Camp Itumela, Palapye. 6/9/11 (Day 2)

Remainder of our stay at Kareespruit was all good. We ended up braaiing around a fire pit and, with wood supplied by camp management, made a large fire to ward off the evening chill. (As hot as the days are proving to be is as chilly as the nights are). Slept snug and well. At least I did as I got up to put an extra blanket on my bed. Luis claimed he was snug in his sleeping bag but has just confessed that he froze his balls off! We're still looking for them!
Cleared border post at Kopfontein relatively quickly only to find the Garmin gps died at the border post. Bad timing as navigating through Gaborone without it proved quite difficult. Eventually ended up at a taxi rank to ask for directions to the main road to Palapye. Once we agreed on the pronunciation (Palaapi NOT Pallapaaie) all went well and, with a little bit of added guesswork on our part, we were on the main road. Of course, it's clearly signposted once you've found it!!!!!
Vegetation is good old bush veld with certain areas being more densely wooded than others. (Suppose it depends on rainfall, etc). Lots of thorn trees (shrubs) bearing creamy colored blossoms. For a stretch of about 1km only after TheTropic of Capricorn, the soil was the deep red of Kalahari dunes.
Just after Mahalapye we witnessed 2 separate, huge colonies (committees?/flocks?) of vultures (white backed) taking to the skies. Each colony consisted of about 40 birds or more. Magnificent and awe inspiring.
Stopped at the Orange Shop in Palapye to purchase a micro sim card and data bundle for the iPad. What incredible service! The assistant really went the extra mile to get us up and running.
Camp site is well established with some very welcome shady sites. They also have a lapa bar which opens at 3pm - guess where we'll be!
Luis has just finished fixing the Garmin. Tested all the cabling and fuses for a fault to no avail. Undid the unit itself, fiddled about, put it all back together and now it's working. Relief!
The 'blutes are out of this world. Open air with canopy of bougainvillea (one of them - the other has large cactus - assume that's for the males?).