The Eiland Municipal campsite in Upington surprised us! After our first impression that it was run-down, it turned out to be rather acceptable. The sites had ample space and the ablutions were good. We arrived in the late afternoon and stayed for two nights.
There is a resident troop of Vervet Monkeys that were most entertaining; not a pest, just full of energy and very inquisitive.
While we were in Upington Roger spent some time inspecting all the nuts and bolts of Ufudu and the trailer in preparation for the trip into the Kgalagadi. A gas bottle needed filling and there were a few items to be purchased. Ufudu has just passed 20 000km and needs a service but there is surprisingly no Isuzu truck service centre in Upington!? Etienne at Isuzu Midrand kindly arranged with JP from Gordonia Motors to do the service for us. The parts are being ordered so that it can be done when we pass through after Kgalagadi.
Once everything was done we left Upington for Kgalagadi, travelling on the R360 to Bokspits. It was probably the most depressing trip we have had to date. The scenery was stunning, the road surface was excellent and we were fascinated by the landscape but the road kill carnage was just too terrible for words! We lost count but there were in excess of 30 Bat-eared Foxes alone! This was besides all the other species such as Jackal, Polecat, Mongoose, an Owl, and many unidentified.
We planned to overnight at the Molopi campsite just outside Bokspits but the campsites were very small and access for Ufudu was a problem, so we ended up driving all the way to the Twee Rivieren gate. There we parked in the parking lot for the night, holding thumbs that we will not have a repeat of the night outside the Lilydale gate at Mokala. Fortunately we were left undisturbed and had a peaceful night, looking forward to entering the park.
On Saturday morning we made bookings for the first 3 days; 1 night at Twee Rivieren, 1 night at Mata-Mata and another back at Twee Rivieren. We will check with reception regularly on further availability because we are hoping to spend two weeks here. We were told that there is no cell phone signal once we leave Twee Rivieren so we may be disappearing off the radar for a while. But we will be back…