Today was a reminder that you can plan all you like but God can intervene as disrupt those plans. Firstly, H had a bad night (coughing) and was not feeling well when we woke up. The plan was to self-drive Chobe National Park today. H & I decided not to go given how she was feeling. B, S, A & O went and were back around midday. They added some birds (including some lifers for them all) but they didn’t see any predators.

H & I went out after breakfast for a drive along the Zimbabwe border. The border is simply demarcated by white stakes and at times the GPS thought we had actually crossed into Zimbabwe. At one point I did realise that I had taken the right fork and that road was in Zimbabwe as the stakes were on our left side when they should have been on our right side. Quick bit of reversing and onto the correct road. We actually saw a reasonable amount of game (elephant, giraffe, kudu, impala, black backed jackal) and birds.

The most of the afternoon we just relaxed in the lodge and then 5 of us (excluding H) did the Zimbabwe border road again. I joined B & S in their car. We again added a few birds to the trip list. Back to the lodge to start the braai for dinner and while we were doing that my son (M) called and gave us the news that my mother in law had broken her hip.

After a few messages and phone calls, we (H & I) have decided to head back to Cape Town tomorrow. We are at the furthest point away we could be at the moment (about 2900 kms from Cape Town). After circling through a few options, we made the call to start driving back first thing tomorrow am. We will cross into Namibia. It requires us to drive the Caprivi strip and then turn to head south back to Cape Town. The roads in Namibia are generally in much better condition and it should be an easier drive doing that than reversing our route through Botswana.

As I said, not what we planned but we are sure this is the right decision. We feel terrible leaving B, S, A & O and abandoning the holiday and road trip but as I more than once heard my father say ‘You can’t fine tine life’. This too is in God’s hands. The other 4 will go to Victoria Falls tomorrow and we hope they thoroughly enjoy the day.

I am not sure I am going to be able to wrote blogs for the trip home but I might if I have the energy. If not, you know why not.

Until next time …

P, H, B, S, A & O (and R & J for the few days they were with us)

We had decided that this morning could be a morning just spent at Senyati. Watching the sunrise, some birding, seeing what animals would come for a drink (wildebeest & impala). It was a lovely quiet morning just enjoying the environment. A very kindly came to find me this morning because one of the campers had pointed out a Barn Owl to him. Nice one for the trip list.

We had an early lunch and set off to Kasane at 12:45pm. The plan was to refuel, do some shopping and then be ready for the river cruise which left at 3pm. While refueling A checked his tyre pressure and one of them had dropped quite a bit so he headed off to a tyre place to see if they could find a leak on the tyre. They didn’t manage to find anything but changed the valve and cleaned everything out so hopefully it is resolved. The rest of us went to do the shopping we needed at the local Spar and then to buy drinks for the river cruise. Timing all worked out well and the cruise pushed back at 3pm promptly.

The boat seated 20 people and there were 15 people. While we were waiting for people, I spoke to the skipper and said we were interested in birds and he asked for a target list and I gave them to him and he responded with ‘yes definitely can get that for you’ or ‘no that isn’t here right now as water is to high’. It gave me a degree of confidence that he knew what he was doing with birding.

The river cruise was fantastic. Not only did we all see lifers (I added 598 – Allen’s Gallinule) but more importantly, B passed the 400 mark (champagne to come still). Besides the Allen’s Gallinule, we also saw some other really good sightings including Squacco Heron, African Skimmer, Collared Praticole and Long Toed Lapwing. The quantity of birds was also just amazing. Massive flocks of White Faced Whistling Ducks (like in their hundreds). And then the Collared Praticoles in their hundreds (and maybe even thousands), taking off and landing again. There was a young child (like 3 years old) and she even just kept saying “Wow”. It was WOW indeed.

Then we also had some up close and person views of elephant, crocodile and hippos. The elephant was only about 2 meters away from me and I definitely felt a little uncomfortable. It was pulling out grass to eat and each time it was slap off the extra water on the grass and I could feel the spray. We were probably only 1 meter from the one croc and about 10 meters from the hippos. And then of course you get the sunset over the river just before you head back. There is generally nothing like a bushveld sunset and even more so when it is a bushveld sunset over a river.

It was absolutely spectacular. I remember from 10 years ago it being good but this today seemed even better. Maybe it is because our birding is better, maybe it is because the skipper had heard our request for doing some birding. Whatever it was, it was really excellent and again made me want to do a houseboat on the river at some point.

We had to drive back to the lodge in the dark and that is not a pleasant experience. There are trucks upon trucks parked on the side of the road waiting to cross the border at Kazangule border post (into Zambia or Zimbabwe). B&S measured them on the way back and the line was for 3.4 kms. We googled and it said it could take up to a week for the trucks to actually reach the border gate! I am not sure how any trucking company is actually using this border crossing. Because the trucks are all lined up on the road, it reduces the road to effectively one lane. It means you have to leave the road to let cars come in the opposite direction. Then of course there is the wildlife you can to worry about and then lastly, for about 2.5 kms the road is a single track, very sandy road. But good news is that we navigated that successfully.

As we knew we would be back late, we had pre-ordered pizza at the lodge and so as soon as we got back we headed to the restaurant and ate our dinner. As we are expecting an early start tomorrow, we all headed off the bed at 8pm. It is now 9pm and as soon as I have hit send on this blog post, I will head to bed. Something about fresh air, sun and the bushveld that takes it out of you.

Until tomorrow …

P, H, A (for coming to find me to see owl), B (for all organising of today), S (for spotting her own lifer today) and O

As we didn’t have a big drive ahead of us (only 4 hours), we agreed for a later breakfast of 8am. Some people go up for a 6:30am run or walk and some of us agreed for a 7am birding walk rather. It was a pretty chilly morning with temperatures around 6-7 C. We have noticed the birds aren’t that active too early until after the sun starts to warm up things so even the 7am bird walk was still a bit too early. After breakfast we packed up and we were on the road by 9:30am.

We were continuing north to northern most part of Botswana where it intersects with Zimbabwe and Zambia. B said he reckoned the road improved just past Nata town – I have come to realise not to trust what B says about Botswana roads. The first 30 kms north of Nata the road was basically non-existent. And the trucks were plentiful. At times the dust was so bad that you couldn’t see whether there was a car in front of you or a truck coming the other direction. It was slow going as most of the time it only felt safe driving at around 50-60 km/h.

B suggested we do a short stop off at Elephant Sands. We stayed there last time we did a road trip to Botswana but when we tried to book for this trip they were already full on the days we wanted. We thought we would at least show it to A&O so that they could see what they missed out on. It was as we remembered it though no elephant drinking at the waterhole but there were some (I guess wild) horses drinking when we arrived. A decent amount of birds as well to add to the trip list and some lifers for some people too. We had a coffee and enjoyed the birding and atmosphere and then were back on the road again.

The road from Elephant Sands was generally better than near Nata though there were still sections were it was basically dirt road or it was massively potholed. The speed limit doesn’t change which means you have to be vigilant as you’re driving at 120 km/h and suddenly hit a potholed section that is so bad you really need to be driving at 30 km/h. In addition, you have to be vigilant because it is a wild life area you are driving through. We saw two different sets of elephant right on the side of the road as we were traveling today (and then there are the cows and goats too). The good news is that we navigated it successfully and arrived safely at Senyati Safaricamp just before 2pm.

We have one chalet on left side of reception and two chalets on right side with all three overlooking the waterhole. The afternoon was spent just relaxing and watching the bird life. Late afternoon a journey of giraffe made their way across the landscape. We met at B&S chalet for drinks and the braai tonight (they are central chalet). As it started to get dark, the wildlife action picked up. We could see wildebees in the distance and then out of the bushes elephant started to come to drink at the waterhole right in front of us. When I say “right in front of us”, I mean like 40 meters in front of us. Giraffe, multiple herds of elephant, a large herd of buffalo and black backed jackal are passed the waterhole while we had dinner this evening. We could also hear the ‘whoop’ of the hyena and the call of a square tailed nightjar. What a fantastic experience. Then the moon also rose from the horizon right in front of us too. Could you ask for more?!

The only (minor) downside is that it gets cold as soon as the sun starts to decline and by 8:30pm it was pretty chilly and we were ready for the warmth of the chalet.

Until tomorrow …

P, H

First day without having to drive anywhere as we are staying two nights at Nata Lodge. Three of us went for a bird walk at 6:45am before breakfast, one worked and two went for a run. The sun hadn’t fully risen and it was a bit chilly still and so not too many birds on the walk. Breakfast at 7:30am in the lodge. Nice array of continental and then the option of a full english as well but no sausage or other meat except bacon. It was the same last night – only meat choices were chicken and pork ribs. Clearly Foot & Mouth is making a big impact around here.

After breakfast we did another short bird walk and now the birds were out in force. Just standing in one spot we could see multiple birds and it was hard to know where to look and who was pointing out what. Some repeats from earlier sightings but also some new ones for the list. We then headed out to the Nata Bird Sanctuary which is about 15-20 kms south of where we are staying. It is on the Makgadikgadi Pans. We had read that the water is so high at the moment because of the heavy rains this year that the birds (particularly the flamingos) aren’t here. When we were registering at the gate the lady informed of us of the same thing and said you’re only going to the see odd bird and some wildebeest on the pan. Our expectations were duly set at a low level and we started to make our way to the viewing deck which looks over Sowa Pan.

What a beautiful landscape and scenery. You are driving on the pan and I can imagine in the rainy season it would be incredibly difficult as you would be driving on mud. But it was generally drive and besides being bumpy, it was a relatively easy drive for our high clearance vehicles. It is so amazing just seeing the wildebeest and the occasional zebra on the pan just sticking out from the white sand.

By the time we got to the viewing deck, we had already seen quite a few birds including a lifer for some of the group (Double Banded Courser). At the viewing deck, the birds to be seen were plentiful. I erected the birding scope and in the distance we could see flamingos though it was impossible to identify which type. We could also see pelicans and numerous different storks. While we were on the viewing deck (we had our mid-morning coffee), we also had a number of birds fly past and added to the list. In all we added 17 different species just on the pan today. Currently I am on 119 birds for the trip (everyone is on slightly different totals depending on who saw what at what point). Many of the group saw multiple lifers today including Double Banded Courser (mentioned above), Desert Cisticola and Senegal Coucal (which we saw back at the lodge).

We did some of the side roads onto the pan and then around 1pm we headed back to the lodge for the balance of the day. Everyone sat on their decks just enjoying the weather and watching the birds for an hour or so after we got back. Some read, some slept, some did some work in the afternoon. Late afternoon H went for a walk to get her steps in and then messaged to say she had seen the coucal. By the time we got there it had flown off. We then did a purposeful ‘birding’ walk at 5pm and fortunately we all managed to see it. Drinks followed by dinner and then off to bed.

Everyone enjoyed the relaxing, no pressure driving and being able to sleep in the same place two nights running. It feels like the start of the holiday. It just took us 4 days to reach here. Tomorrow we head north again to the very top of Botswana but not too long a drive.

Until then …

P, H, B (for spotting the courser and saying it was a courser), O, S (for telling B it wasn’t a courser) & A (for calling a kite a shrike .. he is at least now succumbed and is listing birds now too)

We were hoping for an event free day today. It was a better day but not entirely event free. Going into this trip, we knew that today would be the longest drive of the whole trip. We agreed to leave at 7am and as H & I were packed and ready at 645am we took the 15 mins for a quick walk and some birding. Then we hit the road at 7am. The navigation software (Waze) simply would not accept the lodge’s name as our destination. Not sure why but it simply would not accept it. Google Maps was telling us an 8hour20min drive for just over 600 kms. Seemed excessively long for that distance.

We had to drive through Gaborone and unfortunately it was Monday morning traffic. So that was the first slow bit of the journey as we waited at traffic lights in the morning traffic. We did note that Gaborone is litter free. It was very noticeable versus the litter strewn towns we drove through in SA yesterday. It was impressive to see and clearly achievable if you have functioning municipalities. We drove north east from Gaborone to Francistown and then north west to Nata. We are basically driving up the eastern side of Botswana.

There are a few notable things when driving through. Firstly, multiple stops for Foot & Mouth control. You have to get out of your car, walk into a pad with disinfectant, then press your other shoes on it too then the passenger must walk to the other side carrying the shoes and then the driver has to drive through a trough to disinfect the tyres. They also search the car for any meat. Secondly, there are just random other stops by the police. Some times you get waved through and sometimes you get stopped and asked a few questions. You can’t predict what will happen except now we know how to do the Foot & Mouth protocols. Finally, H and I have remarked on how many of the names start with ‘M’. Must be the most used letter in Tswana. Mokolodi to Mosomane to Mahalapye (where we stopped for a Wimpy coffee – supposedly the best place to get a coffee on our route).

The plan was to go to Francistown for shopping as we think were more likely to find a decent shop in Francistown (2nd biggest city in Botswana) for groceries. They have a Woolworths. We got to Francistown around 1pm and while the gents filled up the cars, the ladies went to start shopping. Turned out the Woolies had one shelf of vegetables and no meat at all. Pick ‘n Pay fortunately had some meat and chicken and a wider array of fruit and vegetables. Nothing easy to get for lunch so H & my staple road trip lunch (done at least once) of KFC it was then. H & I found it and got for everyone and by the time we got the food everyone had joined us and we were back on the road again.

Unfortunately the road from Francistown to Nata is the problem and the reason for the extra hours of traveling today. It is a 179 km and it is under construction. The whole route. Yes you read that correctly all 179 kms of it. Plus it is a heavily used route by trucks heading up into Africa. Apparently it is Botswana’s largest road project on the go at the moment (and I can believe it) and it will finally be a 2-lane road the whole route. However, at the moment it is a single lane road that is hardly wide enough to have two trucks pass each other. Add in potholes, goats, cows, donkeys and stray dogs and you have some interesting road conditions. Not the easiest of drives – slow, multiple trucks to overtake, crumbling road.

Just before we got to our accommodation for next 2 nights, we had another random police stop. B was in front and the guy asked for any meat in the car and he said yes what we bought at Francistown and he said you can’t transport meat over a district line even if you bought it in Botswana and so he confiscated it. Some choice words over the walkie talkie from S. Then same question me and again my steak and wors was sacrificed. Then he just waves A & O through with no question whatsoever.

We arrived at our Nata Lodge at around 5pm. 10 hours on the road today (including stops for coffee & shopping). We checked in and did a quick bird walk (and some people got a lifer – Meyer’s Parrot). Drinks at the bar to celebrate the news of the coming of our 4th grandchild and 2nd grandson and 2nd child to our son (S) and daughter-in-law (K). We were truly thankful and delighted to hear the news and so ordered a bottle of champagne to celebrate.

We had dinner at the Lodge – no other option really as not self-catering.

Until tomorrow …

P, H (because the grandparent news elevated us back up), B, A, O, S (for those choice words after the meat confiscation 🙂 )

Today did not develop as planned. Well it seems so far days 1 to 3 have actually not developed as planned. Day 1 flat tyre, day 2 I booked the wrong date for Mokala NP and day 3 unfortunately got worse for trip. It started off fine in that we were packed and ready to head out when the gates opened at 7am this morning. A quick stop at the bird hide (quick because it was very cold) and then continuing in the park and exit out the Lilydale gate (further east than the gate we entered). Then we were on the road through Kimberly and north towards the Botswana border.

The road goes from Kimberly to Warrenton (one of the places my Dad grew up in), Hartswater (one of biggest irrigation schemes in South Africa), Taung, Vryberg, Stella, Setlagole and Mahikeng (in South Africa). We stopped in Vryberg to refuel at the Engen. It was chaotic and after refueling and getting some coffees etc we were on the road again. We stopped about an hour later on the side of the road to eat lunch. For whatever reason, R had a “feeling” and went to check for his moon bag with their passports and couldn’t find them. A hunt ensued and after checking everywhere it became clear the moon bag with the passports was missing. R remembers having it strapped over his shoulder this morning when he took stuff up to the car. J called Mosu Lodge to see if someone had handed it in but no one had. R said he always puts in behind his drivers seat and he can’t think he did anything else with it besides doing that again today. After the extensive search and phone calls the only thing for R & J to do was to turn back and retrace their steps and see if somehow they could find the missing moon bag and passports.

My feeling is that they were stolen when we filled up in Vryberg somehow. It was pretty chaotic and so I could see that someone in the chaos it was possible for a distraction to have occurred and someone to have stolen it thinking it must contain something valuable. Unfortunately so far they have had no success in recovering their passports. They made it back tonight to Mosu Lodge and are staying there overnight after having checked back at the Engen in Vryberg. We are obviously gutted for them and feel really terrible about the how ordeal. It is one of those things you don’t wish on anyone. We are obviously gutted for R & J.

The other 3 cars continued on to Botswana. The road was generally pretty good (N18) but I was gobsmacked by the amount of litter just strewn on the sides of the road in the towns we went through particularly Kimberly and Mahikeng. Mahikeng might just be one of the worst litter strewn places I have ever been too. It is hard to describe how much litter there was all over the places. I would be ashamed if I was involved in the municipality.

On an entirely different note, it was amazing to see the farming on the route. Pecan nut farming is one of the major activities in the area. The whole area is very well planned out and irrigated and apparently (or so said ChatGPT) the weather conditions are ideal for Pecan Nut farming. Vryberg is also the heartland of SA’s cattle farming. We also learnt about the Republic of Stellaland and the United States of Stellaland which neither H or I had heard of. This area declared independence in 1882/3 but eventually was reincorporated back into the Cape of Good Hope (after also briefly forming part of the Transvaal under Paul Kruger). Seems the area has quite a colourful past.

We got to the border post at 14:10 and it took us about 45 minutes to do all the border formalities. The SA side was a breeze but more formalities at the Botswana side. Health check, immigration, temporary import permit for the car, customs. Then a vehicle search for meat or fruit and then dip your shoes in the disinfectant and then into Botswana. They are doing health checks because of Ebola they say. Fortunately we all passed those with a temperature of 36.4 or 36.5. Everything else relatively painless.

Then we had supposedly only just over an hour to our accommodation for tonight. That however turned into a much longer drive. Firstly, shortly after the border, B gets pulled over at a random stop. We have learnt from previous experience that the rest of us should just keep driving. This wasn’t the first time that B was pulled over today because in the day on the SA he was also pulled over. The traffic cop then just let him go when he realised that they were traveling with all of us. B told him that he would now need to speed to catch up to us. This time in Botswana they did want to see his license and had a conversation with him but nothing more. Then about 20 kms short of Gaborone there was a road block and they searched the cars and made us walk through disinfectant again. That took 30 minutes.

We eventually arrived at Mokolodi Nature Reserve just before 5pm. We checked in and headed to our chalets which is a 3.5 km across very rocky dirt road to get to the chalets. It does feel like you are in the middle of nowhere in the bush. No civilization close by. Our chalet is overlooking a dam. Since we arrived we can hear baboons arguing and then the odd hippo grunt as well. The security guard who is here until 6am told us to lock the doors because the baboons might try come in early morning. I wasn’t really hoping for an early morning wake-up from a baboon so I will definitely lock the door

Until tomorrow … (hopefully with less drama) …

R, J (because I feel very bad for them), P, B (because I feel bad he keeps being pulled over), H (she cooked our pasta for dinner and it was very nice), S, O (those potatoes from last night are still lingering in my mind) & A

The blog is entitled “Hazard ahead” because this was the message we heard a lot today from Waze (navigation app) as we followed our route from Calvinia to Mosu Lodge in Mokala National Park. One stretch of the road was just pothole after pothole. Some were not significant but there were some really bad ones that required you to slow down to ensure you could navigate them safely. H & I had done this road in January so we were aware of the issue. It is also very helpful actually to have an app that tells you when to expect potholes so you can actually slow down and not hit them at 120 km/h. Fortunately no tyre issues today for anyone.

We were packed today before breakfast (which they told us we could come from 7:15am onwards). Some of us even managed to sneak in a quick early morning walk before breakfast as we expected that most of the day would be in the car. It was a 6.5 hour drive today covering just over 600 kms. Fortunately not a lot of traffic and only really toward the end of the drive did we encounter trucks but it was generally easy to get past them quickly.

We only stopped briefly for toileting and refueling (both cars and people) and we arrived at the Mokala National Park gate just before 3pm. It was a bit of a process at the gate as every car had to fill in a form with our details and then because of Foot & Mouth disease being rampant in South Africa at the moment, there are Foot & Mouth disease protocols that need to be followed. This meant every cars tyres had to be sprayed and everyone had to walk on a mat with chemicals as well. Once that was done for all of us we headed to Mosu Lodge reception to check in.

As I had made the reservation, I headed in to check in. After giving our reservation and my name the lovely lady couldn’t find anything ready for our arrival (and everyone else’s papers were prepared). I had this sinking feeling and looked closely at the reservation and realised I had booked for tomorrow night instead of tonight! It looked like there were only 4 reservations laid out for tonight and so I asked (and prayed and hoped) whether they could accommodate us tonight. Fortunately, she very quickly confirmed that they could do it and she changed the reservation and go all the paperwork done and allocated us huts. Some relief for me but I am pretty sure I am not going to live this down for some time. Fortunately the next 7 nights have not been booked by me so at least the pressure is off now! Very grateful that they had space to accommodate us all.

We unpacked and then headed out to the bird hide which is about an 8 km drive away. Lots of game and birds were seen on route including 6 rhino, gemsbok (oryx), springbok, warthog, buffalo, tsessebe and kudu. The hide has been particularly fruitful for H & I previously. In January we had seen 1 lifer just as we turned off and we saw one in the hide. This afternoon we added another lifer – Layard’s Warbler. It is a bird that has been eluding me for some time so very pleased to get it finally. That moved me to 597 lifers and now just 3 to go to the 600 mark. We also saw two rhinos come down to the water (though they never drank in the end).

The gates close at 5:30pm (sunset) and we got back just before that and then B got the braai going. The wood was the biggest chunks you could imagine so it took quite a long time to burn down but we still managed to braai and eat before the time it took last night. Everyone had bought their own meat just for tonight as tomorrow we cross into Botswana and we cannot take any meat or fruit and vegetables into Botswana. Lovely dinner together and while I type this (10pm now), I can hear jackals calling from my bed.

Until tomorrow …

B (he should probably be demoted for a sarcastic comments but I’m remembering the help tyre changing and being gracious), H, S, A (he helped braai this evening), O (nice potatoes tonight), R (some well-timed comments on the walkie talkies today), P (have to demote myself for that the wrong booking date), J (so many reasons why she remains here ..)

Today we left on a 2.5 week road trip from Cape Town, to northern Botswana, across into Namibia and back to Cape Town. We are traveling with 3 other couples. Today though, we left Cape Town at different times. B&S left with us around 9am then A&O left around 11am and R&J left about an hour later. Our first night is at Calvinia in the Karoo. It is about a 4.5 hour drive from Cape Town. As we had plenty of time, the idea was to do a quick detour outside Clanwilliam to see if we could finally find the Protea Canary. If you have followed along with previous blogs, you will know that H & I tried to see it this year in January but never managed so we were hoping to get it this time. Unfortunately, P&H 0, Protea Canary 2. Despite 4 sets of eyes looking this time, we again didn’t see it.

After Clanwilliam, we took the road less traveled which meant leaving the main N7 at Clanwilliam and instead taking the road which took us over the Pakhuis Pass. It is rated in the Top 20 mountain passes in South Africa and is 26.4 kms long and has an altitude gain of 824m. The road takes you past places like Blindfontein & Moetverloer (translation for non-Afrikaans speakers is ‘Lost all Hope’). The latter is pretty much how many people might find the Karoo especially if you’re making your way on horseback or in an ox-wagon. We also passed Engelman’s Graf (translation .. Englishman’s grave) – clearly there weren’t a lot of English people in this area. The pass is a dirt road and besides Moetverloer, you pass no other towns for around 80kms. We simply stopped on the side of the road and ate our lunch. This was just after B decided that the best way to bird is to collect them on your front grill of the car. Both B & S are counting this one for their list as they claim they saw it while alive before it embedded itself in their grill. H said this for a different list – a ‘deader’ and not a ‘lifer’.

About 60 kms into the route unfortunately my car tyre pressure gauge popped up showing I was quickly losing pressure in the rear right tyre. For those of you who don’t know, this is the 3rd flat tyre in the car in the last 3 weeks. First one was front left (screw), 2nd on was back right (nail) and now back right again (brand new tyre) from a rock. We first tried the tyre weld bottle we had which claims on it that it plugs any tyre instantly and you can drive for 100 km thereafter. Not true. Didn’t work at all. Hissing sound of air still coming out of tyre. Only route was to change the tyre. Got experience of doing that now so we know how the jack works, we know how to get the tyre off the back of the Landy etc. 35 minutes later and a whole lot more dusty we were on the road again and hoping no further tyre issues until we go to Calvinia (and in fact would love no more car or tyre issues in next 2.5 weeks).

We pulled into Calvinia at around 3:30pm and found Visagie’s Tyre Repair. Lovely, friendly and great service and about 30 minutes later the tyre was repaired. Re-fueled and headed for our accommodation for the night – our usual place in Calvinia – Die Blou Nartjie. By this point, A&O had already arrived and checked in. We unpacked and we still had enough time for a walk around the town and do some birding. We got back just as the sun was setting and the temperature was starting to plummet. And plummet it does. From 23 degrees when we arrived, it is now 10 degrees but feels like 9. It is a dry cold so I would say it actually feels even colder.

We ate dinner at Die Blou Nartjie. We have learnt that is the best option for dinner. Only issue today was that after arriving at 6:30pm, we only got our food at just before 8pm. For some of us, that is nearing bed-time and not dinner time. They blamed the fact that 3 of us had ordered lamb chops. I meant to take a photo of when my lamb chops arrived. 3 lamb chops all about an inch thick. You can see what I was left with when I had finished eating. Lamb chop for lunch tomorrow it seems.

Despite missing the Protea Canary (again), the trip list is already on 40 birds with most of those spotted while driving. I am quietly hoping to break our previous road trip record of 248 which we set in Jan/Feb this year and crack the 600 lifer mark (4 to go). Migrants have left unfortunately so that may hamper our attempt but always good to have a stretch goal.

Until tomorrow (assuming we have cell signal) …

P, B (despite killing a bird, his help with changing the tyre was greatly appreciated), H (she also got fully involved in the tyre changing), S (she held the nuts) and then there is the rest of them that just didn’t help at all with the tyre and hard to order them due to their lack of participation but we will order them in arrival to Calvinia … A, O, R & J.