it's different when you're on your own the silence is just that gets to you way
more but otherwise it's been a fantastic time here so far all packed up and it's
time to hit the road and then I'm gonna be heading into the central Kalahari
with the first phase of my solo leg done it gave me the confidence to really
start enjoying the process and not worrying so much but you can never
really fully plan for what life holds in store for you but you can try so we just
fueled up and done some groceries in Rakops they didn't really have much I
might have to make my own bread and do some things with that but at least we've
got water and some snacks and stuff it should be okay it's one day that we're
going into the central Kalahari so I have a feeling there's other when I was
looking on the GPS and on the map it said sand tracks so are we going to be
deflating the tires again pretty soon
there's only about two kilometers out of Rakops and we were already on the dirt
again and it's time to deflate this is gonna be a 45 kilometer sand track
leading into the reserve today is gonna be quite a nice day of driving I think
with a tire pressure set in the vehicle was performing beautifully I had a
really great time driving over undulated tracks and through all the thick sand
and over yumps and all sorts of interesting things it is really really
really nice and you know what for such a little car and such a heavy load the
Jimny just kept on surprising me and I got to the gate in what felt like in no
time at all ok so that is everything sorted out at the gate and we are now
heading to the campsite my first time in the Kalahari in the Kalahari I'm excited
man this is hyenas and lions and all of the stuff is all just yet so
baptism by fire that's what I say I'm very excited that the next path with a
combination of thick sand and heavy corrugations put it this way I was glad
to reach the pan I have arrived at my campsite got some wood for tonight
make a bit of a fire I want to bake some bread yeah I mean this camp that's
pretty damn remote the only ablutions is a hole in the ground and a shower is
scorchingly hot it's currently 38 degrees and my skin is burning
I'll keep driving maybe take a bit of a long game Drive go check out a couple
pans a couple dams things like that there's no dams out yeah everything is
just pans and see what we see
so this is against what this whole kalahari experience is about or Kgalakgadi
experiences about is about being able to have two lions right there
and I'm the only person here, when you go to the Kruger National Park and you find lions
there's normally 40 vehicles people are doing ridiculous things to try
and get photos this is just like an intimate experience I think the beauty
of the Kalahari really comes down to how incredible the creatures and the plants
our here are to have to be to survive in these extreme environments and after such a
long day out there I needed to race to come set up now this is where the whole
new upgrade to the build is really has really shined for me being able to be
out here carry the right amount of fuel carry the right amount of water have an
incredible place to sleep elevated off the ground away from all the wild
animals having you know shade all of that stuff in a place like this is just
it's it's unbelievable and it's so empowering to be so self sustainable and
it's really this is what it's all about it's about coming out right into the
wilderness and experiencing something that very very few people get to
experience and having a little bit of comfort along the way
and I really actually started to grow fond of setting up my little campsite
every day and making my little home ok so some of you observant ones would have
noticed something hiding behind hereand it's not really done yet and this is a
temporary here'd on it and everything but this is just to get the picture so
you know there's the 40 liter water tank up there and essentially this just gives
me access to water you know for wetting and washing it's been so hot today I'm
gonna literally just use it to wet myself and my shirt so that the breeze
can cool me down a little bit looks like enough I'm not gonna give you a recipe
or anything because I have no idea this is just gonna be pure experimentation
so I'm gonna use my best bread science
now so we're busy developing the gluten
okay it's up for you don't use the bag just do it on the tail and use lots of
the loaf came out pretty damn good if I do say so myself I'm hungry I'm gonna
eat now and then start settling down for sunset
perfect bread I can't wait to meet back up with Blaine huh I'vel got two t-bones
sitting in the in the fridge waiting for our trip to kubu Island and I haven't
touched them I almost traded them yesterday for camping but I'm just
hanging in there that night the only thing keeping me company was the wind
and I must say the Eezi Awn Series III rooftop tent handled it really well I
still managed to have a great night's sleep even with the howling wind so we
are off on day two of the Kalahari hopefully this time I'm going to see a
bit of selection of game because it is 6:00 in the morning with all the clouds
the wind brought in the night before I was hopeful that I was gonna get to see
some good game but even if I didn't the scenery was spectacular
nothing gets wasted out here
must be a really wild experience in the rainy season
there's all these rutted holes and everything I don't even know where you
would be driving but this will be water because on the GPS shows these pans as
as water and we're driving across it
upon reaching desolation pan I noticed the sign for a seasonal access only Road
and boy was I glad I took that it felt like I was driving in some sort of weird
alien landscape once back on the main trail
I just felt everything start to intensify the clouds started brewing the
wind started blowing the animals were just starting to get quite skittish and
I could feel the tension in the air everyone could feel the tension in the air
things were about to get interesting
The wind is blowing like mad! Creating dust storms and things like that but the
clouds are also looking menacing so I think that the storm yesterday
is brewing into something I'm not sure if it's gonna rain or not I don't think
if its gonna rain we are camping. animals have a good sense of when things are
about to get a weird.
I'm starting to think that maybe it's a good idea to get
out and maybe try and find somewhere else to stay for tonight, it might be worth
losing the three hundred rand or whatever and just
make another plan I think staying here has complicated things a lot
if there's one thing that's certain in this world it's that things don't always
go the way you anticipate but it's about how you deal with these problems in
these challenges that really makes life exciting but with the storm on the way
there was a no time to waste I had to get out of there and travel two three
maybe four hours on hard dirt roads to get to the highway there was no time to
waste if you ever wanted to know what it's like fueling up your car in a dust
storm in the middle of Kalahari it's horrible the wind is so strong it
blew my camera right off the tripod so that's one microphone down I'm
covered in petrol every time I poured the petrol it would just the wind would
just catching them they were just splashing everywhere the jiggle siphon is
a piece of crap
and I knew I should have brought my funnel this is ridiculous I'm glad I'm
leaving today that's all I can say right now my poor camera! tensions were high
and it wasn't letting up the clouds kept brewing the wind kept blowing and things
only started getting worse
this is a serious storm this is not a rooftop tent situation so I'm definitely
not even going to bother going to camp I'm just gonna leave I don't if you just
just I mean look at this
I can't even see the road
I can't even see
so it's starting to rain I don't know if I'm driving into the
rain or for them to be driving into the rain or even if it's rained on the road
that I need to drive on but that road wasn't great to begin with and if it's
wet it's gonna be a bit of a nightmare so I hope it's not too bad but I think I
made the right call leaving there's just nothing like running away from a storm
through thick sand and corrugated roads jumps all I'm gonna say is that I got
the Jimny through all of that way faster than I probably should have, and it was amazing
it handled like a dream
but even with the storm behind us it's still super important to inflate your
tires and keep the right Road pressures it'll prevent you from risking any sort
of blowouts or any tire damage
but now they'll be back on the blacktop surely everything's gonna be all right
it couldn't get worse could it a huge dust storm coming actually don't know if
I'm gonna have time for a sandwich I've never experienced anything like this
before running away from a dust storm thanks
for this Botswana oh gosh, I just want to have a sandwich and relax after a long day ok
so right in front of me dust behind me no where to sleep tonight I'm hoping
hoping hoping hoping that I can make a plan to stay by Blaine tonight bye his bnb
or something with the weather conditions bye now I'm really glad I
left central Kalahari because that would have been a nightmate
dust everywhere it's crazy what is going on
this has been quite a crazy experience thank you for tuning in for watching and
joining in on this whole adventure and boy has it been an adventure but I
think this is where I'm gonna end this one I don't know what's gonna come up
next you don't know what's gonna come up next I think it'll be a fun place for
us to stop but if you'd like to see how everything unfolds further please
subscribe to the channel comment down below and let me know what you think of
the series so far and please like the video it really helps get the video out
there to more and more potential viewers thank you so much for watching and I'll
see you on the next adventure bye for now
on the next episode we head to kubu island one of the overlanding mecca's of
the world and we have way too much fun while we're at it
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