Hourless Life

We’ve shared how long it took to get out to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana, and the hordes of mice that descended on us at camp, causing us to cut our visit short. So was it even worth it to visit?

We nearly did not make it out.

Central Kalahari Game Reserve would be our first unfenced camping in Africa, meaning no barriers between us and the lions, leopards, elephants, and other creatures that inhabit the preserve. Little did we know the most dangerous animal would be the mouse. 🐁

But this was not a complete surprise. We had prepared. We knew to lift the bonnet (hood) at camp to cool down the engine bay. Mice seek the heat at night. We bought special deterrent spray and soaked the engine bay wiring and insulation.

The first night, at Sunday Pan, it was like an Egyptian plague. Probably two dozen mice scurried across our clearing, half a dozen under the Jeep. We learned later they live in the mature tree that shades the site. That night, they dropped onto our roof and crawled across our mozzie nets.

The next morning, we surveyed the damage. There were droppings on top of our battery. The wires for the solar panel on our hood had been chewed. Frayed, not severed. The firewall on both the passenger and driver sides had been chewed. All these things we had soaked with the deterrent spray.

And this was only what we could see.

We had two more nights booked, but it seemed a massive risk to stay. If our Jeep was rendered inoperable, a tow out of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve would cost thousands and we would wait days.

But because we were moving camp to Deception Valley, we gave it one more night. As dusk fell, I checked under the hood and there was a mouse there, with sounds of another farther down. There was nothing for it but to wait until morning. It was too dark for anything else, lions calling in the distance.

The barn owls came. 🦉 Swooping through camp all night long, even landing atop the tent for a better view. It felt like a miracle to have their protection. In the morning: more firewall nibbled, but nothing else we could see.

Despite the better (less damaging) night, we decided to pack it up a day early. We couldn’t justify this level of risk with our home.

In the next post, we’ll share our game driving in the Kalahari. And this whole story will be on YouTube for you to see how it all happened.

After almost two hours on a narrow, sandy track, we are entering the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. This is going to be good. No fuel and no water other than what we are carrying. Both our stock and Long Range America tanks are full, giving us 147 liters of petrol (39 gallons of gasoline).

We will count vehicles during our three days in the reserve, and we won’t get to two dozen. This is the most remote we’ve been in Africa so far.

We’re extra thrilled to be here because it’s the setting of the book Cry of the Kalahari. Have you read it?

📍Botswana

Lions. Elephants. Ostrich. Every antelope and wildebeest. Even rare rhinos! We saw them all from the front seat of the Jeep we're driving around the world.

Our latest video is live! Experience how stunned we were and be stunned along with us. This is Etosha National Park in Namibia.

Watch the video here right now:

Etosha National Park: Rare Black Rhino Stole the Show (Video) Etosha National Park is known for African animals sightings. Lions, elephants, rhinos, ostriches, giraffes, and more! Our visit is stunning.

Thank you for the memories, Namibia. 🇳🇦

It’s been an unbelievable 87 days driving from your southern to northern reaches, getting to know your people, and immersing ourselves in your beauty.

On to Botswana! 🇧🇼

📍Mahango Core, Namibia

Travel’s surprises are often the most rewarding. When a place you’ve never heard of appears outside your window, everything there is a delight—not necessarily because it is beautiful, but because you didn’t know it existed before.

When movements are overplanned, filled with reservations and dates on calendars, we are often too invested for serendipity. That’s why I prefer not to plan, these days.

And so, Bwabwata National Park in Namibia, separated into “core” areas. There are no campgrounds in Mahongo Core, just two trails to drive at your leisure.

Likely it was the small geographic size of this protected area that had it brimming with wildlife. Within a couple of hours, we were wondering whether we loved it more than Etosha—that brilliant national park where we spent four entire days.

At Mahongo, we saw impala, zebra, kudu, our first red lechwe, warthogs galore, giraffe, little bee eaters, elephants, a crocodile, ostrich, vervet monkey, and a gorgeous giant baobab tree.

We landed at Nunda River Lodge, our final campground in Namibia. We celebrated Eric’s birthday, with homemade decorations at camp and a beautiful wild floral arrangement by Caspian. We’ll share more of all of this in an upcoming video.

Almost all the campgrounds along the Kavango River in Namibia offer morning and sunset boat tours. We decided to take one at , where we were staying as part of Eric’s birthday week celebration. Frankie, who lives in the village nearby, was an excellent guide. He was generous to share about his life and culture, and of course to tell us about the animals we were seeing. This was a beautiful experience.

What animal would you most want to see?

Our first hippo sighting in Africa was unexpected.

It came out of the Kavango River and started strolling around our campground.

And it ended up in our literal backyard, feeding all around our Jeep home while Brittany watched from a safe distance. At one point, the hippo rushed a campground worker who was on guard. The worker didn’t think twice: he turned around and booked it as fast as he could go.

We’ll never forget this wildlife experience within Namibia’s Caprivi Strip.

What it’s like to self-drive through a national park in southern Africa 📍Etosha National Park, Namibia

There are so many reasons to love overlanding in Africa. Africa. The continent is so gigantic and diverse that it’s hard to call it one name.

But for those of us here for the first time, the animals are undoubtedly a thing of magic. A fulfilled dream of our childhood and the storybooks we were read.

To take our wheeled home to places like Etosha National Park is the most mind-blowing thing. But Etosha will be just the first of many opportunities during our year driving around Africa. We are really here.