After two crammed days of uni when we got back from the Drakensberg, on Thursday we were off again to Bots. Our friend Alex was taking us to his house in Gaborone and camping for a night. It was pretty crazy, having 10 Aussies plus our Dutch friend Tamar plus Alex all squished into two cars! It was about a 5 hour trip up, and I have to admit we got a bit car-o-phobic, especially those of us who had only just got back from an intensive weekend together.
When we got to Alex’s house, his mum was so surprised to see that most of us were girls! Apparently Alex had warned them that there were 11 people coming over, but failed to mention that 9 were female! They were so welcoming though, and we all found a place to sleep in various rooms and on various floors.
Me in my nest
Friday morning we were up at 5 to drive up to Khutse Game Reserve, where we camping that night. They had borrowed a four-wheel drive off a friend, and have one of their own, so there was a bit more space this time. Because we had Fred (Alex’s dad) as well, one of us had to sit in the back of the car, and of course I put my hand up! It was a nice spot to have a snooze after getting up so early...
Giraffe & springbok
That day we saw heaps of ‘bok’ (springbok, steenbok, gemsbok), some kudu, mini squirrels (which we swore were meerkats at the time and would make a much cooler story!!), a jackal (wild dog), vultures AND GIRAFFES!!!! That was most definitely the highlight! We had been looking for lions, giraffes or elephants and had pretty much given up until Lily just casually said “Hey, is that a giraffe?”... exciting!! That night we camped in tents at our campsite in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (cool huh?!), a bit nervous about the sign in the drop dunny warning not to leave food in tents in case jackals or HYENAS came around! But other than a freak half hour thunderstorm, everything was fine and the next morning we woke up to see the sunrise from on top of the 4wd. I even had a go at the wheel, which was exciting enough until we came across some other cars and had to go off road.. into the long grass like real four-wheel driving should be!! The others thought it was pretty funny, me being pretty small and at the wheel of the monster going through the grass!
Sunset over the Kalahari
Saturday night we went out to a bar in Gaborone, but got home pretty early because the new President there has laid down some pretty crazy laws about alcohol not being served after midnight! Bottle shops have to close at 7!!! SEVEN!!
Hartbeespoort Dam
On Sunday we were planning on going straight home, but Alex decided to take us back via Pretoria (the main capital city of South Africa) where his girlfriend lives. We saw Hartbeespoort Dam, probably one of the coolest dams around and had dinner out before retiring back at uni. It was a long weekend, and some of us were nearly ready to strangle each other, but all in all it was fantastic!! Finally I have seen some wildlife and that’s 3 countries now, hooray!!
The gang
~Y
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