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Published: August 29th 2013
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1400km's and the border crossing is in sight Any journey starts with lots of careful planning and when one is about to venture into the wilds of Africa there is an added intensity especially when it comes to camping.And so,many breakfast meetings were arranged with Bruce and Megan Birkett to plan for this onslaught into some special corners of this wonderful place called Southern Africa.The Birketts are veterans of bush camping whilst the Elliotts are relative novices but acquiring some impressive camping toys and gadgets with each trip.For this trip our acquisitions included a brand new Howling Moon tent and Stargazer tent annexe.Susan very thrilled with the annexe which will,according to her,ensure that no wild animal latches onto her backside whilst changing at dusk or dawn.The other new camping essential is a new National Luna 51lt fridge/freezer which will keep grub frozen and,importantly,beer and wine suitably chilled for those all important sundowners.
The one thing that definitely does not happen when going camping with the Birketts is eating canned bully beef or anything lower down the food chain.Meals are planned meticulously,pre-cooked and then frozen.Their off road trailer is impressively kitted out with all the items one would normally find in a kitchen at home.Bookings made,maps consulted,routes chosen and
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An average of 6-10 vehicles a day ensures no rush here! on about 15
th August we were both headed in a westerly direction for an overnight stop at the SA/Botswana border.
The Birketts started out from Durban whilst we left a very cold Johannesburg on the same morning.Our routing was via Krugersdorp and then finding the N14 and heading due west.Having never been to Krugersdorp,I had a sense of wanting to see what this gold mining town was all about but I shouldn’t have bothered.The mining industry has been the life blood of the SA economy for an awefully long time and without it our country would not have generated the wealth which has enabled the sustained economic growth over decades.But here’s the rub!When the stuff has been ripped out the ground and the money made,the dreadful scars left behind makes it all look so depressing.Krugersdorp exemplifies that in every possible sense.Some mining still taking place but the grey,sterile mine dumps which stand starkly in open veld create the impression that something very strange has happened there.Derelict buildings left by those who clung to the glory days of gold mining while it lasted add to the rather sad look of this town.
Fortunately it is a brief glimpse as the road then veers off to join the all important N14.Scenery changes and there is increasing evidence of maize farming on a colossal scale reminding me that SA is the World’s 5
th largest maize producer.We have some seriously competent farmers growing maize in this area which was once known as the Western Transvaal and I fail to see the logic of encouraging so many farmers who just happen to be white to sell their farms to some emerging farmer who just happens to be black and we all know the story.A productive farm becomes a wasteland!All because of some political ideology that makes no sense at all.
Many South Africans have heard of Ventersdorp but not many have been there.We left the N14 to look at this town which has often been in the news for all the wrong reasons.Apart from a forlorn pub as one enters the town called the “Tjop en Dop”,my advice is don’t go there.A definite Hicksville Tennessee tinge to it and no statue or street named after Eugene Terreblanche seen at all.
Moving out of the maize belt it becomes noticeably drier and more parched and after passing through a few small towns such as Sannieshof,Coligny and Delarayeville which all have a hang dog look about them,the next town of any note is Vryburg but try as hard as I can nothing springs to mind worth writing about except for the fact that it was once the scene of ongoing mini skirmishes between the Brits,Boers and a few obscure Tswana tribes.It is also by far the country’s largest area for beef production.
Not far from Vryburg there is a change of province with entry into the Northern Cape,SA’s least populated and it does not require much thought as to why this is the case.Flat,dry countryside with little evidence of agricultural activity.Kuruman is an important town on this route as this was where we met up with the Birketts who had arrived just ahead of us from Bloemfontein.Quick fact file on Kuruman.It has a major spring in the town which gushes out 20 million litres of water a day and is the source of the river by the same name.With all that water one suddenly understands why there are huge palm trees lining the main street.At this point the direction of the journey changed to north west and we were en route to a place with the incredible name of Hotazel.Now here is a town and region on steroids as there are huge deposits of manganese being mined by the big guys with BHP Billiton signage all over the place.A geologist by name of Leslie Boardman passed his magnetometer over the surface in the 1950’s and the instrument overshot it’s scale due the intensity of the manganese deposits. Not much else there but very evident that it’s name is spot on.A cool August afternoon with the temp gauge chalking up 30 deg C left us wandering what the heat must be like mid summer.Late afternoon we arrived at McCarthy’s Rest to spend the night at a stop over lodge called Springbokpan located about 5 kms from the SA/Botswana border.
And thus we were inching ever closer to our destination,The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.Weary heads on plump pillows on proper beds for some time ahead and dreamy thoughts about some rugged camping in one of the great wilderness areas of Southern Africa.
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Bobby Craig
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