THE first year our exploration was rather limited by our vehicle. Our sturdy little truck, with extra-heavy duty tyres, would take us most places, but we were often frustrated by the lack of four-wheel drive.
Our first summer in Orapa brought an unprecedented amount of rain.
The one and only road was all but washed away and supplies had to be brought in by airlift. Luckily the landing strip was much better drained than the road and was just, and only just, long enough to accommodate a Hercules freighter.
Actually, the Orapa farm excelled itself in the production of beef, milk, eggs and vegetables and the only real panic was over the shortage of toilet paper.
Heavy rains in this area mean lush grass in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and the animals in the often over-grazed areas further north seem to sense it.
The migration began in February and the mixed herd of zebra, springbok and wildebees, with their attendant predators, was estimated to number close on half a million.
Most of Orapa streamed out to see the herds, but we couldn’t follow their example until the following weekend. Four-wheel drive vehicles had been bogged down left, right and centre and we had to take some pretty long detours to avoid the worst bits, but our little truck never got stuck once.
We drove for a long time, seeing nothing and fearing that the herds had moved on. Suddenly Corrie pointed to the right. “There!” he said. “You see that line of trees on the horizon? The last three aren’t trees – they’re zebra.”
He stopped the truck and I reached for the binoculars. “I have news for you, Corrie. There aren’t any trees. They’re all zebra!”
We were soon in the thick of them. One herd, stampeding 10 abreast, took twenty-five minutes to pass in front of the vehicle. To camp on the plains in the midst of a sea of wild animals which stretches to the horizon on all sides, is an unforgettable experience.
But our luck with our transport couldn’t hold for ever and, after Corrie, Richard and the truck spent three hours in the middle of the Botete River, we decided that we just had to have four-wheel-drive.
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