Upington is a good sized town and in the middle of it, right on the Orange River, is the Sekkie se Arkie camp. Peaceful and clean, it boasts a river boat for sunset cruises as well as an enormous yellow balloon thingy called a “fat boy” onto which very drunk people can jump from a high platform. Butt up in the river, the fat boy reminds me of a Trump supporter face-down in the kool-aid. Kind of tacky, but the rest of the camp makes up for it.

Theo is the manager and Alan from Malawi is the friendly groundsman. Boo-Boo and Zimba, huge mastiffs, apparently are security and we encounter no problems there. What a couple of brats they are. They get loud at times, lying under someone else’s tent trailer and barking at each other at dawn. Cheap entertainment.

Theo knows where to get whatever you need. He is a wealth of information about Namibia and is not shy to share. We wind up spending several nights at different intervals at Sekkie se Arkie and Theo is a welcome guest in camp. We meet a couple from the Netherlands traveling overland in a Toyota SUV, and a couple from Canada going around the world on BMW motorcycles. Heather and Dave are tough! They enjoyed an evening with us, especially sitting in real chairs. Turns out Dave is originally from Bellingham Washington and both of them have spent time in Stanley Idaho – small world, of course.

Then it’s time to see Dr. Du Toit.

If one were to ever say a dentist office is a cheerful place, this is the place. Besides making us laugh, we get the good news that Dr. Du Toit only need surgically remove the tooth; since it is a back tooth there is no need for an implant. Three and ½ hours later, the procedure is finished, I’m stocked up on antibiotics and opiates, and we have to come back in 10 days for a final check up.

Where to go for the waiting period after I’ve slept for two days? Well, we had skipped Augrabies National Park earlier and it’s well within reach. One of the SANS Park Arid parks, it is home to Augrabie Falls and with all the recent rains, upstream reservoirs are jettisoning water. The falls could be tremendous. We say “see you soon” to Theo and the dogs, load up the fridge and head out.