3 July, Sunday Mamili to Doppies
It was a busy and interesting bush night with high traffic of
elephants and hippos. Willie and I woke up a few times to add logs to the fire.
It gives a feeling of a little more safety for what it is worth. In the early
morning hours we hear our first lions roar in the distance!
We have a slow start, have breakfast and then the pack up thing,
with which we are well acquainted by now. Willie drives in the direction where
we’ve heard the lions, with the guys on the roof, but flooded marsh plains
finally stop us and we decide to drive to our next destination by the Kwandu
River – Camp Kwandu where we camped with Ruco and Hugo in 2003 when we were in
Namibia for Operation Sunrise.
Willie wants to see ‘Doppies’ where we camped with Handré and
Marianne 25 years ago. It was used by the South African military during the
border war and had an amazing view over the Kwandu and marshes. Ruco and Roné,
Handré and Marianne’s youngest daughter went to explore and came back, very
excited, about their find: an old mortar! Willie recalls all our previous
adventures as we drive and it is so special to come back and retrace our foot
prints and car tracks of the past.
Poor Sammie unwillingly receives stow-away status again, as we
are not sure whether he is allowed in the Conservation Area. All the plots by
the river are taken of the community campsite and the wardens show us a
non-official site where we can camp. We are disappointed and Willie decides to
check the camp out for a possibility of a different spot. We are thankful when
camper-travelers from Kleinmond in South Africa graciously invite us to share
their site with them. We meet the friends whom we met at the border again and
they walk over to invite us for dinner – a real South African braai with meat,
pap and wors.(porridge and sausage).
Hugo is so excited, because this will be his first real taste of
Afrikaans speaking South Africans doing the traditional thing: a braai. We have
a wonderful evening getting to know one another better, listening, sharing,
laughing, eating, enjoying till late. We are used to going to bed often before 8
and we reluctantly say good bye when it is midnight. Not a random encounter is
what all of us realized and I am excited to see how our paths are going to cross
in the future.
Poor Sammie is not a happy camper, and has to do all his toilet
routines in the cover of darkness before he retires with the boys into the tent.
Click Play for Photos:
It was a busy and interesting bush night with high traffic of
elephants and hippos. Willie and I woke up a few times to add logs to the fire.
It gives a feeling of a little more safety for what it is worth. In the early
morning hours we hear our first lions roar in the distance!
We have a slow start, have breakfast and then the pack up thing,
with which we are well acquainted by now. Willie drives in the direction where
we’ve heard the lions, with the guys on the roof, but flooded marsh plains
finally stop us and we decide to drive to our next destination by the Kwandu
River – Camp Kwandu where we camped with Ruco and Hugo in 2003 when we were in
Namibia for Operation Sunrise.
Willie wants to see ‘Doppies’ where we camped with Handré and
Marianne 25 years ago. It was used by the South African military during the
border war and had an amazing view over the Kwandu and marshes. Ruco and Roné,
Handré and Marianne’s youngest daughter went to explore and came back, very
excited, about their find: an old mortar! Willie recalls all our previous
adventures as we drive and it is so special to come back and retrace our foot
prints and car tracks of the past.
Poor Sammie unwillingly receives stow-away status again, as we
are not sure whether he is allowed in the Conservation Area. All the plots by
the river are taken of the community campsite and the wardens show us a
non-official site where we can camp. We are disappointed and Willie decides to
check the camp out for a possibility of a different spot. We are thankful when
camper-travelers from Kleinmond in South Africa graciously invite us to share
their site with them. We meet the friends whom we met at the border again and
they walk over to invite us for dinner – a real South African braai with meat,
pap and wors.(porridge and sausage).
Hugo is so excited, because this will be his first real taste of
Afrikaans speaking South Africans doing the traditional thing: a braai. We have
a wonderful evening getting to know one another better, listening, sharing,
laughing, eating, enjoying till late. We are used to going to bed often before 8
and we reluctantly say good bye when it is midnight. Not a random encounter is
what all of us realized and I am excited to see how our paths are going to cross
in the future.
Poor Sammie is not a happy camper, and has to do all his toilet
routines in the cover of darkness before he retires with the boys into the tent.
Click Play for Photos:
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