Day 31: Road camp to road camp

As I was lying in my tent that morning before getting up, I overheard somebody walking past who shouted, ‘Time to get up’. He was right. I had been spotted and my position had been compromised. (What, you think you on a covert op or something now?) Now camping alone in the middle of nowhere isn’t exactly a 100% safe when you think about it. But when you really start to think about it, it’s about 99.9% safe.(Objection,speculation) Being close to the middle of nowhere drastically reduces the chances that somebody else is around, and even less chance that, that specific someone would cause you trouble. I’m sure that makes sense.

When my day really starts. After a nice hot cuppa.

Nearing the end of the soft sandy patch. If I'd just cycled instead of stopping and taking all these damn photos, maybe I wouldnt have been stuck in this place for so long. I did it for you guys.

Hot-as-hell! Damn right!

The day was much the same as yesterday and I was glad to be off the sandy section. I also passed the farm I was told about. I was now headed in the direction of McCarthys Rest border post into Botswana. A couple kms before it I came across a lodge where I went in to ask for some water. I didn’t see anyone at the main house so walked somewhat towards to garage area where I heard some people and noises. I walked to the one opening of the garage after seeing a cow carcass I think being cut up. It was on its back, stripped of its skin with its legs cut off at the knees. Can’t be sure it was a cow honestly, as it had no head. It may have been some other buck from a hunt that had just taken place. So I met another bunch of guys and they pointed me in the direction of the house entrance. I was met by a woman who handled the appointments and such regarding bookings for hunters and whoever comes and stays at their lodge. I refilled some water, which she made sure was ice cold and used the bathroom to clean myself a bit. I asked about a shop at the border post but was told it was closed plus, it s not even open everyday. Something about it being open every other day or maybe even once a week only. Wow, I really was far from civilization. Haha. But I lucked out when I found out that she herself ran a little shop for the people who worked for her. Sweet. Bought the usual canned food plus something I hadn’t had in ages. Plain white bread. I thanked her and headed off. Plus I learned that ‘gens bos’ was Afrikaans for border post. A little ‘aha’ moment I went through while talking to the lady earlier which I won’t bother going into.

Rest stop before I bought some bread.

The bread was sooooo good. Just by itself with water. I could have eaten the whole loaf. I really was sick of rice and lentils by now. It was bread during the day from here on out. I got to McCarthys Rest after seeing the shop closed as was told. I filled up some water and saw Botswana just ahead of me. This was the closest I had been to that country. Almost felt like going in seeing as there was a tarred road right from the start but I decided against it. I would be going into Botswana shortly. I headed back into SA for an hour or two before deciding to find a place to camp. I tried this one farm house but there was no one there. Damn, I thought. So I went on. Eventually I just camped beside the road again next to the fence of a game farm and another one across the road.

Botswana to my left for a little bit.

Totally getting burned.

Random species of buck from where I was camping.

Although it was nothing but dry and dusty riding these last few days, I did enjoy seeing the random species of buck here and there. Eland, kudu, springbok, impala etc. And at the end of every day I also had the joy of seeing a beautiful African sunset taking place over the bush. As much as I tried, I just couldn’t capture those colours on my camera. You will just have to get out there and see it for yourself.

Distance 70kms