24 September

24 September

We left Maun, driving southwest and then north. We are now at Tsodilo hills, the sacred bushmen hills and site of over 4000 ancient rock paintings.

The road was long, boring, monotonous and straight, and as one gas station attendant put it; gives you heavy eyelids. We survived though with numerous rests to the turn off onto the gravel road leading to the hills. Many times we had to stop for cattle and goats, which crowded the edges of the road, and we also saw a few ostrich. We also stopped once to help some locals start their car, but with no success.

Once we approached the hills, the sun came out from the clouds and cast a golden glow over the bush which was thick and green and red, and not brown like elsewhere. The hills rose majestically out of it all, the only vertical features of note for thousands of miles, shrouded in distance. There really is something quite special here.

Outside the gate is a Hambukushu village, with children running to sell us necklaces. We drove through, and further down the sand road a bushmen girl with starkly Asian features held a pink umbrella and pointed us back the right way in good English. The gate was also crowded with child-vendors, but they were courteous enough to open the gate and point us down the right road.

We are now camped at the foot of the female hill, and tomorrow we will go up with a guide early in the morning.