. We went on a quick game drive and saw lion, kudu, and then came back to leave for our next destination, Mata-Mata.
Mata-Mata: 3 days (Day:1)
We left Nossob and on the way we saw many game, lion, leopard and much more! We arrived at Mata-Mata and it was piping hot, so we decided to take a dip in the pool, but arriving on occasion, it was green! We set up camp and went for a game drive and saw lion.
Day 2 - Woke up at 6:00 and as usual decided to take a game drive! I spotted cheetahs with a kill, giraffe and bat-eared foxes. We went later that evening and them again, they looked suspicious but we had leave because the gate was going to close.
Day 3-We saw a honey badger which was a rare sighting! Giraffe, a cheetah kill and that was all for the day.
Leaving the Kgalagadi:
It was heart breaking leaving the Kgalagadi because that meant back to urban life! It was probably the best game viewing time because we saw, lion, cheetahs, leopard, buck, and much more!
We will never forget the cheetah kill we witnessed, the beautiful red sand dunes and yellow duwweltjie veld covering the Kalahari and which is staple food for the thousands of Springboks. The next day we drove back to Cape Town. We heard on the news that Gauteng had a lot of rain and that most rivers up country were in flood. The sluices of the major dams (Vaal Dam Gariep Dam) were all opened and the the Orange River was in flood. As we passed the bridge over the Orange River at Keimoes the traffic police told us that they were going to close the bridge in an hour as they expected the bridge to flood. We just made it in time!
Gifberg:1 day
After a long winding and very steep road almost taking 30 minutes to arrive at our desired destination. After arriving, there was an adorable dog and his name Spook. Spook was a mix of many different breeds of dogs. It was a scorching 33 degrees and decided to take a dip in the pool. The unique farm house was a classic and a spectacular experience of the old days! We had an enjoyable braai in the Lapa. There was a cool mountain breeze blowing but the fire inside the lapa kept us all warm and cozy.
The next morning we packed and left Gifberg early on our way back to Cape Town and to the schools which started that Monday. We had 1 very interesting days, enjoying the outdoors and learning to take care of our environment. We will miss the Kalahari!!
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