I checked for tracks, but we did not appear to have had any visitors during the night. The rest of the Baobab Trail was waiting and we were soon underway. We hit an obstacle not far from Gura Pan. The track in front of us was inundated with water and it was quite deep. Thankfully someone had been here before us and had made a detour to get around the water. We found the “official” campsite next to the Holboom which had collapsed some time ago. This is a magnificent campsite under a huge baobab. There is a longdrop toilet and a lookout platform has been built around the tree. It is run by the San community and they theoretically come round to collect camping fees. When we camped there previously no one came. We enjoyed checking out the baobabs and I seem to think that the famous Holboom, which lies about 150 m away from the present campsite, had deteriorated even more. After checking out another baobab nearby, we realized that we could not complete the trail if we still wanted to get to Grootfontein 282 km away, most of it on a gravel road. Paul and Petra were a bit disappointed, but we had no choice.

Back at Tsumkwe Country Lodge, Stephen wanted to check the oil level in the differential before we continued on the long road to Grootfontein. I got to speak to the new owner, Diekie Pienaar who was very friendly. She and her husband had bought the property from the previous owner and they have invested a lot of money to upgrade the lodge. Now they were waiting for the Dobe border to open (closed because of Covid) so that the overland trucks and self-drive tourists could come past again. When Sikereti opens again this will also bring more people. The most important factor for their business would be the planned tarring of the gravel road to Grootfontein. This long stretch of 220km puts many visitors off. They could be sitting on a goldmine if they can survive for a while yet. Diekie could not believe her eyes when she saw Troopy. They had also bought one of the Camper Troopys from Thrifty and loved it. Sadly they had to sell it, probably because of the necessary financing of the lodge. Stephen was checking the differential oil level and although it had not gone down much we realized that we simply had to get the correct seal. I asked Diekie if she had some contacts and soon we had Pieter from Indongo Toyota in Okahandja on the phone. They had the seals in stock. There was no Toyota agent in Grootfontein and we would have to make it to Okahandja as soon as possible. We also learned that it was just as well that we did not try and complete the Boabab 4x4 Trail, because a large part of the track was still under water The same was true of the route to the south of Nye Nye pan. We thanked her and started on the long gravel road back to the tar.

Along the way, we pulled off on a little track that took us to the cutline below the powerlines for a lunch stop. Paul and Petra nearly drove past twice (in both directions), but eventually found us. We got to Grootfontein around 17h00 and quickly filled up and bought some basic supplies at the now defunct Spar shop, before continuing to Khorab Lodge just south of Otavi. I had phoned ahead. There was not much traffic on the road and we soon covered the 92 km to the lodge. The campsite had excellent facilities and we each had our own bathroom and undercover space. There was only one other camper. The ladies at reception were very friendly and welcoming (probably grateful for some business!) and they had a restaurant. We decided to “eat out” and Stephen and I enjoyed a good plate of Spaghetti Bolognaise and Paul and Petra went for steak, which sadly was a bit tough. Since there was running water again, we did a bit of washing and hung it out under the convenient roof cover. We were out of the wild now and had to get used to traffic noise and facilities again. We were not complaining, though!!

Geschreven door Leartravels