After our overnight stop at Kuilfontein Cottages, having experienced a torrential downpour after dinner we put foot to our next rendezvous where we were kindly hosted by Lynne in Jhb for the night . We caught up with Kate, Warren & Laurel, Barry & Gee and Robyn & Franc over a fabulous dinner, then still feeling like death the next day, we visited a Doctor friend of Robyn's to get medication to knock our flu bug on the head.  
 
Silver Streams bush lodge, located just outside of Bela Bela, is a 10 year old establishment and a little off the main drag but a great resting place between Gauteng and the boarder posts of Botswana. You get the feeling of isolation in the bush but with great 4 star DB&B. Rooms very spacious with huge beds and showers and baths and two swimming pools over-looking the river. 

Now a road trip with the Kelly's would just not be the same without some drama. We said our goodbyes to the manageress Crystal after breakfast and headed for the Botswana border post of Martins Drift some 250kms North. We were all in a jovial mood and our medication of antibiotics and cortisone had started to make us feel human again. 3 1/2 hrs along with the border post around the corner, TK decided he needed to send an email quickly before we lost Vodacom signal, so we pulled up alongside a cell mast and he promptly got down to business on his laptop, while Pete & Carol waited patiently on the verge behind us . 10 mins later we set off in anticipation of the queues and formalities of a foreign border post but had not even done 2 kms when TK cried out with expletives, which I will not mention on this blog , bringing the car to a grinding halt!  
Had we just run over or hit something??? No. Was our trailer still with us - yes. Terry had gone pale as he realised that our passports were still tucked safely away in the safe of our room some 250km away. WTF!! I had relinquished the responsibility of guardian of passports after my previous debacle when I left TK's SA ID book behind and we were refused entry into Swaziland!! I had let the same team down and Swaziland was left undiscovered by this awesome foursome and we had to head back into SA to bed down at a B&B after a long day's drive!!  
 
I did know the passports had been put in the safe as TK told me the code, so as the woman who sweeps up after her family, I should have checked to make sure we had all our prized possessions. Decision time ? Drive back, pick up passports, turn around and head back to Border of Martins Drift or just stay another night at Silver Streams and leave Carol & Peter to enjoy Woodlands Stop Over outside Francistown in peace and quiet without the "forgetful" Kellys? !! Dear Peter said we should stay over and travel thru next morning to meet them in Maun, especially knowing the road back to Francistown in the dark was not without the dangers of stray cows and donkeys that roam the unlit roads of rural Botswana, not to mention the onslaught of trucks that ply their trade between these two countries . Terry was having none of it - COPK was not in operation - and we would just have to do some low flying for 3.5 hrs, then turn around and drive another 9 hours back to our overnight stop before hitting the sack for the day. Oh I forgot to mention that not only were our passports in Terry's man-bag but all our foreign currency for our trip!! Crystal to our rescue! ? No, not quite ! The best she could do for us was to meet us at the turn off to SIlver Streams and handover our precious parcel in tact! 
 
To cut a long story short, we swopped our precious "man bag" parcel for a bottle of equally precious Plettenvale bubbly and a big hug from TK to a delighted Crystal and then ran the gauntlet of darkness interspersed with cows, donkeys, warthog, trucks, potholes and road closures, driving on the wrong side of freeways because everyone else was doing it and finally allowing the GPS to take us on a joy ride thru the Botswana bush at midnight, getting sent down a single track to a dead end then finally ending up at Woodlands at 12.15am with security guards and a very concerned Peter on standby to see us safely in our parking bay and kindly having braaied us some supper to fill our hungry tummies. 16 hours and 1000kms of driving in a day is quite a feat to tackle in trying conditions - well done TK - you lived up to your reputation of McGyver and FOMO - Cool Hand Luke is another title you deserve ! Nothing boring about traveling with the Kelly's. Thanks Peter & Carol for burning the midnight oil for us - we now have to declare the "Mampara" trophy is in our hands!!  
 
 Camping under African skies was about to begin in temps of 32 degrees !! Tshaa here we come!