It also rains in the desert

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Then we went to see the Bushmen who were going to show us some of the skills they use to survive in the Savannah

Let me just start by saying that should you were to think that what he's got in his left hand is a piece of Jackal shit you wouldn't be mistaken.

When they were coming I looked around and thought... this is going to be quite disappointing there is nothing around to show us... but I was about to be proven wrong...

They really use everything... he took a piece of crap (crap is not figurative speech by the way, it was a real piece of shit) from the ground and from that he knew which animal made the deposit, what it had eaten and hence where he came from (because they know where all the plants are) and then he also knew were he was heading based on what they normally eat and the spores he left... really impressive... from just a piece of crap... I personally always try to avoid the shit on the ground... but that's probably because I'm a city boy.

But it got even better...

The guy above was as crazy as they come but also really funny, he didn't speak English... much less Spanish but he didn't need to... his theatrical skills were second to none... and here is him making  a demonstration of how to get water... he also did a total representation of how to hunt a springbok... Let's just say his white coat wasn't white anymore after the demonstration... but we all understood everything he was trying to tell us... although sometimes it was hard with all the laughter...

Making fire looks easy but believe me it is not... the lighter was a great invention... although Paul told us once the old bush men would light a cigarette making fire this way and they would be faster than you looking for your lighter, taking it out and lighting your cigarette... so I suppose it's all practice...

The next part of the trip in makgadikgadi pan looked quite promising on paper... We were going to spend the night somewhere in the middle of the pan... no roof, just us and the stars...but with a comfortable bed! and that's not all... we were to go there by Quad, cool right?


This is a photo of what the salted clay crust looked like

I think is worth noting there were several metres of mud underneath that dry salted clay crust... which usually is not a problem in a desert, it would only be a problem if it rains... we would be swimming in mud tens of metres deep... but this is a desert right? it doesn't rain in the desert, everyone knows that...


We put on our Bedouin gear, and got onto our quads

The plan to sleep rough-ish (when you have a proper bed you can't honestly say you were sleeping rough even if you didn't have a roof on top), was a good plan and we got there, had dinner, went to bed and at 2 in the morning the unthinkable happened...started raining!!!... yes, that's right, what are the chances of having a rainy day in the desert? I bet I'm one of the few people in the world who can now say I experienced a rainy day in the Kalahari desert...

On the downside we were sleeping over several tens of metres of mud... if the crust we were on got wet we could end up in a mud pool so we all run off to the quads and put them to the test,  imagine a pitch dark night (not even the stars due to the clouds) and full speed trying to get out of the pan where we were, as fast as possible...

It took us about 1/2 an hour to get out of there but we all made it safe and sound... that was quite an experience!

When we got back to the base camp and had some time to get our breath back and let the adrenaline go, we all got together and had a hot drink...

We went back to our tents...and this time we were so tired we didn't even check for scorpions... we just went to sleep... When I tucked myself in and felt no sting I thought it was good enough for me... there were no scorpions and allowed my dreams to catch up with me...