It had been a wonderfully quiet night, but now we woke up to loud bird sound. There was still about 20 km to go to the gate of Khaudum. We passed one more settlement and then the sand became even heavier for the Troopys. We were tempted to turn off to go and have a look at a Dorsland monument off the track, but realized that we should keep moving, because we still had a long way to go to Sikereti in the south. We came to the reserve fence and actually met up with a Landcruiser coming from the opposite direction. It was the ranger, Christo who was on his way to Rundu. He said that there would be no one at the gate and that we should just pay at Sikereti. We found the smart new gate and indeed there was no one around. We used the toilets and filled water bottles. Since there were no maps lying around, we resorted to photographing the map on the exhibition board. It would have to do. I had taken our old map along and it was somewhere in the car, but we could not find it! There were a number of very fresh lion spoor on the track, but the lions were nowhere to be seen! We decided to follow the northern Cwiba Omuramba (river) road and followed the lion spoor for a long way. It was very quiet in the river valley and we only saw a few gemsbok at a distance and a group of warthog wallowing in the last of the standing water in the riverbed. We stopped at the lovely Khaudum Fountain for morning coffee. It was very hot and we tried to position the cars to provide some shade. It was quite a battle to turn off the track in the deep sand. The most remarkable thing about this spot were the number of “three thorned” dubbeltjies in the grass. Our shoes looked like hob-nailed boots! We had to keep moving and we discovered very soon that it was going to take a very long time to get south. The track was slow with not only thick sand, but was also very bumpy. There were no corrugations, but the track caused the Troopy to rock viciously sideways as well as rolling forwards. We wondered what had caused this. Possibly people driving with difflock or towing trailers? We had certainly not encountered this motion on our previous drive along this track. It was a weird and a very uncomfortable motion. It was also very scratchy, probably because it had not being driven in Covid times. Just before Doringstraat waterhole a huge herd of roan antelope rushed across the road as if in panic and disappeared by the time Paul and Petra caught up with us. There had been no time to take pictures. We did see the odd antelope, but the animals were very skittish. Had they been hunted in Covid times? The hide at Doringstraat was brand-new and very smart, but there were no animals at the waterhole. We now proceeded to Leeupan. The strange motion on the vehicles was now less severe and the game viewing also improved. When we arrived at Leeupan, elephant were approaching in great numbers. We managed to park below the also new hide and had an amazing elephant show while enjoying our lunch. Elephant just kept on coming and they were drinking, wallowing and playing in the water. One elephant was obviously water mad and he submerged himself time and again with just his “snorkel” showing. This sighting was even better than the amazing “shows” at our Hapoor dam in Addo! A herd of roan antelope moved past carefully in the background. We were keen to go via the Tari Kora waterhole, but simply could not find the track. We wondered if it had been driven in recent times and opted to rather go via Tsau which was on the main route south. We came across a lovely herd of giraffe and a big flock of vultures. We had a bit of a roadblock when one big elephant decided that he would use the road as his walkway. He eventually moved into the bush, but then we discovered that there was a whole herd of elephant in the bush close to the road. We decided to pass quickly!! At Tsau a herd of kudu carefully moved past in the background. They also seemed nervous. Our next destination would be Dussi waterhole, which was just off the main road. Stephen and I had spent a lot of time at this waterhole before. Everything had changed and our old picnic spot behind the “anti-elephant” rocks was not there anymore. Some elephants were wandering off away from the waterhole and there were a few other antelope about. We came across a serious elephant made obstruction – a tree had been pulled down onto the track. We managed to make our way around the tree, but it was still very slow going. It soon became obvious that we would not make it all the way to the gate, but we decided to sleep in old Sikereti campsite but did not know what we would find there. I had been trying to find out what was happening there on internet, but I could not get any information. We decided to turn off to the Omuramba waterhole and there two elephants were having a drink – each in their own dam! It was rather funny. It was as if they each had their own water bowl. On our way to Sikereti we spotted a leopard in the tall grass. He was lurking and had his eye on some unsuspecting warthogs. Unfortunately he eventually disappeared out of our view. The sun was now on the wrong side and the dust was very bad. We briefly stopped at Shiyambi and Suncana waterholes, but all was quiet. Strangely, these waterholes had not been altered at all. It was past 18h00 when we drove into Sikereti where the old reception hut used to be. There was nothing left standing where there had previously been a lot of structures. Our hearts sank. The sign clearly said that reception was now at the gate 9 kilometres away. We drove into the old campsite and we were met by a large new building and there was a party of people sitting around a campfire. They were local Namibians who had entered the park illegally from the Tsumkwe Grootfontein back road that comes past the Tsoana waterhole and they also did not know what was going on. They had just decided to use the excellent facilities and wait till tomorrow to sort things out. We decided to drive to our old familiar campsite. It was still there and the once dilapidated facilities had been tidied up. We were not sure whether the place had been left to fall apart again, but there were now lights and running water and this was very welcome. We only discovered the power point the next morning. The toilet was blocked and the donkey (wood getser) was clearly not in use. We set up camp and enjoyed a lovely evening at a site where we had camped twice before. Stephen spent a long time rescuing a little lizard that was trapped in the outlet of the washing up basin. People will wonder at the strange cuts in the outlet grating. I even did some washing and hung our clothes under the shelter. It was all very strange and we would also have to wait until tomorrow to find out what was going on. We knew that private enterprise had taken over the old campsite at Khaudum Camp and developed a very upmarket lodge and a super campsite up north (we got to see it on our previous visit), but now the cost had gone up to around R700 for a night’s camping! We suspect that this is what will happen at the wonderful old Sikereti camp too.

Khaudum National Park is probably one of the most remote and inaccessible reserves in Southern Africa. The park covers an extensive area of 3,842 square kilometers and was proclaimed in 1989. It is often described as Southern Africa’s forgotten wilderness and attracts few visitors due to its inaccessibility. It was created as an important protected area for the migration of wildlife between Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. It is famous for its large herds of elephant, but giraffe, African wild dog and predators like lion, leopard and spotted hyena also occur in good numbers. It is the stronghold of Namibia’s roan population and large herds can be seen. 320 bird species have been recorded. This vast area also protects the Northern Kalahari Sandveld biome with its forest savanna and woodland.

Geschreven door Leartravels