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20 November 1998

The Kingsmill's Trans-Africa Overland Trip, Part 6: Botswana

Geoff Kingsmill
2006-04-25 20:57:51

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G'day Folks,

Greetings from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. In our last newsletter we left you in Tsumeb, Namibia. On our way out of Tsumeb we had afternoon tea with Ed who we met a few weeks ago at Palmwag Restcamp near the Petrified Forest. Ed is the RSPCA representative in Tsumeb. We got some good advice on Khaudom NP, which is in the far North East corner of Namibia bordering Botswana.

The first night enroute to Khaudom, we bush camped under a very overcast sky. Fortunately, it did not rain. The next morning we left camp at 7am which was our record earliest departure time. The road was slow going due to the corrugations and deep sand. The next night we stayed at Siskereti camp in Khaudom NP which featured a sign to beware of Elephants, Lions and Hyenas roaming free in the campgrounds. This was very different to Etosha NP where the campgrounds were enclosed by high fences. After stopping early at camp we spent the afternoon helping our Kenyan friends repair their Landrovers canopy, horn, fuel gauge, temperature gauge and hazard lights. Kienny and Su-lin did the laundry, played scrabble, read a book and cooked a beautiful meal of chilli pork chops. During the night we heard hyenas searching through the camp rubbish bins.

Travelling through Khaudom NP we saw a herd of very large elephants which we watched for some time from our rooftop. We had an early lunch stop when the Landrover started overheating due to a broken fanbelt.

Over the weeks Su-lin had been steering the Troopie along the quiet slower sections of the road. On our way to the northern Khaudom NP campground Su-lin drove Troopie all by herself. We had a few kangaroo hops at first but she eventually got the hang of it and drove for over an hour till we reached camp. She is growing fast and we are constantly amazed at her ability to recognise animals and birds. She has finished all her Grade 4 school work and is now working on next year’s Grade 5 homework and is eagerly ...