Towards the CKGR

We are in Botswana and precisely near Gweta, tonight we slept at our favorite campsite and lodge: the Planet Baobab; we have already been here two years ago when we made the expedition of the deserts of Southern Africa.

This morning we woke up at 6.00 am, got ready and had breakfast under the thatch roof of the campsite, the sun has already risen but the air is still cold, but we couldn't give up an outdoor breakfast here.

We fix some things on Dr. Livingstone, making the mobile safari upset our organization a little but never mind, we just put everything back in place as it was before.

Around 7.30 am we leave, in theory we wanted to leave earlier but in the end we have enough time, so that's okay.

We leave the entrance of the Planet Baobab, reach the main road and turn left; but first we stop for the ritual photo of the statue of a giant aardvark that signals the entrance of our Planet Baobab.

As we proceed the sun rises and finally warms the air, we drive along the road that forms the border between the Nxai National Park and the Makgadikgadi Pan National Park; on the roadside we see some steenboks and ostriches that sometimes cross suddenly, so it is better to pay a little attention.

When we go beyond national parks, wild animals are replaced by roadside cows, goats, sheep and donkeys; they too can be dangerous for the driver because they could cross the road.

We take the shortcut that passes through the village of Morematao,we also took it during the first leg, it is a dirt road but in good condition and, despite the sign of the prohibition of access, the Boteti Rivercan be crossed easily, because, at this point it is dry.

We arrive on the main road that leads to Rakops, the village from where the dirt road that leads to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve starts; the shortcut has saved us time and a bit of miles and from here there are less than 100 km, but obviously there is no traffic, the only slowdowns are caused by the cattle that is on the roadside.

We arrive at Rakops and, before taking the detour to the CKGR, we go to the village, if you can call it like that; we don't need anything but we prefer to go to the only pump in town and top up the tanks, you never know, better to have them filled as much as possible.

We leave Rakops, we take the dirt road that leads to the Maswere entranceof the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, we drive a few meters and then we decide to deflate the wheels, it is better to prevent a silting rather than having to shovel the sand.

We drive the 45 km that connect the main road to the Maswere entrance, there is a bit of sand but compared to what we found at Savuti and at the Chobe Riverfront, it is a piece of cake.

We spend less time, compared to two years ago, to reach the gate, but this means that, even if we are not phenomena on the sand, we have improved and not a little; after about half an hour we arrive at the Maswere Gate of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, finally our five-day adventure in this remote and semi-deserted place begins!