Before driving towards the South Gate through the 2nd and 1st Bridge I decided to check with the rangers at the Third Bridge Gate to check for road conditions. The rangers advised us to take the route through the Xakanaxa gate instead. The road from Xakanaxa gate to the South Gate goes right through the Mopane tongue which is around 40 kms. The Lady decided to drive. Her health has improved a lot in the last days. She has started taking antibiotics and that seemed to have worked. Her cough is almost completely gone now. It was nice to see her healthy again.
The road was much better than we expected. On the way we came across a big bull on the side of the road. We stopped near him and the bull continued its grazing without minding our presence. It seemed to be quite relaxed. After eating on one side of the road the bull crossed the road in front of our car and started eating again on the other side. At one point it came so close to our car that it was hardly 2 m from the windows. Though it was still very calm like before I have to admit I had second thoughts about reversing the car further. That would have been stupid as any sudden noise from the engine starting would have freaked him off. It was really so close that I doubt that even a sudden movement of our hands would have put us in danger. We decided to take the risk and I told the Lady to stay where we are as for me the bull looked really relaxed. As before, like in the Savuti camp, it was just my instincts talking! Luckily nothing bad happened and it was really a wonderful experience to know that the bull didn’t consider us as a threat and accepted us in his world as how we are. I can’t explain it, but those little little instances in life, it has a real beauty to it.
While watching the bull we saw something moving in the road. It was a snake crossing the road. It was our first snake spotting in the whole trip and if I am right it was a black mamba!! I took photos of it and have to recheck it afterwards. When the bull finally moved away from the car we started the engine and drove towards South Gate. I could see in the rear view mirror that the bull didn’t really appreciate the sudden ignition of the engine! When we reached the South Gate we stopped the car to check whether everything is ok with the car. That’s when we realised that one side of the front bumper has come off from the fixing. I somehow fixed it back again though I am no longer sure whether it will survive the rest of the journey.
Our goal was to reach Maun around 1-2 pm. We stopped at Maun to top up the fuel and the supplies. By the time we left Maun it was already close to 4 pm. We still have to cover around 135 kms before we reach the Nxai pan gate. I also bought a SIM card for the phone to call home. It has been almost 2 weeks since I called home. By the time I finished talking with my sister the credit on the card has been over. On the way to the Nxai pan gate we came across heavy rains. That’s bad news as the pans might get more clayey and more difficult to drive. We reached the Nxai pan gate in time. I decided to drive the next leg. The camp site is a further 36 km north from the gate. The track is covered with deep sand, but because of the rains before it was more comfortable to drive than expected.
We camped at the South Camp site which is on the edges of the Nxai pan. Though they are part of the ancient salt pans, compared to the Etosha pans in Namibia or the Makgadikgadi pans the Nxai pan is completely grassed over. Due to that after the rainy season one can expect to see wildlife in the pans. It’s also New Year’s eve tonight. At night we opened our little champagne bottles that we bought at Windhoek and exchanged the formal greetings. The sky was amazing. We walked over to the pans from our camp in the darkness to watch the stars. Some rangers near to the camp saw us and warned us of ellies around. That’s a scary thought, to come across some lonely bulls in the darkness. So we didn’t hang around longer and returned to the camp. The sky, the typical African skies with the stars up to the horizon, always fascinated me. Pity that my timelapse trigger is not working.
The Lady and I tried to do some night photography of the skies. It didn’t work out well as I would have liked to have. We went to bed around 11pm. Didn’t wait for the New Year. One more New Year has gone and one more new year is waiting for us with full of surprises. I hope it is not a terrible year like the last one. I wish the last year didn’t happen at all. At least this New Year was not lonesome as usual. It was nice to spend it with the Lady. But is she happy? I really doubt it. And I don’t know why. The Lady I knew before was different. Probably because of the weird, crazy me!!!
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