3 dèan 4

Day 16, 12.01.23, Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch

The day starts early at 6 o'clock, as Cindy decides to get on the bike earlier this time to avoid the midday heat. So I take her directly to the gate and release her for the next three hours on the bike.

I sit on the veranda and continue writing the travel stories and have breakfast late. Then I receive the message asking me to pick up a cyclist, as the gravel on the southern route turns out not to be the optimal road surface. A completely exhausted Cindy comes towards me and I jokingly ask if she needs a lift... if looks could kill, I would now rest in the warm red sand of the Kalahari. Fortunately, I had a bucket of ice-cold cola with me, which brightened the mood a little.

On the way back to the chalet, we encounter one of those nasty potholes on the sandy road, which we overlook but definitely feel through a violent jump of the car. Afterwards, the front axle sounds somehow different, and after a professional inspection by Cindy, it turns out that the right shock absorber is broken and has jumped out of its anchorage. And the left side doesn't look very good either.

An afternoon of conversations, emails and phone calls begins in search of a solution, in which our guide Emanuel is very helpful. It is quite difficult to communicate with the respective trades in an area without network and Wi-Fi. In addition, we are in Namibia, a country with 3.1 people per square kilometer and long distances between settled civilizations.

Greg's Motor Spaces is the company that can order the spare parts for us and even deliver them to Mariental by express... in two days, which sounds really fast compared to the seven days for the door mechanism. He also organizes a mechanic and we only have to come to Mariental on Saturday morning.

Well, there are worse things than being stuck in the Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch, so we reluctantly decide to extend our stay for one more night, making it 4 from 3. Now we just have to adjust our next stays by one day. But since it is already late afternoon and our next destination is the South African Transfrontier National Park, whose authorities - like ours - decide to stop work at 3:30 p.m., we decide to tackle this the next day and treat ourselves to a drink.

I briefly talked to Alan to explain to him that we are still on the road for another week and there is still a chance to get the car completely renewed. I couldn't really tell from his voice whether he finds that funny...

Before dinner, Bruno and Grace greet us in front of the lodge. Well, you can't really call it a greeting now: Grace lies down comfortably and Bruno makes it very clear to us that his sweetheart is also getting the necessary rest and should not be disturbed. We naturally comply with this request and end the day with another enjoyable dinner.