We left Blouberg Nature Reserve and headed towards Makhado. We had some shopping to do and Roger wanted to meet with Anthony Scott, a contact he got from Charles.
It seems pilots have a knack of finding each other and they then instantly connect. After a call and chat with Anthony he suggested we stay at the Municipal camping ground and promised to pop in when he got back to town later on in the day.
We took his suggestion and what a nice surprise it was. Clean, kept and mostly in working order.
We spent the rest of the day doing washing and shopping. In the late afternoon Anthony and his wife Norma came to meet us and promptly invited us to dinner at their house. It turned out to be a lovely evening. Norma even insisted I bring the rest of the washing to be done at their house! Good company, good food and good wine! What more could one ask for?
The next day was spent observing a very special campsite resident and updating our blog before heading out again.
We were on the road by 16h30 heading for Nzhelele Dam, about 70km north. Too late to start perhaps…
We decided to avoid the N1 Toll fees and chose to take an alternate road instead. The surrounds were very beautiful and we were looking around and chatting while driving through rural areas. It was Friday afternoon and everyone was in a rush to get home and start their weekend, so traffic was rather hectic. Neither of us noticed when Garmin (on silent) indicated that we should turn. It was too late to make a U-turn. The road was narrow and winding and the traffic too hectic. We continued hoping to find a further turn-off.
The new route calculated by Ma’am (Garmin) took us along roads that got progressively worse in condition as well as narrower. We were now committed. It was fast becoming dark. Roger stopped on two occasions to ask for directions but the language barrier was a problem so on we went, following our noses and going in the general direction of Roger’s gut feel (we had lost complete faith in Ma’am because she constantly took us on little detours, off the wider road, for no apparent reason!! ).
We eventually found ourselves on a mountain pass over the Soutpansberg which was very steep and winding. Darkness was approaching fast. When we reached a flat section at the top of the pass we decided to spend the night right there. Things usually look a lot more do-able in daylight.
Not long after we stopped for the night, with Ufudo balanced on rocks to achieve a level attitude, Mr Khaku came past in his bakkie. He stopped to enquire after our well-being and looked very sceptical when we said we were sleeping there for the night and would attempt the down side of the pass in the morning. He warned us of the really bad condition of the road. Two hours later he came up the pass from his errand and stopped again to check if were OK.
After some map study (which we should have done earlier…) we got to bed around 10. Tomorrow is another day.