Okay, agreed, this photo technically has nothing to do with the game park (although it was just outside it.) But I really liked the photo and it shows a lot of things about our life on the road. Emma running in the heat and sand. Us finding the only good tree for shade near the distance Emma wanted. Also, during lunch break, a tiny dung beetle tried to push my toe out the way as I dozed. Little feisty one.

Then we drove round the corner and discovered we are about to enter a game park in the Erongo Mountains. Its not marked on any of our maps.

The guard assures us we don’t need to worry about the rhino and elephant as they are over the other side. Emma will be fine. He says its okay for us to camp, which surprises us.

Finding somewhere to camp is tricky. We’re a little concerned about elephants coming by in the night. Elephants killed 300 people in 7 years in Kenya. African elephants are serious business. Although, humans have killed 100,000 elephants in 3 years … so, I guess, we would be more at risk if we were elephants. Still, we don’t want to be near an annoyed elephant. As a result, I move our campsite a little as it looks like its on an animal path to me. (We miss having an animal expert who would really know.)

Robert and I have decided to sleep in the car to save getting the other tent out, as we need to leave quickly in the morning. Emma, Mike and Woocash are in the roof tent. Emma’s blog post, says that all sorts of exciting things happened in the night. I slept through the lot except for the snoring.

We set off early into town, as Emma starts her first 2 hr run of the day. The bumpy roads rattle Cleo (the car) and Woocash and I argue over whether it is better to go fast and skim over the top or drive slowly and boing up and down more. I want to travel as fast as possible as I worry about Emma and Mike.

We drop off Robert and head back as soon as we can. We return to find Emma and Mike alive and zipping along. Emma’s ability is phenomenal.  When they join us Mike asks if a bolt he spotted in the road is important to Cleo. Amazing eyesight and luck. Its for the rear brake calliper! Bouncing along has serious consequences. Woocash instantly gets under the car.

Two bolts have fallen out. We are still missing one and will need to sort that out as soon as possible (several hundred kilometers later).

At the end of the game park, the very friendly game park guard dances with us and joins us for a photo. Special moments that make the journey.

We encounter more friendliness that evening when we find a lay-by to park in. A man and his digger/road flattener are already there. He only speaks portuguese so we send Woocash (Polish speaker), as Emma suggests they might speak international english. Sure enough, Woocash comes back to tell us Frantz has no problem with us staying and even offered to flatten an area for us. Later, Frantz generously sends over some wood for our fire.