Sand Ridge or Cut Line - Hobson´s choice
Friday 17th September, 2004The big test of our hired vehicles lay
ahead today .... the Sand ridge. Would Roger's Blue Toyota with a
partly repaired right front wheel, dicey 4x4 and no diff lock cope ? Well,
we weren't given the option. The game guard at Chobe entrance told
us to go via the 'Cut line' as they were worried about collisions on the
Sand Ridge, and were waiting for a convoy to come through that hadn't arrived
yet. To sets of vehicles charging along at 40 - 50 km/h towards each
other in the windy, low visibility of the high scrub was a recipe for a
serious accident. We agreed to go the longer route. The cut
line is a 70 kilometer stretch of sand once cleared as a firebreak between
two sections of forest on the Chobe Forest reserve. The track follows
this line from Savuti up to near Kisane, where it joins a real road.
As you can see from the above photo, it was no autobahn, and the corrugations were so bad that the passengers had to hold the hand-holds and a seat-belt to avoid being thrown up into the roof all the time. 90 minutes of this punishment and my shoulders were aching, but our speed didn't drop too much .... well, except for obligatory game viewing, or at times when a family of newly hatched ostrich chicks refused to leave the road.
At last we reached the northern-most reaches of Botswana, and a tar road for a short while. The sign below attests to the fact that here you are no more than a few dozen miles from 4 countries .... Botswana where we were, Namibia to our north (the Caprivi strip specifically), Zimbabwe to the east-south-east and Zambia to the east-north-east. All within a radius of 30 miles! Kasane was the nearest town, and we would be going there to stock up on much needed fuel and supplies in the next few days.
Once we entered the Chobe game reserve, we began to loose altitude as we descended into the Chobe river valley. What a sight, looking left or right across the meandering flood plains we could see herd after herd of animals .... Impala, Waterbuck, Buffalo, Elephant, Sable, Lechwe, Baboons and flock upon flock of birds.
These Pelican I think were Pink Backed Pelican (Pelecanus rufescens) and were indicative of the sort of concentration to be seen all over the valley. This flotilla was gently moving up-stream as we passed.
Even the Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) seemed less elusive here, and this magnificent bull watched us alertly while we dallied for a while taking photo after photo. If you look very closely on his neck and around his face, you will see dozens of flies, including one of the top of his right nostril.
I'd been trying for a while to get a decent shot of some Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris), but prolific as they might be, none would pose effectively. At last I came across these two, and they seemed to have been scripted for the part.
Just before we made camp, we came across this fellow digging through elephant droppings, looking for dung beetles and other delicacies. At once I was reminded of the only Latin I can remember from school ... "Summus semper in excremus, sed alta variat" ... my grammar is probably way out, but it loosely translates to "I'm always in the shit, it is only the depth that varies". Kinda sad.
Tomorrow we'll stay in Ihaha and see if we can find some elephant.
[Complete Safari and wildlife photo index]
As you can see from the above photo, it was no autobahn, and the corrugations were so bad that the passengers had to hold the hand-holds and a seat-belt to avoid being thrown up into the roof all the time. 90 minutes of this punishment and my shoulders were aching, but our speed didn't drop too much .... well, except for obligatory game viewing, or at times when a family of newly hatched ostrich chicks refused to leave the road.
At last we reached the northern-most reaches of Botswana, and a tar road for a short while. The sign below attests to the fact that here you are no more than a few dozen miles from 4 countries .... Botswana where we were, Namibia to our north (the Caprivi strip specifically), Zimbabwe to the east-south-east and Zambia to the east-north-east. All within a radius of 30 miles! Kasane was the nearest town, and we would be going there to stock up on much needed fuel and supplies in the next few days.
Once we entered the Chobe game reserve, we began to loose altitude as we descended into the Chobe river valley. What a sight, looking left or right across the meandering flood plains we could see herd after herd of animals .... Impala, Waterbuck, Buffalo, Elephant, Sable, Lechwe, Baboons and flock upon flock of birds.
These Pelican I think were Pink Backed Pelican (Pelecanus rufescens) and were indicative of the sort of concentration to be seen all over the valley. This flotilla was gently moving up-stream as we passed.
Even the Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) seemed less elusive here, and this magnificent bull watched us alertly while we dallied for a while taking photo after photo. If you look very closely on his neck and around his face, you will see dozens of flies, including one of the top of his right nostril.
I'd been trying for a while to get a decent shot of some Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris), but prolific as they might be, none would pose effectively. At last I came across these two, and they seemed to have been scripted for the part.
Just before we made camp, we came across this fellow digging through elephant droppings, looking for dung beetles and other delicacies. At once I was reminded of the only Latin I can remember from school ... "Summus semper in excremus, sed alta variat" ... my grammar is probably way out, but it loosely translates to "I'm always in the shit, it is only the depth that varies". Kinda sad.
Tomorrow we'll stay in Ihaha and see if we can find some elephant.
[Complete Safari and wildlife photo index]
