emitted no signals, soundless, motionless'
(Ryzsard Kapuscinski, Describing the stupor of a village at noon)
As I'd expected and I suppose really quite wanted I made a late start
from the Tswana family. After feeling all pleased with myself at how
well the stove had performed the previous evening I now could not get
it to start up at all. All rather embarassing. I persevered for about
twenty minutes before having to accept defeat. Perhaps some grit had
got into the feeder tube from the fuel bottle. I did notice the fuel
itself was quite low and hoped that may be the issue and it was just a
matter of buying more petrol. So instead I tucked into some dry
biscuits an egg and some sweets, whilst Laila (this is the name of the
woman who had taken me in) and her family tucked into some hot
porridge. I didn't feel quite so clever now.
I was not unduely worried about starting out late since I only had
100k to cover all day. So I felt good despite not actually getting on
the road till nine o'clock, my latest start so far. I headed off
moving pretty much due south, still following the course of the Boteti
river. It lay just a few kilometers to the east through the mopane,
but with the lack of any real elevation and the density of the scrub I
never actually saw it again. With the late start I fully anticipated a
fierce showdown with the wind right from the start. Instead the
tailwind from yesterday returned and I was flying! With the pace I was
keeping and a bit of effort I reckoned I might even make Rakops in
under four hours!
I never did see signs for any of the 'exclusive' lodges I'd initially
planned to camp at. In fact it was a good hour before I even noticed
more Tswana huts. My split second decision to stop with Leila now
seemed more than just a good idea, if I had carried on it would have
been very dark before I passed the next Tswana huts and in all
likelihood would probably never have spotted them in the dark. I'd
have been forced to camp without a Boma in an area chock with Lions
and Hyenas, a quite different prospect to a lone Leopard. Leila's had
NOT been one of my mistakes and I'd almost not even done it. Perhaps
my third man had been silently running alongside me in the mopane
calling across to me. I felt a little uneasy at how easily I could
have made the wrong choice.
I was moving fast, but within a a couple of hours was starting to feel
strangely weak. I wasn't sure what was wrong. I didn't feel nauseated
or have a headache. I was still a little worried I could have picked
up malaria camping by the swamp at Sehitwa or even been bitten by a
tick back at the huts. Still I didn't have far to go now and wanted to
try and make the most of the tail wind I had, my pace was still great.
I pressed on.
I next time I passed a mobile mast I dialled the number I had for a
contact John in Rakops. I got through. It was the wrong number. Well
that was that. I'd be camping again... but now without a stove. From
what I'd managed to workout I expected Rakops to be quite a nice
place. Not anything like as big as Maun, but the map did indicate an
airfield and a petrol station.
As i got to within 30km of Rakops the vegetation opened out into wide
savannah with occassional clumps of acacia. The grass here was shorter
than back in the Namib. There were a number of quite big dust devils
in view.
Ground squirrels were common. Running off a safe distance as I
approached befor standing on their hindlegs of get a better view of me
as I passed.
A Baetelur eagle was circling of to my left much to the concern of a
pair of crowned plovers who flew up swarking their hearts out every
time it passed.
As i approached Rakops I passed what looked like a nice lodge out on
the grassland. I was still 10km away so pressed on, I didn't want this
distance added to tomorrow's total. At least it seemed I'd been right
to assume Rakops might be a nice spot.
I reached it about half an hour later. It was not nice. No please
don't think I only like a place if it has nice coffee houses,
restaurants and lodges all geared up for western tourists. I don't. I
wouldn't have come on this trip I that was what I was after. What I
mean is that one can tell if a place has people who take care of it.
Regardless if how much or little money they have. I guess it's a bit
like keeping your house clean and tidy. Rakops had broken wire fences,
many of the buildings were half built, there were very few plants (I
know this is a desert but many villages seem able to grow nice plants.
It was quite hard to discern where the centre was. There were quite a
few people about but few of them were doing anything, they were just
sitting or lying about.
I came to a sort of crossroads where there was a shop and place you
could buy food and beer. I ordered some food and chatted with the
girls in the eating place. They we nice enough but couldn't recommend
anywhere other than a lodge back out on the main road.
I ate up and headed back the way I'd come. Xere Lodge was the place
I'd been directed to. From a distance it had a nice thatched roof and
lots of small huts out the back. I thought it would be quite nice to
get one of those and relax for the afternoon. The place had a bit of a
strange atmosphere. Yes it was a little run down and it seemed no one
really ever cared about it. It was just a place to make money, but
there was something else about it I didn't like. Still, it was the
only place there as. So in I went. Rooms were the equivalent of about
£40! Even camping was a fiver, not so bad usually except you had to
pay everytime you wanted a shower and there were no really 'ablutions'
as they call them, you just used the staff quarters. On addition to
this they insisted that if I wanted food I had to order it now and say
when I would eat it. They seemed generally lazy apart from doing their
best to get money from me.
The day was still hot so I opted to put up the tent later and find the
'Cocktail Bar' proudly advertised on their sign. This turned out to be
a room with a low desk for a bar with a fridge and a few bottles of
spirits. I was the only one there and took a seat on the corner. I had
a couple of drinks but then when I wanted water they became very
grudging about giving it to me.
As I sat in the corner I realised I felt overwhelmingly drained of
energy. I couldn't work out why. I'd only done 100k. There would be
many longer days ahead. Perhaps I was still paying the price for the
Ghanzi days and would continue to get weaker. If so my plan to cycle
all the way was done for. I'd be on the bus within days. Had i pocked
up malaria in Sehitwa, did a tock bit me last night? Then I realised.
The problem with a tail wind is you get hot. This had happened to me
back on the Namib savannah. That time I'd been out for a long time and
also lost a lot of salt. This time it had o ly been for a short time
so my electrolytes were in fair shape but I'd simply got too hot. Not
heatstroke, I felt no nausea, but certainly my short sprint had been a
bad strategy.
I stayed there fr three hours and gradually felt better. About an hour
before dark I dragged myself out to go get some petrol to see if I
could get the stove going. The lodge was on a kind of bypass road
outside the urban sprawl itself and this time I took a different road
into Rakops. The place was the same heading this way as the other.
Except for one important thing.. there was a leather shop. I suddenyl
remembered, though id been given John's number which turned out to be
wrong id also be advised to ask for him at the leather shop. It
appeared I'd just missed closing and it was all shut up. I almost
carried on, but decided to take a quick look round the back.
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