The Tsamama Trust called and I answered. The forever reliable Maeto Travel and Tours said they would transport me and other compatriots. The mission was, 'Walk on sand dunes for the camels'.
This time around planning for this trip was much easier because it was local. We decided to camp and self-cater. Mpinie Olopeng, being the captain of the team, ensured that transport, camping, and food fees were contributed well on time.
The plan was that we leave on Friday and Jwaneng would be our main pit stop where we would buy our foodstuffs and other necessities. Friday came and the meeting place was at Brown Rankwaila's house in the village.
The agreement was that no 'airport-sized' bags would be brought, but unfortunately, I had no choice but to bring the big luggage. I made my apologies and after warnings, we packed and started on the fun 530-kilometre stretch to Tsabong.
By 10:30am, we touched down in Jwaneng where Mpinie and others dashed into shops. What was planned to be an hour-long pit stop eventually took us three, which put us behind time, bearing in mind that we had to pitch our tents upon arrival.
We finally left the forever buzzing diamond mining town and headed for the dunes of Tsabong. The mood was high, with some intoxicating themselves with some brewed millet and the jokes flying left, right, and centre.
No one was spared from the jokes, even our chauffeur, Joel.
We made it to the Sekoma turn-off and the focus was on Tsabong, popularly known as TSB. The clear instruction was to reduce the number of stops to make up time. Brown encouraged us to eat bananas to slow down the need for bathroom breaks.
However, before we could leave Khisa, boom! Tyre burst! A quantum minibus on tour to Middlepits came to our rescue with a better jack than we had and helped us swiftly change tyres. We left and after a final pit stop in Khakhea pan for pictures, we hit the last lap through Kokotsha, Werda, Makopong, Draaihoek, Kisa, and Omaweneo to touch down in a cold Tsabong. Tsabong Eco Park was our camping place and it was buzzing with security personnel for the First Lady, Mma Atsile, who was the guest of honour.
Mpinie sorted the little hiccup of our accommodation and soon we were directed to Camp Number 2, where upon arrival, Brown and I got busy pitching tents, starting with the women’ as is the norm. We were notified of possible visits by camels which roam about the park, a warning that struck a little discomfort for some of us.
By the time we finished with the tents, a huge fire had been started by others and everyone sidled up to warm themselves, while others busied themselves with supper and some refreshed themselves with showers.
Most bodies, fatigued as we were, went to sleep in preparation for the 6am lift-off for the dunes walk. I don't know how many hours I slept but before long, I could hear Brown waking us up and saying it was time up!
A quick dress-up and I took my backpack and walking stick. I joined others as we walked to the starting point where a bit of aerobics was done while waiting for the First Lady who soon joined us.
The walkers tackling 30km set off first to the ululation of the First Lady and others.
This was the group I was in and after the first few metres of the walk, I could tell we were in for it as the difficulties began. The varying weather patterns, from cloudy to freezing, to warm and then cold in the space of minutes, as well as the sandy overburden populated by tough clusters of grass over which we often tripped over, caused all manner of difficulties. Manoeuvring our way up the dunes was all about navigating the soft sand and at the 20km rest point Karabo, Brown, and I knew part of the hardest portion of the challenge was complete.
We took a deserved rest at the top of the Maubelo dunes thinking that we were now left with 10km. However, this wasn't exactly to be as we were at the finishing point, banners showed us that we had actually walked 38km instead of 30km. Regardless of that, I finished in the top 20 and had the honour of being awarded a medal by the First Lady as a token for gracing the walk.
After the awards ceremony, I headed straight to my tent, took a nap, and by 5pm, took a shower and had my dinner. Being at the camel park, one has to either 'taste the meat' or ride it, or both but with my fear of heights, I automatically ruled myself out of riding the camels. I did, however, choose to eat well-cooked camel seswaa, which tasted delicious.
A fellow walker, GeeGee, invited some of the hikers to our camp for drinks and a bonfire as well as braai meat, helping us to kill the cold with jokes until midnight when we reverted to our tents.
As I slept early on Sunday morning, tightly wrapped in my fleece blanket and sleeping bag, I could hear heavy footsteps from the camels, but I ignored them. They came nearer but as uncomfortable as I was, I couldn't move an inch as it was freezing. By morning, the first thing I did was to check how far they were, only to realise they were centimetres away from my tent.
Later, we sat by the fire and caught up on last night's activities while others prepared breakfast. After we unhitched our tents I went to take my last shower in TSB only to be greeted by a snake in the booth.
As scared as I was I had to bathe while keeping a sharp eye on it throughout.
The journey was tough, cold, and freezing with sandy, hilly dunes and at the same time a bit hot with all manner of creatures. With perseverance I conquered and I would do it again and again.
