Botyburps

Yesterday was a long drive to Selepswe Resort.  Lovely new resort well away from anything and empty. Two lovely staff to look after us plus grounds keepers, etc. I don’t know how any of these accommodation providers stay in business, possibly subsidised by the Botswanan government to promote tourism for when the diamonds run out?

We drove another 55km to the Sth African border at Pont Drift, site of NZ troops stationed on the Limpopo river for first Boer War.  We thought that Joy’s maternal grandfather, Daddy-Rob, had been sent there.  He came to Africa in 1900 in the NZ Mounted 5th Regiment (complete with his horse and £25 worth of equipment paid for by the community).  The NZ and Aust. Soldiers defended Pont Drift which was a crossing point of the Limpopo against the advancing Boers into Botswana.  We did our best to summon up his spirit but to no avail.  According to a comprehensive reply to our enquiry to Gail Riddell, Daddy-Rob was invalided out of service after a year and in an entirely different location in Zimbabwe. But we imagine he may have picked up his gifted saddle making and leather work skills during this time.

The road was gravel, very rutted and covered in red dust but there were some interesting rocky outcrops reminiscent of Arizona and Utah.  It is a public road but it runs through a private game park and has many of the same animals we have seen before.  They have become nonchalant and just stare and pose for us when we stop. Then we came to dry riverbed where a 4wd vehicle was needed. We stopped and got out to investigate and heard noises coming from behind a nearby tree.  Turns out it was a grazing elephant and we saw each other at the same time.  There was a quick return to the car while the elephant advanced towards us, ears flapping, but changed his mind and turned away up the river bed.  Then we spotted the rest of the herd around 100m further on.  He may have been a teenage male who has been shunned by the herd but keeps hanging around well back from the herd.  This is common practice with elephants.  We stayed to watch a while and they kept an eye on us but just kept grazing.