September 2007
Day 1: (23 September 2007)
Pretoria to Van Zylsrus. (724km)
We simply took the N14 to Kuruman, turned north to Hotazel and west to Van zylsrus. The road to Van Zylsrus was tarred up to Tswalu game reserves gate, and then suddenly became really bad! They are obviously working on this road and tarring it all the way, but we went from cruising at 90km/h to 25km/h and couldn’t manage much faster for the last 30km’s. We camped at Ruimsig guesthouse. They have a campsite on top of a dune which was occupied the night we wanted to stay. The guesthouse reminds of a Backpacker’s Lodge, and I personally don’t think it’s worth paying the money to stay there. I would however recommend the camp Site!
Day 2:
Van Zylsrus to Nossob (395km)
We drove to Askam and stayed on the South African Side to get to Twee Rivieren. As many recent reports will tell you, the first 30 OD Km’s is now Tarred. You still can’t drive fast, and it is very windy, but at least it solves that massive corrugation problem. The last 30 OD Km’s was hard going. We opted for the road less traveled as the Tata construction trucks and delivery vehicles have damaged the “Detour track” very badly! We still made good time and arrived at Twee Rivieren early enough to chill out by the pool for lunch.
We did the immigration think on both sides and left there with the plan to arrive at Nossob in the late afternoon. After about 20km’s we saw our first Lions. It was pair mating some 30 meters of the road and we were the only car there.
We left them after a while, and flagged down the first car we saw to share the news! Only this German tourist in a Corolla told us that 10km’s up the road was a pride of 11 lions…. We found them and saw 2 youngsters having a “Tug of war” with a baby Kudu… It was very hot, so the rest of the pride was just lying in the shade…
The rest of the journey had interesting sightings of birds and mammals and while deciding weather to drive around Marie se draai, we spotted a GP reg X5 doing some strange maneuvering. When we got closer, we saw that these guys had cameras and lenses more expensive than their car and they were trying to make a Lioness move into the late afternoon sun. NOT COOL!!!!!!
We managed to get past them to get a nice vantage point of 7 Lions who killed an Eland right next to the road at Kaspersdraai Waterhole. Soon more and more vehicles arrived and although we couldn’t really move into better positions, we managed to get some really nice pics of these lions interacting with each other in the late afternoon sun… WITHOUT NEEDING TO HARASS THEM!
We left them with enough time to reach camp without breaking the speed limit and made it with 3 minutes to spare.
That night we decided to take a walk to the waterhole by the camp and were told that we had just missed a pride of lion drinking there before moving North. We decided that seeing 20 lions in 3 prides with 2 kills was sufficient for one day…
Day 3
Nossob to Knus-Knus pan Camp in Swartpan Area (243km)
We started early as we did not know the road condition in the Swartpan area. At the Kwang waterhole we spotted… well…. Some more lions! This time a pride of 5. We spent some time with them before heading north again.
The road North of Nossob was badly corrugated and I was extremely happy to turn onto the track on the Botswana side. It was very sandy, as expected, but not that difficult to drive. I was driving in Hi range 2nd gear at 20km/h and the Hilux was very happy to be there! There was one or 2 dunes where I had to go down to 1st gear and stopping on one uphill I had to use low range to pull away. It is only a 2.2. 4 Y though, so I’m sure the guys with the Diesels won’t have any issue!
We had lunch at the Kaa gate campsite and noticed a lot of animal tracks, and not a lot of vehicle or human tracks. Although there is running water and a shower there, the water is salty and not nice to drink! Fortunately we had enough fresh water with us to last the trip. (I was surprised to find the water in Nossob also too salty to drink)
We spent the afternoon taking a slow drive to the Knus-Knus campsite and in typical Botswana fashion we did not see another vehicle for the rest of the day!
Day 4
Knus-Knus to Sizatswe camp via Swartpan. (104km)
The track is pretty much the same as the previous day. High range idling speed… Swartpan is the only permanent waterhole in the area and it has 2 campsites. One was occupied when we got there, so we parked under a huge camel thorn tree for a nice long rest and some lunch. After lunch we spent some time parked by the waterhole, but the only animal that came for a visit was a lone Gemsbok… We met one other couple with the same ideas as we had. They told us about 2 lions wondering into their camp the previous night at Kaa Gate.
We left there with enough time to make camp before dark. The campsite. As with Knus-Knus, overlooks a huge pan and has no facilities apart from a big tree to hang you shower on.
Day 5
Sizatswe to Masetleng Pan and beyond… (280km)
We left Sizatswe early because of unknown road conditions. T4A wars of thick sand on the route so we did not want to get caught out!
We left the park at Kaa gate. While booking out we heard a scream from a local and while running out saw a huge Kalahari Male Lion walking right past the gate building…. He then picked a shady spot some 100meters from the gate and just flopped down for a morning snooze. Only in Africa!
The first 8km from the gate was a track. Then there was a 45km cut line road. This road, although very sandy, is about 20 meters wide and we could comfortably drive at 60km/h on it. After that we turned North-West on another sandy track towards Masetleng Pan. This is arguably the most perfect Acacia Savannah velt I have ever seen! There is very little to no undergrowth and huge camel thorn trees as far as the eye can see. This time of year was very dry, but I can imagine that in the rainy season with green grass growing there it will be even more spectacular!
We reached Masetleng pan before mid day and deiced to continue with our journey. It took us East to Ngwatle Village where we joined the main road to Hukunsti. The road is not much better than the sandy tracks, but you can drive about 40km/h on it.
We stopped in Hukunsti for fuel and carried on South towards Mabuasehube.
About 45km’s later we started running out of daylight and decided to Bush camp there. The biggest challenge was trying to get out of the road. The track has been cut deep into the sand and trying to negotiate the high banks to leave it proved quite difficult.
Day 6
Bush Camp to Mabuasehube and some game driving… (194km)
I woke up just before sunrise to the breathing noises of a lion… I kid you not! I tried to spot it through the mosquito net of the RTT, but could not see it. An hour later the sun came up, so I woke the Wife up without mentioning the Lion. We broke camp and headed towards Mabua.
Within 5 minutes of leaving camp we found a dead Hartebeest in the road with 2 lions walking away from us. This proved to be a little bit of a problem as we couldn’t really get out of the sandy tracks to drive around the carcass. We had to backtrack. Leave the road, drive past it in the bush, get back on the road and then went back to have another look.
The next 60km was some of the best game viewing I have ever experienced! We did not drive more than 2 minutes without seeing something. It ranged from Lions to Hyena and Jackal to small antelope to Gemsbok to Vultures and everything in-between! It was absolutely fantastic!
When we reached the northern border of Mabua we turned onto one of those wide cut line roads again and managed 50 or 60 km/h until we reached the gate.
It was out first time in Mabua and we only had one night there, so we wanted to see the highlights only. The only campsite we could get was at the gate, so we drove to Mpayathutlwa pan, then to and around Mabuasehube pan, and then to and around Lesholoago pan and had a late lunch there.
We decided to go back the Mpayathutlwa water hole for late afternoon light.
Apart from the expected plains game, the most spectacular sighting we had there was a Bateleur drinking at the waterhole.
We got back to the gate campsite just before last light and pitched camp rather quickly as we know all the stories about predators in camps there.
Halfway though dinner I spotted a dark figure skulking just outside of our circle if light and calmly got the Wife next to me and turned a spotlight on. It was a brown Hyena that seemed completely undisturbed by us. We finished our dinner with him around, and I think he was still there by the time we went to bed.
Day 7
Mabuasehube gate to Groot Mariko via Sekoma and Lobatse (533km)
We got up early, took the cut line road North from the gate for some 16Km’s before turning east on another wide road to Kokotsha. The last 17KM’s before Kokotsha is slow going as the wide road turns into a track that goes around some private farms.
At Kokotsha we turned north towards Sekoma. We encountered some roadworks for about 100km’s. They are busy rebuilding the road between Sekoma and Tsabong. We saw and helped no less that 5 people with blown out tires on this road. It reminds of the road inside the Skeleton Coast Park in Namibia at the moment.
According to the Shell Tourist Map of Botswana there is Fuel at Sekoma… There is no fuel station there! The closest fuel was at Jwaneng some 90km’s further east.
That night we stayed at a place called Bonaledi about 5 km West of Groot Mariko. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! The private camp is in the bottom of a deep valley. The facilities are brilliant! And the price was R600 a couple for the night self catering. We met up with some friends there so we were 6 Couples. I think the camp can take 8. Although you don’t need a 4 x 4 to get to the camp, it is a spectacular drive where Nyala and Bushbuck brush up against your vehicle.
Day 8.
N4 back to Pretoria. Reached home before Lunch.
Notes:
We filled with fuel at home, in Kuruman, Nossob, Hukunsti, and Jwaneng. My fuel consumption went from 6.5km/l to 4.6 in the thick sand which shocked me! I guess dragging your diff through the Kalahari takes a bit more fuel that I expected.
Fresh water is a real concern. I don’t know about Twee Rivieren, but there is no fresh water in Nossob or the Swartpan Area. Salty water is OK for the shower, but for drinking and cooking we fortunately had enough fresh water from home.
This was my first trip relying on T4A and I will never leave home without it again! Negotiation your way through villages and small towns is just so simple with T4A and the info on it is amazing!
It was extremely dry when we were there. Getting stuck was not something I was concerned about. I deflated the tires to about 40% of normal and had no issue at all. I had a radiator net on but never saw a blade of grass long enough to reach the radiator. I think this road might be a different ball game in the wet season though!
The main reason we used this route was because I could not get space to camp in the places I wanted to to explore Mabuasehube and road between that and Nossob. We prefer to travel alone and feel as if we are only people in the area. Selfish perhaps, but still our preference! I found Mabua a little crowded and think I’ll probably not go there in school holidays again.
Comments Widget
