Day 13 – 14: Peach Pan to Ghanzi

We wanted to be on the road by 07:00 so Caro set an alarm for 06:00. The alarm went off, but it was still dark outside, so we continued to snooze. Jaco, however, heard the alarm and got up, to Caro’s dismay – she was sure a lion would get him in the dark.

40 minutes late we witnessed an amazing sunrise over the pan and started to pack up.

By 08:00 we headed south back to the cutline. We followed the cutline for 44.5km to just before the Kaa Gate where we turned tight onto another cutline going North East. After 4.5km kilometres we turned onto the two-spoor track leading to Zutshwa, but after a few minutes we realised we’ll never survive the corrugation for 3 hours (as indicated by T4A). We thus turned back to the cutline and stayed on it for 67km before turning right heading South East to Zutshwa on a much better graded road.

From Zutshwa the gravel road heading north to Hukuntsi was in good condition apart from a few soft sand patches.

25km before Hukuntsi we were waved down by what looked like a broken-down pickup and their occupants. They just ran out of petrol and wanted a lift to town to get some. We made space for one guy next to Caro in the back and put his container on the roof. He told as that there is no water in Zutshwa and all the water is thus brought in with containers. They were also on their way to fetch water before running out of petrol.

In Hukuntsi we stopped at the Puma garage and refuelled (with Diesel) and inflated the tyres back to 2.5 bar. Our fuel economy since refilling in Tshabong was only 5.5km/l compared to the usual 7.8 km/l, due to all the soft sand. Atleast fuel is almost R5 cheaper in Botswana than in South Africa. We took the guy the 5km back to where the gravel road starts to make it easier for him to find another ride back, before heading back past the Puma again to Kang. We also gave him some water and apples.

The road from Hukuntsi to Kang is a perfect tar road so we made it in no time. Sleeping at Kang at the Engen Ultra stop was an option, but since it was only 14:30, we decided to push on to Ghanzi.

After 2.5 more hours on the road we turned into Ghanzi Trail Blazers simply because it is the first option coming from the South. In the end we drove 600km today, sitting in the car for almost 9 hours. So far we’ve sat in the car for 60 hours since leaving Cape Town.

To our disappointment there were already two big overland trucks in the campsite with at least 20 safari tents. We knew that the peace and quiet from the last 6 nights were over.

At least there were free firewood, so we made a big fire and braai’d the last chops and Jaco made krummelpap. After dinner we played cards waiting for the noise from the 20-somethings (as if we’re much older) and their loud music to die down.

The next morning, we had to listen to the overland trucks packing up and leaving and then finally we had some peace again. We decided to stay another night and had the whole place to ourselves for most of the day.

We had a big washing session and filled three long lines with washed clothes. Caro and Jaco read most of the day while Hugo typed this blog (yep, that’s me referring to myself in the 3rd person).

A couple in a hired 4×4 arrived at 15:00 and then an overland tour truck with only four passengers arrived at 16:00. They started in Windhoek this morning.
For dinner Caro made mince and bake bean pasta, finishing the last of our meat supply from Tshabong. At 18:00 the generators went on and with it came WiFi. We used the opportunity to update the micro blog and Hugo did some work.

At 21:00 we made some tea and then at 22:00 Jaco and Caro decided to burn the rest of the free wood. They stayed up until midnight well after Hugo went to bed.