Solo Self-Drive Safari: Day Five

Awoken again at 5:30 with lion roars nearby, and I decide to make the coffee inside the camper, and have breakfast and wait for daylight before heading outside. Around 6:30 I peak outside, and figure it’s safe enough to pack up the chairs and lower the pop-up top, use the restroom, and head for the ferry to cross the river and the drive up to Maun. I had tied a sock around the loose and flopping springs, just hoping it would be strong enough to keep them from banging back and forth where they might hit the gas tank or the inside of the tire, I felt a bit like MacGyver, just not as handsome.

While waiting for the ferry, I am rewarded with one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen in my life.

Colors typically seen at sunset. This is the breaking of dawn over the Boteti river.
Colors typically seen at sunset. This is the breaking of dawn over the Boteti river.

 

 

 

Once on the ferry, an addition of violet is added to nature's palette.
Once on the ferry, an addition of violet is added to nature’s palette.

The 90 mile (145 km) drive to Maun was a bit stressful, there was one spring left, and it if snaps, I’m not going any further. I was also worrying if my sock tie was holding, but in the end it held all the way, and in fact couldn’t be removed by the mechanics replacing the spring, they got a laugh, but thought it was resourceful. While they were removing the springs I talked with the shop manager, and he says it’s pretty common for these springs to break on these customized vehicles. Toyota specs the spring strength for a specific gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) which includes the chassis, body, engine, transmission, fuel, driver and passengers cargo…basically everything that sits on top of the springs, which is almost all the weight. When Britz customized the vehicle they added, electronics, a fridge and sink, drawers, cabinets, a 60 liter water tank, an extra 80 liter fuel tank; basically hundreds of pounds of extra weight. But, they kept the factory stock springs and suspension. As evidence he showed me the left spring which was showing two fractured springs in it as well, and most likely it would break just like the right one did, in a matter of a few weeks or months.

Tyremax shop is not where I want to spend any of my vacation time. Shop manager in the foreground has seen a lot of these broken springs.
Tyremax shop is not where I want to spend any of my vacation time. Shop manager in the foreground has seen a lot of these broken springs.
Toyota engineers informed me this kind of break is due to metal fatigue. Along with the various levels of oxidation (rust) indicate these springs were broken long before I rented the Land Cruiser.
Toyota engineers informed me this kind of break is due to metal fatigue. Along with the various levels of oxidation (rust) indicate these springs were broken long before I rented the Land Cruiser. Another indication this was preexisting was after the repair the snapping and popping noises from the roof disappeared, because the vehicle’s chassis was no longer twisted.

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This is the left side spring, where fractures are also clearly visible. However, I was not authorized to repair these springs.
This is the left side spring, where fractures are also clearly visible. However, I was not authorized by Britz to repair these springs.

The spring removed from the Land Cruiser, with my sock still tied to hold them in place.
The spring removed from the Land Cruiser, with my sock still tied to hold them in place.

I was pretty shocked, and even more so when the shop told me that Britz hadn’t made arrangements to pay for the repairs, and needed my credit card to charge $500 to! I wasn’t in the mood to sort that, out and just wanted to get on the road, so paid that nice folks, and off I went to Moremi. Immediately, I noticed something: it was quite! For the first time since the trip to the grocery store in Johannesburg, there was no noise coming from the roof! This convinced me the spring had been broken before I ever left, the noises were because the chassis was twisted from listing slightly to the right from the broken spring! That mystery solved, but the crazy lack of lights at night-time riddle remained.

Driving into Moremi Wildlife Reserve I see this cute guy!
Driving into Moremi Wildlife Reserve I see this cute guy!

OMG I’m so glad that spring got fixed, as the tarmac road leaving Maun going toward Moremi NP becomes dirt, I find the ruts and washboard surfaces punishing, and with that broken spring it would have been brutal.  After about two hours on this road, I come to the south entrance gate for Moremi, and go though the registration procedures again, and shown on the map where my campsite is, but I have to move the next night to another site, eh, whatever these kinds of things you have to let roll off you’re back like water does off a duck’s back or you’ll drive yourself nuts when traveling internationally. My first site has a view of the river, and a bridge, but it’s also a favored area for baboons, which can be quite destructive. Next door I see a large camp, with tents and several tables, chairs and coolers, needless to say, the baboons have a great deal of fun with all the toys these folks left out, while they were on safari in the bush. I sure wasn’t going to intervene; these baboons were at least as big as I am.

Beautiful view from camp site. The bridge also serves as a baboon highway.
Beautiful view from camp site. The bridge also serves as a baboon highway.

Something about this campsite was for sure amiss though, the access roads to it were a complete disaster, mud holes several feet (around 1 meter) across and at least a half-foot deep (around 15cm) were abundant, I saw some people had brought trailers in, and later found out they had a very difficult time, I could only imagine!

Baboons wrecking havoc on a campsite.
Baboons wrecking havoc on a campsite.

But, what a beautiful location! On one side you are bordered by a river, the other end is basically the south gate park entrance, and the other two sides are wide open to the bush. I was a bit early to get dinner going, and it was too late for a car safari, so I decided to be neighborly, one of the camps near me seem to be a five or six frat brothers, or so it seemed from the empty beer cans the obvious pee spots all over the camp, but nice guys, friendly and I hung out with them talking about the damage the baboons did to the other camp, they mentioned they didn’t feel too bad, as that camp was a bunch of inconsiderate people, who strung lights up in the trees played music too loudly until midnight the night before. This happens everywhere, I’m not sure why some people go camping when they bring every comfort of home with them. Anyways, when they got back I decided to just be direct and talk to them, let them know what some of the other campers were thinking, and they were really nice, they kept most of the lights off, and were mostly quite after about 9pm. I had another grilled something that night it was either steak or chicken…but I think steak, I really loved the red meat here, especially after I borrowed some seasoning from a fellow camper.

What do you think?

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