Up early this morning to catch the sunrise, pack tents shower etc then head off to look at the possibility of another confluence point that by all accounts appeared to be very near a road.
Neil had his truck running after I returned from the shower, and I then attempted to start mine .... completely dead!
BUGGER !
All lights working, other power okay, fridge running etc, what the blazes could be wrong, we were all totally confused. The only indication that something was wrong was a red light symbol of an engine with flash through it.
We needed to call Britz, but no cell phone coverage. Back at the shop there was a public phone, so off we went to discover it did not take coins but required a phone card, available at the shop, and yes the lady cashier had to write the details down etc before we could use it.
Soon I was on the phone to the Britz mechanic Stefan, and he called me back lest I use up all the credit on the NAM$20 phone card (AED10).
Explanation given was that the immobiliser had cut off the engine and all that was required was for me to remove the key then lock and unlock the vehicle for the engine to be mobilised again.
Instructions were duly followed and it worked. In fact this problem occurred frequently during the whole trip but was the only problem I encountered, apart from some stubbornness to start first thing in the morning but that is a diesel thing is it not.
Well I was mobile again, and we set off for S E along some interesting and sometimes slippery gravel tracks, passing through small villages beginning with the letter “O” and many cows wandering around.
Alas we could only reach 15Km from the waypoint, which was in some rather dense bush so we turned back in the direction of Waterberg and fuel at Otjiwarongo where we also picked up some more provisions at a local Spar.
At this stage we were back on sealed road allowing us to travel at a steady 100Kph, what luxury. And after passing through Otavi we decided a nice cup of coffee would go down well and we entered the small town of Tsumeb, which apparently was closed for the afternoon due to it being Saturday.
We did manage to find a small coffee shop whose owner no doubt broke some local by-law related to pre-sabbath, and served us up with some magnificent sandwiches a pot of tea and a pot of coffee whilst we watched New Zealand thrash South Africa at rugby on TV.
We were running out of time again, and had about 2 hours to reach Von Lindquist Gate at the eastern side of Etosha before it closed. This was managed but only with 15 minutes to spare, and had sacrificed looking at the meteorite, a giant Boabab tree and some famous lake, but hey they should still be there next year.
Once the formalities were complete we drove to Namatomi Camp and we were allocated a pitch to stay for the night. Next our ritual of a nice cold beer followed by pre supper G and Ts.
Neil was really in his element setting up the braii, and to be honest he did all the supper cooking on the trip, whilst Kim generally took care of breakfasts, I was becoming increasingly spoilt, but really appreciated this fantastic hospitality from the Liston family.
After supper we once again looked upwards to the heavens to view an amazing starlit sky, but a pair of jackals, who were running around the camp, attempting to scavenge whatever they could find to eat, interrupted this pastime, and soon it was time for bed.
