Day 47: Alldays to roadside camp

So long At se Gat.

The first section of the road leading out of Alldays going upwards towards Pontdrift was filled with loads of armoured crickets. These big old buggers were scattered all over the place. Half of them were crushed in the road while the other half were eating the dead first half. Ah, cannibalism, the last taboo.  I stopped to get a closer look at these buggers before heading off.

These bugs were awesome. The only way to honor your dead friend is to eat him.

Weeeeeeeee!!! I've got prions attacking my brain and I'm loving it!!!!

Words couldn't stop me.

I was told that the R572 road toward Musina had been closed off due to a bridge section being washed away recently in a flood. ‘Closed off’ was merely paint on the road so I turned in after seeing other cars take the road and headed east towards Musina. The area was still vast open spaces of bushveld but there were a couple rocky formations now appearing to break it up a bit. I stopped at Mapungubwe Nature Reserve where I was driven into the restaurant inside the reserve by a guy called Calvin, where I decided to treat myself to a decent plate of food and a milkshake. Then I was driven back to the entrance. I thanked him for the kind gesture before heading off.

R572 in general.

Watch the landscape change slightly while enjoying it with some tunes.

Baobobs, a protected species you know.

Mapungubwe Reserve in the distace.

Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre. Home to the golden rhino which I didn''t know about on the day.

Ah so good to just sit and not be working.

This couldn't have come quick enough.

Yup, I was there.

Me and Calvin.

I came across a sign saying detour because of the washed away road up ahead but I carried on riding straight anyways. I wasn’t in the mood for gravel roads and extra distance plus I just wanted to see how badly the bridge had been washed away. 10kms later I had my answer. Damn, that’s quite a large chunk when I saw it. About 15m of a section of the bridge had been destroyed. I couldn’t really believe it as it was hard to picture so much water coming down this river, especially in a place that was dry as this. But clearly it had happened. Part of me wished I had taken that detour 10kms back for a moment. But I decided to just carry my stuff in sections across the river bed. ‘n Boer maak n plan’, as the saying goes.  So after a couple of tiring minutes I was across the gap and riding on.

All that water damage and not a single drop. 

Mmm? That detour 10kms back doesnt seem like such a bad idea now.

A few sweaty minutes later. All by stuff carried across the river bed and carefully placed through the barbwire fence.

Looking back at where I came from. Would have been cool to see this front piece break off.

Ok, enough pics. You got unbroken road you must traverse. Plus potential mozzies to avoid.

The sun was now beginning to go down and it was time to get inside my tent as I was concerned with mozzies and any potential malaria that may have been in the area. I had decided to opt against taking my malaria tablets after speaking to a handful of people who had actually stayed in the area. Their reasoning was that the risk was pretty low at the moment which they were right and that if you got it, quickly  go to the doctor and he will sort you out. Plus I honestly didn’t want to be experiencing any side effects that may happen from the pills. That being said I still went through all the precautionary things in case there was the odd mozzie who had it. So I found a place beside the road and quickly pitched my tent on the soft sand of a dried stream and got inside, with only the sounds of birds chirping, warthogs grunting and the odd car going past before I fell asleep.

Close your eyes and hear that nature.

Distance 87kms