We wanted to cross the Mabuasehube Game Reserve, but we knew that area was very sandy. At the border post, we asked the customs officer for the road conditions. His answer, "It's deep sand, but not too deep." Very useful information. He then had a quick look outside, where our vehicle was standing and added to his answer, "You'll be fine, you're driving the god of the land!"
The track was deep sand indeed, but not too deep for our Land Rover! In fact, we did not even use four-wheel drive (this was unintentional) and drove through the Kalahari in two-wheel drive...
After driving around the numerous pans inside the Mabuasehube game reserve, we arrived in camp after sunset. In the distance, we could see a glowing orange blaze. As the blaze rapidly became larger, we started to worry! The park ranger had told us nothing about current fire inside the park. The fire grew faster and faster, coming towards us... then we realized it wasn't a fire at all but rather the full moon rising! What a spectacular site.
Botswana can be referred to as donkey country. Unlike in Namibia, where the road is lined with fences on both sides, people here do not believe in fences and the animals are free to wander around. The road is everybody's road and vehicles have to share the pavement with cattle, donkeys, goats, wild animals and people. This makes it especially dangerous to travel through the country at night.
Out of all the animals, the goats are the only ones who took some kind of road test; they understand the meaning of a honk and move out of the way rapidly! The cows, on the other hand, think that the road is theirs and will not move, you have to navigate around them. And then of course, you have all the wild animals. The kudus, with the majestic horns, the warthog with their very hard head and their funny way of running with their tails up and the little dik-dik, one of the smallest antelope that can never decide weather to run left or right for their dear life. But above all of these animals, the most unpredictable are probably the birds. Francolins and other medium size terrestrial birds love to stand by the side of the road. They almost have some suicidal instinct and fly away at the last possible second; most of the time lucky to escape the oncoming vehicle. But not always.