I’m awoken by a click, and the lights coming on inside the pop top sleeping area, which I find strange as the sun is coming up outside. I flick the switches off, and jump down to the floor of the truck, and take a peak outside (still not sure what lurks) before opening the door, and getting about to making some coffee.
I pull out the cooker top, and propane bottle screw the cooker on the bottle, and twist the valve holding a match to it, and POOF flame shoots out the bottom of the cooker top, and across the valve right at my hand! For a guy jonesing for that first cup of joe, I exhibit surprisingly quick reflexes as I jerk my hand away. Watching the flame, thinking this can’t be good, and I have to get the valve turned off somehow, or the bottle could explode. I get two sticks, and twist the valve till I can get it off, that crisis averted I get my gloves and unscrew the cooker top to inspect it, and notice a rubber seal is missing on the bottom…great, I’m not loving the Britz inspection process.
Still needing my coffee, I go make friends with my neighbors, who let me use their burner to get my water hot, and we chat about what it’s like camping out here, and I learned, I needn’t be completely paranoid about animals lurking at every turn, but indeed be careful, and never explore alone on foot. They were nice guys from South Africa, when I apologized for my late arrival the night before, and told them I hope I didn’t wake them with the Land Cruiser, they asked if I was the one with the music…”wasn’t me” I said, and they said, “yeah you didn’t bother us then, but those jerks with the music sure did.” I think I like the directness of the South African’s.
I found out where the ablutions are, and take a shower, enjoy another cup of coffee, with a new friend, isn’t he cute?
I pack up and head out to make my first safari exploration ever in the confines of the reserve. Of course hoping to see Rhinos, but when I see my first giraffe I’m so thrilled, I just marvel at the idea, I’m seeing a giraffe in the wild! Then I find zebra, warthogs, impalas, water buffalo and wildebeest.
I keep looking for the rhinos, but in the end, I’m told, it’s too early for them to be out much, and I have to get on the road soon to my next destination, especially since now I have to go find a cooker top! I’m impressed with my Land Cruiser, but I find the ride to be hard, and when it goes over a bump I think it feels like it’s hitting harder than it should. But, it is a modified vehicle, which I have little experience with, so it could be perfectly normal.
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I back track to the town of Serowe, where I fuel up, and find a section of town, that seems like a hardware store belongs in one of these shops, where I feel I’m standing out more wandering around with my cooker top in hand than because I’m the only white guy in this part of town. I hadn’t even noticed before, but I’m sure that’s been the case often since arriving. I’m bringing it with me because I don’t know what they are called here (we call them burners). I find a shop with a nice lady behind the counter who goes and gets me a new cook top, price: 95 Botswanan Pula ($9) which seems like quite a bit, and I wonder how people here manage to pay that much for something I’m sure is a basic necessity. When in a totally foreign situation, it’s easy to become proud for accomplishing a simple task, such as buying a new cooker top.
Heading further north I found a place called Tuuthebe which was ideally located and didn’t require a herculean drive effort for a day. Also, it was still day light, and I figured maybe I could sort a few things out on this camper, since they had power at the campsite maybe I could figure out the lights.
Khama Rhino Rest Camp to Tuuthebe Lodge & Camping, Botswana – Google Maps
This place isn’t a charming or adventurous kind of camping, in fact they have everything you could need, but for a bit of a recharge, it was perfect. I bought a frozen steak from their supplies, and set myself up for a nice braai (BBQ). As, I was cooking an older German couple camping up the road a bit, dropped by and chatted, and to point out that my Land Cruiser was leaking oil! I would investigate this new discovery in the morning. They invited me over to their camp after dinner for drinks and cheese.
Nicest people, Walter and Margaret shared with me their many years of self-drive safari experiences. They own a Toyota Land Cruiser that was converted to a small motor home. I’d never seen anything like it, but it looked pretty cool.
They keep it in storage in South Africa, and come down once a year for a month or two to explore Africa, and have done so for 20 years. They were a fountain of knowledge for me going on the rest of my adventure, telling me the number one priority every night is FIRE, so I should buy or gather wood every day for a fire that night. I wasn’t sure how this was going to work once I was in the bush, which would be the next night, did you really just sit out by a fire? You won’t get eaten? Their “of course” response and assurances that if you’re alert and careful, it will be fine, was a great relief on many grounds. The idea of staying inside my vehicle each evening wasn’t at all appealing. My new, very experiences friends gave me a lot of pointers, like the fire, which they say the smoke annoys the large cats, so they don’t come around. Gathering wood, to be very careful, make sure there are no scorpions in it, and of course watch for snakes, though being the cooler winter in June, they will probably not be too active.
With my new-found knowledge, I felt much better about heading out into the bush and I thought back on what my German friends told me this evening over about three cold beers (love Germans, they always have good beer) many times on this trip.
Heading to bed, still no lights in the camper.