TSODILLO HILLS, BOTSWANA BY ALFRED FAUL

“They hijacked Hein’s new Cherokee in his driveway last night. It had only 400ks on the clock”
“Did they shoot him?”
“No, just pointed their guns to his head”
“Sh..! It’s just across the street from your place!”
“Yea. We hardly sleep at night lately. Its time I get to the bush - the only place safe enough to get a good night’s rest. Funny - to feel safe you have to go out there and cover yourself in canvas - no bars, no walls, no alarms, no dogs …..only canvas.”
“Do you have your diary with you?”

And so another trip was born. The place: Tokolosh Coffee Shop next to the R101 (old Johannesburg Road) in Centurion (Valhalla). Present: Brother Buks and myself. We’ve learned long ago that if you try hard enough you are guaranteed to find good enough reasons not to go, hence it became a habit (and a good one!!) to immediately take out the diaries, fix a date and commit ourselves. This time it would be Buks and daughter Lizélle in his Prado and Alta and I in the Colt. On the itinerary were Tsodillo Hills in Botswana, Khaudum in Boesmanland and from there via Etosha to the southern part of Kaokoland. As always far too much for two weeks, especially for two guys who are always telling each other: “Don’t put too much on your itinerary”!  Having noticed that the Sand Tracks Trips & Trails Page distinguish between Botswana and Namibia (which I think is good), I’ll do this in more than one report, the first of which will be covering the part from Pretoria to Tsodillo Hills and further north to the border.

Tsodillo Hills, a granite outcrop in the north eastern part of Botswana and declared a national monument by the Botswana Government is roughly situated less than 80 km (straight line) east of Khaudum Reserve in Namibia across in border. It consists of three ‘main’ outcrops named “the man, his woman and his child” by the San Bushman and is known world wide for its high concentration of rock art. These outcrops are also relatively rich in water for that part of the Kalahari and apart from the rock paintings also known for its rich variety of bird life. The “man” rises up to 400m above the Kalahari floor and the Botswana Government has demarcated several hiking trails in the area making it worth the wile to stay over for a few days. (The GPS co-ordinates quoted are as supplied by the Botswana Government)

We left Pretoria for Martinsdrift early the Saturday morning of March 31, 2001 heading for Sitatunga camp just outside of Maun. Being a surfaced road all the way and driven by a burning urgency to get as far as away as possible from Gauteng in day one, we were convinced that the + 1100 km were not too much for a day! This perception, however, disappeared like a positive bank balance during a ‘strategic planning workshop’ of nearly 1½ hours I had with the Botswana Officials at Martinsdrift. On the agenda were the recent out brake of foot & mouth disease and the feta cheese Alta had in the Coleman. Funny, but the whole chicken Buks had in his Coleman had no affect whatsoever on the officials. Yes, according to the State Vet in Pretoria they were supposed confiscate chicken – “even an unopened tin of bully beef won’t make it”. Anyway, it’s quite some time know that I am suspecting myself of ‘just having that sort of face’ and things were fast approaching levels which might just convert me into redefining the word  “suspicion”!

By this time we realized we would not be making Francistown in time to stock up on supplies (it was Saturday) and detoured to Selebi Phikwe. Despite being a nice and smelly 2^nd grade store compared to the big SPAR at Francistown which was still open late that afternoon when we passed through, we managed to lay our hands on everything required to see us through to Grootfontein in a week’s time.   That night while we camped just short of Nata, more than 300 

km short of our planned destination at Sitatunga,  I dreamt about huge creatures joining us on the trip, and yes, the next morning there they were, not far from where we camped and across the road from the Planet Baobab turn-off between Nata and Maun.

We took in diesel at Maun and headed for the Hills via Sehithwa and Nokaneng, again realizing we were not going to make it that night. It would take the best of three hours to do the 50 odd kilos of bumpy and heavy sand from the main road to the Hills, so we had our first CWYA camp of the trip (camp where you are). At 

CWYA camp between Sepupua & the Hills turn off

the  camp  fire I reminded myself of another decision taken long ago but never implemented: to whenever I plan a trip, add at least  a full  week extra for those unscheduled but enjoyable delays – that is to say as soon as I managed to get rid of that rat competing on my my behalf in the rat race back in Gauteng!  The only other way is to be found in one of my persistent dreams to one day get rained, flooded or snowed in or simply to get lost and thereby be forced to spend an unlimited amount of extra time out there.             

Turn off to the Hills from the wrong side.

After nearly missing the turn-off to the Hills, the GPS was still in the back (too much in a hurry to get away) and could not warn us that we were approaching S18º 45’160,  E22º 10’639, we left the tarred road 

at last!  All rats, races, and whatever reminded us of the concrete jungle disappeared out of the window as we left the road. The first close to 10 km was too good for our spirits but after the next sort of turn-off cum sharp turn to the right at S18º 50’286,  E22º 10’023, the bush as well as the tracks adapted themselves to a much more acceptable condition. The road

 itself became sandy to the extent that we 

decided to deflate and had many little bumps providing much more reason than we needed to really go slow, whilst the Mopane bush became really dense in places.  We also saw our first signs of elephant, but we had to wait till we got to Khaudum before we would actually see them. It remains a revelation to me every time I observe how fast these huge creatures

can disappear in the bush. However, we 

could not help to wonder why they were so highly evasive in these open parts of Botswana (I think anybody could pretty much guess why).
 Late that afternoon we arrived at S18º 47’264,  E21º 44’863 (the Tsodillo “gate” with no fences) with nobody on duty. Even 

the new and very neat Staff Office at S18º

45’550,  E21º 44’304 were deserted and after a very brief recce amongst the hills, we pitched camp under beautiful trees 

and Alta had her daily ritual with the shower. Our original planning provided for two nights at Tsodillo, but we were already more than 24 hours late on schedule and my dream still 

remained just that, a dream! Because we had a fixed booking at Khaudum for the 

following night, we decided to repay the Hills a visit when we do our future trip to Drodsky’s cave south of Tsodillo and left for the Namibian border the next morning. After an elephant road block or two (we took a 

different track back) we again linked up with the main road at S18º 35’836,  E21º 59’956 south of the turn-off to Nxamaserie, passed through Shakawe (S18º 22’325,  E21º 50’707)

 and entered our beloved “Heimat” at Mohembo at S18º 15’742,  E21º 45’798   – our favorite border post!  Sitting on a sort of 

wooden bench outside under a tree, he stamps your passport and you fill in the book whilst sharing the latest news on the recent rains and the river and off you go, very much content with that feeling which I only experience in the Heimat.                                                         

  I’m home!!!!