This is where our trip got interesting.
There is no bad spot in the Kgalagadi, lets be clear, but there are some that vanish within minutes of our SANParks offices opening. Nossob is one of those, most especially in the holidays. We had been very excited for this part of our trip. It is our first time being there in Summer, and seasons make a difference.
Whilst in Twee Rivieren we got nervous abut it. We had heard of a number of cars been taken out the park on a flat bed because of bad corrugations and heat affecting, more specially, the sensors on the cars. These are very high end expensive cars. I had a moments reprieve when we were told that Toyota’s are safer 😊 No-one wants to break down in the park. I couldn’t think of anything worse.
A story of our experience with car sensors, when in the park a few years ago with our Xtrail, we were at Lijersdraai when all the warning lights went on, very dramatic. Looking in the book we where told to proceed with caution and take in as soon as possible. It was terrifying. Luckily it did not shut down, and on the tar way home they all vanished with no record at the service. This is when we changed cars. So be warned when coming to the park thinking all is easy, your car takes a beating!
On our first drive out we had a few raptor sightings but our favourite was on the side of the road, 2 puff adders and a cape cobra. There appeared to be a fight before the cobra shied away and one puff adder was clearly digesting something.
Our first night was pretty perfect, sunset, soccer, and braai. We had an increase of wind and some lovely rain. Thunder and lightning is very common. And we had it most nights last year when we spent time at Mata Mata. We also knew that the weather was going to be a wild in the coming days...
We did have our very first substantial scorpion encounter. A thick tail, genus androctonus. This is one of the most dangerous scorpion species in the world, causing several deaths every year with a very powerful neurotoxin in the tail. This one clearly lived in our tree, so we where on high alert every night as we encountered various scorpions/ spiders daily.
We alternated between north and south drives, our first full day was awesome, we went north.
The black chested snake eagle was a frequent sighting. They look, at first like small martial eagles, but there eye is an obvious clue as they are very yellow and have no markings underside breast.
We did not realise how much it rained the night before but he roads north were in may places submerged, not just puddles. Some stretches where so long we decided to turn back. It was quite a sight but did limit how far up north we could drive. We drove behind another fortuner but they too got uncomfortable with the water.
On our return we had the pleasure of seeing 3 lion, a female and 2 males taking a stole . It was amusing to see how they avoid the water, except to drink. They were exceptionally lovely looking lion.
In Part 4 of our adventure, the storm level increased dramatically, causing some damage to us and many others.