Kgalagadi – August 1

We are now in Kgalagadi  national park, at the entrance at a camping site called ‘Two Rivers’. All the water is missing by the way but this aside…

We stayed in Oranjerus for two nights because we thought it was a very nice campsite where we stood beautifully at the Oranjerivier. Yesterday we went for a walk in the area but after a few kilometers gunshots sounded and we reversed. There were probably some people practicing, but you shouldn’t be stupid.

When we arrived at this campsite the day before yesterday it smelled like curry so Lisa tried to get the cook to get us something too. Unfortunately, it wasn’t ready yet but we were able to get a delicious burger from him. The next day he made up for this with a delicious curry on the Oranjerivier. By the way the sunset is beautiful, see the photo

Today we drove north to the Kgalagadi park which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year. It is a park managed by three countries but you notice nothing of that. We started early this morning because we had to pick up quite a few groceries (well, we not that much) and the car needed some diesel. This car has two tanks of 70 l so you have a fantastic range. Filling does require some skill and I also have to make sure that the last tank is at least 70% empty to make everything easier.

The drive north was incredibly lonely and long (250 km). I think I may have come across 20 cars and the landscape got rougher and rougher with low trees and the reddish sands of the Kalahari.

Along the way we saw beautiful bird nests, see the photo.

At the park we had to go through a Corona circus, because that it was! A lady sat at the entrance with all the forms we had to fill out that were about whether we had a cold, had a snot nose and so on. And in the end, our temperature was measured being well below 37 degrees (36.1 for both). So we’re ice rabbits!

After that, the check went back in as normal at SANparks  (the organization of all national parks here). We drove straight into the park before we went to the campsite, just looking for some animals and we succeeded. An owl, a hawk, many springboks,  skewers  and wildebeest but also a jackal and you don’t see it often.

The campsite is moderate and busy for South Africa but clean and spacious. Tomorrow we go to Mata  Mata in the same park and the next day we go out again. There’s no internet for the next two days so I can really unwind now