Sensational Salt Pans - Sun/Moon rises..

Barely awake, I glanced out of the tent door at eye level - straight onto a flat, grey, moonscape of a beach. A line of shiny gold water marked out the shallows of the shoreline, and beyond this, rippled grey waters stretched out to the edge of the bay. Up above, a solitary white star hung in a coloured sky streaked with orange, yellow, purple and deep blue. Alien shapes drifted around in the shallow waters, amidst the constantly changing colours. For a minute, I wondered exactly which planet I was on...

Pre-sunrise, with star and flamingoes

... until I noted a thoroughly earthly cowpat on the ground in front of me, and I remembered that this was pre-sunrise, Planet Earth, Easter Sunday. As the sun came up, a terrestrial cup of steaming coffee and a squished chocolate easter egg took the chill off, while the view over the flamingo-dotted water took my breath away!

Easter Sunday Sunrise

The day before, we had done a bit of work away from home over the Easter weekend, and had decided to camp in the bush - right on the edge of the great and mysterious Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. The pans are a magnificent relic of an ancient super lake, now a vast expanse of white/grey flatness, offering varying degrees of accessibility and deceptive treacherous surfaces. Not to be ventured onto without extreme caution!

In days gone by, when living in the area, this particular spot used to be one of our favourite haunts for a mini break. Not much more than half an hour away from a busy main road, it's a little enclave of utter nothingness, only really frequented by local cattle and herders. During the dry season you can cross white, crusty bays of salty surface, but at this time of year these bays are usually filled with water, and assorted water birds.

We picked a spot on the shore, overlooking the water and the flamingoes, parked our tent on the crusty surface of the salt pan, then just experienced the slipping away of the day into a clear, chilly autumn night. Flamingoes flying past at sunset...spectacular yellow moonrise... erie lunar-synched jackal cries ... swishing of wading flamingoes feeding in the shallow waters... slow drifting constellations up above... a general sense of oneness with the great Universe...

Moonrise

On the way back to the tar road, passing these tumbleweeds blown up against the fence, I couldn't resist photographing them.

Westward on the water...

Last Saturday, we found ourselves hitching a ride on an impromptu boat trip... heading west over the new lake currently covering our flood plain. We could have just kept going for miles and miles, in an illegal immigrant kind of way, over what is supposed to be dry land! Sadly though, we eventually had to turn around and come back home under the light of the half moon...

Staying with the water theme, here's another flood photo, especially for people who know this part of the world. Viewed from the river, this is the Sedudu Bar in the campsite at Chobe Safari Lodge. Now merely a part of the great Chobe River/Lake!

Since it's a long weekend, I shall be away for a couple of nights, camping in the bush - enjoying the stars and the full moon!

Sending love and happy Easter wishes to all reading this

Magical Termite Mounds, Baobabs and more..

I realise this blog has been rather quiet lately. Last week I was being incredibly (and unusually) disciplined. Thus, sadly, had to prioritise other tasks. But here I am, continuing the tale of the weekend before. Images actually seem more expressive that words in this case, and I hasten to add that all but one of these were taken by Tiennie, not me!

The amazing Planet Baobab orbits peacefully on the edge of Botswana's Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, and marking the turnoff is this superb Anteater - all the better to tackle those giant ants inside the anthills mentioned in last week's post!

Seriously, I should really have named them properly as Termite Mounds, which are fascinating mini-civilisations in their own right. I was also asked about the topic of anthills a few months back, after posting a picture of me sitting on a very differently shaped one, during our most fabulous New Year Break (see older post here).

I have now come across a great website about termite mounds and how we humans could learn from their technology and engineering. It really does make for fascinating reading - have a look here: www.sandkings.co.uk.

Here, the old Planet Baobab (Kalahari Surf Club!) signpost soars atop a tall anthill/termite mound, reminiscent of the planet inhabited by Le Petit Prince.

Here's the new look, new image signpost, which also helpfully includes GPS co-ordinates! It's close to the village of Gweta, for any Google Earth fans.

*Some more useful/useless info here: Gweta is where the Mma Ramotswe Ladies No 1 Detective Agency movie was shot.

We stayed in a traditional Bakalanga Hut, set amongst Terminalia Prunoides trees (purple pod terminalia). You can possibly make out the rich purply-maroon pods on the left.
Or, we could have also stayed in these huts...
This immense, ancient, mysterious, stunning baobab just blew my mind. Apologies for the profusion of adjectives, but it can't be helped! Regular readers of this blog will know that in this photo where I appear merely for a bit of scale - I am, of course, preparing to hug the tree!

A secluded sandy clearing on the left is home to a couple of double-sized hammocks which swing invitingly under the lower branches. I would probably never have left that spot, if we hadn't already paid for some perfectly marvellous accommodation just next door!

Truly an otherworldly experience, to live among the baobabs...
The beautiful fountain and bubbly water at the far end of the pool, under a cool thatched roof...

Same scene, taken from the opposite end of the pool, with gorgeous baobab in the background. The shadowy presence is me on the other side of the fountain, blocking out the sun and enjoying the spray.

In the late evening we ordered sundowners, and retired to this offbeat concrete lounge, complete with elegant painted carpet. Here Tiennie humours me by posing on his comfy concrete sofa!
As the sun dropped and twilight colours softly glowed, we watched from our special sofa as the pool fountain died down, and the night lights winked on. The crescent moon showed its dainty sliver in the sky, and also in the undisturbed surface of the pool below.
Eventually darkness and dinner lured us away from the beautiful concrete lounge suite, until we ended up enjoying a few too many night caps at the bar counter, for just as long as we could stay awake...with its quirky ambience and soulful African music, we found ourselves quite unable to leave!

Here is a photo of the bar counter. The framed art behind the bar features a reflection of the awesome chandelier - made of old green beer bottles.
Well, all journeys must continue, and later next day it was time to head back north to the floods and the elephants, but at the same time feeling rested and calm, having found serenity in this magical place. I have to confess that I am already counting the days till I can somehow get back there...