Trip Report Mabuasehube April 2016 Part 1

Trip Report Mabuasehube April 2016 Part 1

The group: Figure 1- Khiding Pan no 1 In no particular order: Christa, Anton and Sean Ruthven Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 150 TX & Bushlapa Miskruier 78 Hennie and Ronel Briedenhann Land Rover Discovery D4 TDV6 & Bushlapa Miskruier 116 Callie and Olga Roos 200 series Toyota Landcruiser GX & Afrispoor Serval Peet and Helen Schultz 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser & Bushlapa Kewer 559 Booking for the trip was done by Christa and the booking confirmation was timestamped on the 20 th of May 2015 Mabua is an immensely popular destination, and you have to get your booking in as early as possible then for the next 12 months, you have no idea how to pass the time in anticipation of the actual event! Figure 2- Yellow Mongoose

Getting to Mabua: The group would arrive in Mabua in dribs and drabs. The Ruthvens would be in the park by 17 April, Helen and me would make a detour to the Witsand Nature Reserve in the Northern Cape, Callie and Olga had work commitments to fulfil and would join us on 20 April in Springbokpan so that we could cross into Botswana together. Hennie and Ronel would only be able to get away on 23 April and would be joining us in the park by the 24 th. Schultz trip: 16 April - Centurion Witsand Nature Reserve. 755 km, 11h 18 minutes including one hour getting through Klerksdorp. 19 April Witsand to Springbokpan Guest Farm. 377 km, 13 hours including stops for refuelling, photos, lunch in Van Zylsrus hotel and taking a shortcut to Springbokpan by way of a tweespoor track along the Molopo River! 21 April Springbokpan Khiding No 1. 176 km, 7 hours including a border crossing, fuel and grocery stop in Tsabong and a coffee break on the sand stretch leading up to Mabua Gate. 28 April Khiding no 1 to Vryburg, 574 km, 10 hours including border crossing and fuel stops. 29 April Vryburg Centurion, 422 km, 6 hours including coffee break in Biesiesvlei. Total distance (including Mabua game drives): 2578 km, 416 litters of Diesel, average consumption of 6.2 km / litre works out at about ZAR 2.07/km travelled. In comparison, the 200 GX Cruiser averaged 5.9 km/l for the trip.

Witsand: A gem of a park in the Northern Cape, with abundant bird life and breath-taking scenery. Figure 3- Wagtail Figure 4- View from Brulsand Figure 5- View from lookout point

Figure 6- Impressive Clouds Figure 7- Educational Moment!

Van Zylsrus: The previous time we visited Van Zylsrus was in 1985 and I realised that we could make a small detour to Springbokpan via Van Zylsrus. After leaving Witsand, we travelled to Olifantshoek, filled up with Diesel, shopped for some fresh veggies, backtracked about a kilometre out of town and took a gravel road that took us through the Langkloof Pass, via Malley, via the western border of Tswalu Game lodge and Excelsior into Van Zylsrus. The gravel road was in excellent condition for most parts and the countryside as beautiful as any. The hotel in Van Zylsrus is an explosion of colour and handsomely decorated. Service was okay, and the burger and beer we had for lunch was great. Figure 8- Langkloof Pass Figure 9- Coffee Break on the way to Van Zylsrus

Figure 10- Van Zylsrus Hotel Figure 11- Van Zylsrus Hotel

The Shortcut via Molopo River: While not exactly a shortcut, this tweespoor track offers the unique opportunity to drive in the Molopo river bed with the border markers just meters away. On the other side of the border is the tarred B211 in Botswana where we saw the occasional vehicle zooming along. In the wet season, I would probably appreciate the company of another vehicle some areas that we drove through looked like it will keep you busy when wet. The last 30 or so kilometres of the track is truly just a twee spoor and occasionally in deep sand with very little indication of other traffic. It is a good idea to keep your co-driver awake as we stopped counting gates at number 20! Allow about 4 hours to do this track, we got to McCarthy s Rust after dark as we only left Van Zylsrus at about 15H00.

Figure 12- Sunset caught up with us Figure 13- About Gate no 15 of about 20!

We spent the following two nights at Springbokpan Guest Farm (http://www.springbokpan.co.za/) waiting for Callie and Olga Roos to joins us on April 20. Figure 14- Springbokpan Guest Farm Springbokpan is located just six kilometres before McCarthy s Rust (On Tracks4Africa, it is spelled Rest, but the signposts all makes it Rust ) border post, which makes it a logical stopover in order to get to Mabua the next day. Figure 15- Springbokpan Gemsbok and Kitchen facility for campers

Springbokpan to Mabua Khiding Pan No 1 via Tsabong. McCarthy s Rust border post was negotiated with ease with friendly and efficient border personnel on both sides. There is a filling station on the outskirts of Tsabong where I was able to fill up with 500 ppm Diesel. The brand new Shell filling station in the centre of town was out of 50 ppm, but had supplies on the 28 th when we returned. Price for 500 ppm diesel was 7.2 Pula or ZAR 10.08 Helen and Olga shopped for some fresh supplies at the well-stocked and very neat Sefalana Cash and Carry just behind the Shell Filling station. Below is what you can expect to pay for groceries in Botswana: 500g Red Grapes 16.95 Pula (ZAR 23.73) Sprite 440 ml Can 7.65 Pula (ZAR 10.71) Six Hamburger rolls 8.7 Pula (ZAR 12.18) 1 kg Bananas 9.75 Pula (ZAR 13.65) 1 kg Medium Onions 4.75 Pula (ZAR 6.65) Toilet Paper (1 roll) 2.25 Pula (ZAR 3.15) The fruit and vegies in the shop were very fresh and the grapes lasted until we were back home. A local custom that one should be aware of is that if you are standing in the checkout queue with your trolley, anybody with less items that you, can and will take up a position in the queue in front of you something that will get you in a hectic verbal exchange/fistfight back home! Not sure if this is just a custom local to the area or if it applies to the whole of Botswana. Shopping and re-fuelling completed, we headed North on the A20 for about a kilometre, took a left at the signpost for Mabua, then the first right and we were on the gravel road heading North. We continued approximately 80 kilometres on a very good gravel road. Be on the lookout for a few large potholes caused by animals digging up the road towards the end of this stretch. Happiness is when you reach the border of the KTP and the sandy part of the track into Mabua and can at last stop and deflate the tyres! Figure 16- Happiness is...

Figure 17- Deflating tyres Figure 18- Afrispoor heading north!

Figure 19- The first wildlife sighting of the trip! Figure 20- No deep sand this time!

Figure 21- Mabua at last! Figure 22 - Sunset over Khiding Pan no1 End of Part 1. Photo Credits Helen - Nikon P510 superzoom Peet Nikon D7200 & Tamron 150-600 Nikon D200 & Tokina 11-16