Saturday - long haul - part 2 - to Waterberg Plateau

We stop at the same Otavi petrol station hub (these places are like mini communities in themselves.  Market stalls, breakdown services, bus stations & taxi ranks combined, ATMs, labour exchange, meeting places, the lot.  There is a restaurant here called the Camel Inn, and yes there is a naff mini zoo with 4 camels, a Kudu, Turkeys, and other assorted mammals.  They even come into the bar!  This is lunch but none of is really in the mood but as it is paid for we oblige.  Menu looks good – Tinkey goes for spare ribs, Kevin the double pork chop.  As usual it takes ages so we “waste” another hour not getting the Waterberg Plateau.  Outside here are some massive double trailer road trains.  We’ve seen loads of truck today, many of them bizarrely UK registered.  Chico says they will be going to Botswanna or Zimbabwe.

Another hour down the road and we get stopped by a speed trap!  But Chico is let off as they thought he was a proper truck.  Soon we pull into Otjiwarongo.  Its 4.0pm on a Saturday afternoon and everything is shut up.  Looks like a ghost town.  We stop for fuel at a large shell garage.  As we attempt to fill up the second fuel tank we are stopped by the attendants.  We have another puncture!  That’s the third today.  Now we are all now thoroughly depressed as Kevin (I-told-you-so) Mr. Meerkat reminds we definitely won’t get there before dark.  We swap our last good tyre and we’re off. Too late to get a repair now, we’ll get it fixed at the camp.

 

We turn off the B1 onto the C22 and immediately we see our destination ahead.  Some 85km away the dead-flat, table-topped mountain that is Waterberg.  The western cliffs turn pink in the setting sun and we get in the gates just before dusk fully descends.  Chico, brilliantly sensing the mood yet again, gets us a sun rise game drive for tomorrow, with a late 11.00am departure.  Bad news is that we have to get up at 5.00am!  Sorted.