Waterburg Plateau


15 April, Ian

Yesterday we drove up to a camp site in the Waterburg Plateau. In our previous night's under canvas we had lions, elephants, hyena, hippos and, most recently, buffalo padding around by the tents at night. Waterburg is much tamer, and the site is fenced in within the NP so that no big animals can wander around. It's a nicely laid out site that could accommodate I'd guess around 50 groups if they were compact (unlike our earlier sites it's a sort of pay and park arrangement rather than one in which there are large defined pitches). There are 3 shower blocks, each of which has a kitchen, and there are power points and lights provided on posts across the site. It's all very congenial, and I think it would be familiar to people who are used to camping across Europe. Arriving here last night I wondered why Paula and I hadn't done taken the girls away camping in France before: I can see why JT and others are so keen on it. Incidentally, could someone tell me, preferably through a comment or through email if you prefer, how awkward it is to drag a vehicle large enough to house a family's camping gear for hundreds of km on the wrong side of the road.

When we arrived the site was freakily empty: there were only 3 or 4 groups here and so we had a shower block and plenty of space to ourselves. Under the clear night sky with a fire for comfort, a meal cooked outdoors and a bottle of red all was sweet. After dinner a group of seven Christian singers came doing the rounds and sang us a couple of beautiful songs. Each of the singers seemed to be engrossed with their distinctive voice yet they gelled really well together. The way that they seemed to discover the tune in an almost jazz-like way was the musical opposite of a Charles Wesley hymn, say, in which the congregation are frogmarched, by an organ and choir and templated tune through a didactic message with no quarter given to individual creation.

In the places we've been to so far (and where we're heading next) you can take yourselves for your own game drives. Here at Waterburg this isn't permitted so if you want to go on a game drive you have to take one of the organised ones. After our past week this seemed a bit lame and in any case we preferred to spend a day relaxing by the pool.

This morning we had the pool to ourselves. The landscape here is very different from Botswana. There are endless low trees and bushes and what we've seen no signs of human habitation as we've driven between towns, apart from the occasional biltong outlet. (In Botswana there seemed to be traditional villages strung out along the roads.) Around Waterburg a 50 km by 16 km outcrop of ochre sandstone forms a rouched ribbon around the edge of the plateau. This is lifted out from the green scrubland, and as the approaching zone including the campsite is on a rise you frequently come into endless panoramic views over the flat surrounding land. By the pool it seemed almost eerily tranquil. This morning. Then this afternoon a pantechnicon of elderly Africaaners arrived and desported themselves around the pool. If I can't think of anything good to say about people I'll keep my council.

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This evening more people have joined, with the mixture of nations following the evidence of the visitors book: predominantly German or Swiss, then South Africans and a few US, Britishers and people styling themselves as Namibians making up the mix. So we can hear all of these voices around us, particularly the large new parties of Africaaners and Germans, and an American lady a couple of fields over from us.

Ian

Posted: Sat - April 16, 2005 at 12:23 AM              

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