Comments on: A Reconnoiter of Kukonje Island, Zebras and More…

By: Alastair

Alastair — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 18:54:45 +0000

There used to be a shiny wooden pillar in the bar at Island Safari Lodge, the challenge was to climb it and touch the roof. I managed to do it (before beer) and won a bet of a case of Castle but also watched many fail.
Is it still there, did you guys get up it?!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 20:40:17 +0000

In reply to Katrin.

To be fair we didnt’ just strike out across unblemished pan surface – we followed earlier tracks from this season, save a few short stretches here and there. We do have a sat phone which we bought used of ebay before the trip. I bought 300 minutes of credit for it, plus a sim card, from Sat4rent in Windhoek when we started.

The Cry of the Kalahari is so good! The Owens’ do sure seem to have pushed the limits for endurance to have survived there, very impressive.

By: Katrin

Katrin — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 23:22:58 +0000

Glad to see that the happy couple is back together again. You guys must have nerves of steel to venture into a pan not knowing if it’s all dry or not. Do you still have a sat phone in case you needed help out there? If yes, did you buy one or rent one?
We like Nxai Pan a lot and so far had good luck with lions there. Boteti area is a fav too with all the zebra and Ellie’s coming and going, but haven’t seen lions there, ever.
I’m curious to travel with you into the CKGR in August and hopefully you’ll find some game. Just finished re-reading “Cry of the Kalahari” and still can’t believe how the Owen’s survived there in the 1970’s without a water source. Hope you’ll find the WH pumps active.
The pic of the vet fence once again brought home the reality of all the dying wildebeest the Owen’s describe so well in that book.
All the best, Katrin