Kalahari Trails Day 2

We had a great nights sleep wild camping in the Kalahari. It was unbelievably quiet and we really feel this place is wild even though we are only 2km from the main house.
First thing I did was light the donkey boiler so we would have hot water to shower. Then we both had a couple of coffees and rusks. Unfortunately the boiler went out so my shower was Luke warm but Ellie managed a hot one an hour later after egg scramble for breakfast.
At 10am we left camp and started driving towards the house but just a few meters from the camp we spotted funny footprints in the sand. They went all the way down the road about 400 meters and we got out to look and it looked like someone had pressed 3 fingers into the ground. We got our tracking book out and it said aardvark. We were very excited.
Straight away I started to track it leaving the car in the sand track. Ellie started to come but once we got to the first sand dune she stopped and I carried on. I tracked the footprints for another 15 minutes before losing them but I was adamant that if I had someonelse with me I could track it further.
We headed upto the house because aardvark tracking had cooked us in 30°c heat and we got a cold drink from the fridge and had Malva Pudding and Ice cream with one of the staff, who told us that she would take us to see the meerkats they had just released later on.
We headed back to camp and I was desperate to find this aardvark so we donned our trousers and hiking boots. Got 3 litres of water and set off.
We were amazed at how far the aardvark could walk. Up and over several sand dunes, Around in circles and over the salt pan where we lost the tracks several times and spent ages trying to find them, but we did and carried on.
Another storm started blowing in and we had already walked 2.6 kilometres. I knew if we didn’t find it soon the tracks would be washed away and our one chance would be gone. Then finally we found it’s Den, we could believe it, we had tracked an aardvark for 3km and we had a trap camera.
I rubbed the trap camera in Sand to mask our scent and then set it and placed it in front of the huge hole. Then we marked it’s location with what 3 words and my hiking app and found our way back to a track and then to the car.
By the time we got back it was 3:30pm and we were cooked. Literally. But in our opinion it was worth it.
Just as we got back to camp a huge thunderstorm broke above us and there was so much thunder and lightning but not that much rain on us although we could see it all in the distance. Some of the thunder was so loud it cracked and made us jump.
After an hour of sheltering in the caravan we came outside and the storm seemed to have circled around us from our left to the right and had grown and was now getting closer so we headed back into the caravan. At first I had the back door open and then everything on the horizon disappeared which meant heavy rain was coming.
The wind picked up and the rain sheeted down sideways. The thunder cracked and the sky lit up. It was really scary.
Water forced its way through our zips and we lifted the mattress up to protect our bedding. Then it started seeping through the wall in one side as the wind was so strong it was just forcing it through the canvas. It was seriously extreme for about 30 minutes. Then it just stopped and thunder rolled around.
Marrellie, one of the staff came down to check in us just as I was lighting the fire for dinner. Tonight we should have been having Wors and mashed potato. She said the storm looked like it had stalled and we could see that and 10 minutes after she left it started to blow back in.
At first it seemed like a light shower so we took shelter in the shower and then someone opened the floodgates and the rain fell 10 times harder than before. The thunder cracked right above us and the lightning show was as scary as. It was hitting everything. Water rushed into the campsite and you could easily see how you could get caught out in a flash flood. This was intense.
Then there was a loud crack right next to us that sounded like an explosion. The rain was no so hard on the tin roof we had to shout to be heard and the lightning was all around and the ground was shaking.
We couldn’t see the car just 20 meters away but after what sounded like an explosion I said let’s make a run for the car. It’s grounded because of the rubber tyres.
Ellie ran to the car and I ran to the caravan, grabbed the car keys then jumped in the car. We were both soaked to the skin in under 10 seconds.
I told Ellie water was pouring in the caravan and we’d have to sort the bedding out later.
The storm started at 5:45pm and the heavy rain lasted until 8:30pm. The thunder lasted until 9:30pm. Our bedding and mattress was soaked through but luckily we have the mattress from the second bed, bedding wise we had Ellie’s travel blanket and a horse blanket for under our mattresses.
We had to settle for eating chuckalucka potatoes in the caravan and at bedtime the temperature was 16°c and the horse blanket was just big enough to cover our shoulders or our feet, not both. We were in for a rough night. Czytaj więcej