With all the rains this year I decided that seeing that I have never seen the Mabuasehube pan with water to do a quick trip up there the “long weekend” 17 to 21 March 2006.
Left Johannesburg on Friday at 14h00 and arrived in Kuruman at 20h00 after driving through a tremendous shower between Ventersdorp and Delaryville. Due to light rain we opted to overnight in a chalet at Red Sands Country Lodge and had a superb super in their restaurant that night. Passed a fellow “overlander” in a Toyota KZTE just before Vryburg but the tinted windows made it impossible to recognise the owner L and as we were running late I could not afford the time to stop and find out who it was.
Next morning we bought some meat, biltong and droewors at “Bon Apetite” butchery in Kuruman before heading out to McCarthy's Rest Border post. It took 20min to clear both sides (pleasure dealing with these small posts) and of we went to Tsabong to get some supply of “St Louise” before tackling the 115km to Mubuasehube. The gravel road was in good condition (70-90km/h) and the sand section was damp and quite easy going.
The check in was as always very efficient but I did notice that there were many more people in the park as usual. The park staff attributed this to the Moremi NP been closed to tourists.
As always the facilities at the campsite (Mpayathutlwa Pan GMP1) was in excellent condition. While I was busy setting up camp Charmaine was fortunate enough to see a Cheetah walking past the campsite but it disappeared into the long grass before she could attract my attention.
Late that afternoon we took a quick drive to Mabuasehube to see what the pan look like and seeing the pan full of water made the long drive there worthwhile. That night we had some local jackal entertaining us but not much else in terms of night sounds.
After a bit of a “sleep-in” for the family we left Mpayathutlwa Pan and headed to Bosobogolo Pan for our second night. Were quite happy when our neighbours told us they had loin roaring 100m from their camp the previous night. We went searching for them but only found a kill that was already a few days old.
As the insect population made it nearly impossible to eat the previous night under light we had a late afternoon braai and shortly after sunset our Jackal tenors were out in full force. Brown hyena and the usual nightjar later joined them and barking geckos until it was time to go to bed. During the night we were woken by distant loin roaring, which lasted until sunrise.
Early next morning we packed and set of to the Republic again. Once again the border crossing were painless and just after 12h00 we were in Kuruman. I planned to overnight at the Bloemhof dam but decided to play chicken and booked a chalet at Nkolo Spa (old Rob Ferreira) just outside Christiana, as it seemed likely to be pouring down again. I pleased with the decision not to camp as it rained most of the night. Took a gravel road from Christiana to Bloemhof and really admired the locals driving 4x2’s which came slip sliding past. Quite a few occasions I was doing a Kingsley Holgate impersonation with a sideways Landy. The rest of the trip over Hoopstad and Bothaville was quite uneventful and we were back in JHB at 13h00.
Total distance – 2061km’s
Park fees (2 nights 2 adults and 1 child under 16) – P256
Red Sands Country Lodge (2 bedroom/4bed) – R440 per night
Nkolo Spa - (2 bedroom/4bed)
Fuel used – 246 litres