I should be repacking now, but I am waiting for my laundry to dry first.
We had an absolutely fantastic time in the Kgalagadi and even though we did not see "thousands" of lions and other big cats, we were blessed with lots of other little things. As little as the 15 to 18cm high Pearl Spotted Owl and many other owls. We even experienced flooded roads in the "desert". This is a very dry part of the country, with about 200mm of rain in a good year (mostly in spring and summer) and this is what made it so amazing to have rain now. We could not travel very far to the north of Nossob camp, as the roads were flooded. We weren't traveling in a 4x4 vehicle and were not prepared to take any chances.
The air up north is so clean and fresh, and you get the most incredible blue skies and clear nights - fantastic for star gazing, except that the moon was very nearly full. With the thunder clouds, you can imagine how beautiful the skies must have been. The veld is looking very good (I think I mentioned this in my last letter?) and we could not stop ourselves from saying oohh and ahhh all the time.
Without going into too much detail, we saw many big herds of springbok, blue wildebeest, red hartebeest and Gemsbuck. We were fortunate to see a badger, lots of black backed jackal, 3 cheetah's (mother and 2 older cubs), a lion, leopard with cub, lots of squirrels and mongoose (my favourite for spelling of the plural: mongii, mongooses, a mongoose and another mongoose?!)The second last night at Nossob was very special. We had two male lions roaring away for most of the night. The word "reverberates" comes to mind. It felt like they were inside the campsite, it was deafening. Magic beyond words...
I am looking at my route from here quite seriously. An old school friend had coffee with us yesterday and told me that the road conditions going down south are very bad. I will be looking at the maps shortly and will make a decision after that. We are leaving Upington tomorrow, and will either go to Kenhardt, then Van Wyksvlei and then to my friend's folks on a farm, just a bit further south, or I will go to Groblershoop, Prieska en then the farm, via Van Wyksvlei. Will have to look at distances.
When I have finished here, I will wash and oil my bike. I have bought some tubing to protect the carriers from further chafing by the pannier bags and also have a new tyre to replace the off-road tyre that got cut on the West Coast road.
If you look at the map of SA, it looks like I will be travelling down-hill from here, I wish it worked like that though! There are still some mountains to cross before I get home. This is however, very much the start of my journey back home. One of my cats, Hartjie, has been missing for close on 3 weeks now, and I can't wait to get back home to see if I can't find her. Amanda, who is looking after them for me, thinks Hartjie might still be visiting the room where I slept when I was still in Knysna, as the food she puts out there is being eaten.
Let me get on with it and prepare for day 25 on the bike. I will hit the 2000km mark in this next leg. Sometimes, when I look at my photo's of this trip, I look back and it feels like I have been going for MONTHS! What an incredible time.
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