Khutse GR - Day 1

A week after elections and it was inauguration time for the new president. After over five decades in power, there is a new government in place and that needs to be celebrated. Which meant a public holiday on Friday for the inauguration.

For us, it meant an unexpected long weekend and a quick trip to Khutse. And so 4 days after getting back from our trip to Nxai Pan NP, we were charging batteries, buying food and packing for a couple of nights in the bush.

A pretty uneventful drive from Gabs first thing in the morning got us to the Khutse gate just after 9.30am. The cloud cover that had accompanied us for most of the journey had now burned off and the temperature was quickly rising. Park fees paid but no sign of the bloke we needed to pay for accommodation, we promised to pay him on the way out and set off Molose. 

Packing for the bush

Last time we hadn’t stayed at Molose which was just as well as the elephants had destroyed the water pipes, leaving the waterhole dry. We suspected the same thing when we arrived at Khutse Pan to see almost a dozen elephants crowded around the waterhole. If they were here, chances are that Molose didn’t have water. More worryingly was that there was a dead elephant in the waterhole. 

We quickly ruled out poaching as his rather small tusks were still intact, but that meant natural causes or a run in with one of the other bulls - both were not good signs. Worse was that the carcass would start contaminating the waterhole. We hoped that the parks board would be out soon to investigate and sort out what needed to be done. Not much was around and we made good time to Molose to find a big surprise - there was in fact water but no sign of elephants. 

Evening sunset

At first we thought that the pump had recently been broken and was no longer working and the remaining water was slowly evaporating. But after checking more closely we found that the water was running so our updated theory is that is had been broken for a while and only fixed in the last couple of days. So the elephants had disappeared when it ran dry but haven’t got back now that it’s pumping again. It did make for a peaceful waterhole and gave the opportunity for some of the big birds of prey to come drink without trying to tackle numerous elephants. 

Ground squirrel

But besides a couple of jackals and the resident herd of springbok, there weren’t any other animals about. Obviously the news is the working water hadn’t got around yet. And honestly, it may not matter anyway. The clouds had gathered again and were heavy with water. We could see localized rainfall along the horizon and thunder and lightning started in the afternoon. The wet season is definitely on its way. 

In case you get lost

Nothing had arrived at the waterhole by the time we left, but the clouds were looking more ominous and the lightning was stretching in every direction. At camp we quickly got the fire going and showers done as we anticipated a storm coming through before the end of the evening. And the storm came forcing us into the car. It wasn’t so much about the rain but more about the lighting. 

Tortoises emerge when it rains in the Kalahari

We were the only metal object for kilometers, making us a lightning rod. So we left our kebabs on the fire and finished our wine in the car. Luckily it seemed to pass over us and we were able to get our pork chops braaied and enjoy our dinner with time for chocolate before bed time with cloudy skies but no rain. We thought that would be the end of the rain for the night, but boy were we wrong.