A different view on current affairs & history
Rob had a clearly defined objective for the next five days: Drive aimlessly around the Okavango & view the game.
The itinerary would follow the diurnal rhythms of the bush: wake up before day break & view some lion kills, have breakfast, sleep over the hottest part of the day, have supper as the sun is going down & then do some more game-viewing & hopefully spot a lion kill.
The next day was bundu bashing the whole way. We were heading to Baine’s Baobab. We would be at greatest risk on this day because if there were mechanical problems with the vehicle, we would be miles from the closest road let alone civilisation.
Baines’ Baobabs are a highlight for any visitor travelling this area of Botswana.
Our first stop would be Makgadikgadi, a vast wilderness of salt pans and rolling grasslands and an ideal stop over en route to the Okavango delta, Botswana.
That night we would not sleep under the stars as there were nocturnal animals that prowled the area. To get a feel of the extent of the salt pans, the next day we drove for hours on it before heading back to the Francistown – Maun Road.
Rob Liemer might have been a Chartered Accountant & my boss at Barlows Heavy Engineering but his two loves in his life were the bush of Botswana & repairing Land Rovers.
Rob’s love of the bush manifested itself in his annual two to three week migration to Botswana. Being an accomplished motor mechanic, Rob did not take the road trip through Botswana but rather the bundu bashing route.
To mitigate the risks, he fitted his long wheel-base Land Rover will 500 litre tanks, water containers & storage bins that contained all conceivable manner of spares imaginable.