Sand, bush, elephants and tigers

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D man

Pack Dog
Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Messages
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Location
UK (London)
Bike
Triumph 800 XC
A little more than a year ago, I went on bmad’s trip to Malawi (see Flaming Nyanja trip ride report) and was so smitten by the adventure and sense of freedom that I vowed to do another one sooner rather than later.

And so it was that towards the end of last year, I started chatting to africanSky about a trip through Botswana.  I put together a proposal for a trip in April and that soon became June when we decided that, on balance, some cold nights in the pans were preferable to a lot of water.

Some changes had been made to the bikes – africanSky now had a KTM690 and whilst I still had the KLR, I had done all the recommended upgrades i.e. doohickey, front springs, bash plate, crash bars etc. (thanks DocKLR) Some changes africanSky made included a Corbin seat, additional fuel tanks, crash bars, pannier racks and some others that escape me right now.


Day 1 (Thursday) – Khama Rhino Sanctuary - 644 km

africanSky and I eventually left on the trip on Thursday morning 16 June. 


That's africanSky on the left and me on the right.



We met in Rivonia at 06h30 on Thursday and headed off in the direction of Harties and through to Sun City.  We were taken by africanSky’s Garmin Zumo on the M1 towards Pretoria and for a lark, decided to follow the route that it suggested.  We left the M1 at Olifantsfontein and wound our way past Diepsloot and Hennops River through to Harties and then on the familiar road to Sun City.  It was surprisingly cold on this section, especially that area where the ‘cricket team’ does their fund raising.

The plan for the first day was to cross the border at Sikwane and then head to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, just past Serowe.  It promised to be a fairly hectic day of about 650 kilometres including a border crossing and some unknown, dirt roads from Sun City to Sikwane but interesting nevertheless.

We were the 9th and 10th people through a surprisingly efficient border post that day and soon were buying some pula from a dodgy little container just past the border area.





The route from here up through Mahalapye was flat and pretty uninteresting and we were relieved when at last we reached Palapye, where we bought some provisions at the local Spar.  We turned off the A1 towards Serowe and some 30 kms outside of Serowe, on the road to Orapa, turned into the welcoming gate of the Khama Rhino Sanctuary.  We were allocated camp site number 7, situated at the end of a 2.5 km track through some of thickest sand imaginable.

We were not there to see rhino’s and so set up camp under a large Mokongwa tree and got the braai going.








Day 2 (Friday) – Khama Rhino Sanctuary to Kubu Island – 271 km

We woke up to two disconcerting things, namely a temperature of -2.7° and Cat Stephen’s rendition of “Morning has broken” blaring out loudly from the camp site to our left. It was pretty surreal to have the solitude of a morning in the bush disturbed in this way.  It was seemingly this strange person’s signature bush move, a song with a morning theme played loudly before the sun had risen.  We were a little further away from the same bunch of people at Kubu Island the next morning and he did the same thing there. 

The thick sand from the camp site to the main entrance soon claimed its first victim – me. No big deal, I wasn’t going fast but my right foot was pinned under the bike and there was no africanSky to help me out.  After about 5 minutes on lying in the road, I wriggled out and ….still no africanSky.  He obviously had no desire to go back through the sand and so I was left waiting.  After about 30 minutes, a party of about 5 4x4’s came long and the occupants of the first vehicle helped me pick the bike up.  At this point, africanSky made his appearance – I’m sure in time I will be able to forgive him.

We set off for Letlhakane and along the way I noticed an array of lights behind africanSky.  It looked like a convoy of cars that accompany an opinionated government minister.  Then I remembered that we were not in SA and it soon became evident that it was a group of motor bikes – 3 BMW1200’s and 3 Ducati’s .  They swept past me as if I was looking for parking and soon disappeared into the distance, leaving me wistfully watching their effortless progress.  We met up with them at the next petrol station – they were on their way to Rundu. They were not Dogs. 

We bought some provisions at the local Spar once again and set off for Kubu Island.  Initially, the road was fine and then, just past the famous Kubu Island sign, the fun started.  Sand, sand, ‘king sand – it made the rhino sanctuary look like a Sunday school picnic.  Twice more I put the KLR down and for me, the day became an endurance event.  There was no dignity or style to my approach in getting through the sand, first or second gear, legs out, ready to paddle at the first opportunity.







africanSky was his normal irritatingly unflappable self, no problems for him and he enjoyed himself immensely – every time we stopped, he was grinning like a race horse.  He did have a very scary moment but thanks to the biking gods, managed to avoid the indignity of dropping the bike.

Eventually, the sand relented and we were on the pans. 







We arrived at Kubu Island and found a camp site where we set up camp.  Kubu Island resembled Plettenberg Bay in December – we were expecting to find it fairly deserted but sadly, it was busy!








After setting up camp, africanSky ventured back onto the pans to view the sunset.  These stunning pictures are his and need no further words from me apart from this - he is clearly very much in love with his KTM!












The other bikes were all from DocKLR’s crowd. (Walkerville Rangers / Pathfinders)



Day 3 to follow in due course!
 
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