Skid Marks

Usually when we take a road trip in the USA, we try to find a scenic highway. The Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Barbara through Big Sur to San Francisco, the Blue Ridge Parkway through the Shenandoah Valley, or the switchback road to Hana all come to mind. We've done the Delmarva Peninsula highway over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Florida's Highway 1 to Key West too. 

Or we like to drive the iconic. The Al-Can Highway from Fairbanks to Anchorage and Route 66 from Chicago to St.Louis or even through Winslow, Arizona. Such a fine sight to see.

The Trans Kalahari Highway is iconic. It is not, however, scenic. There's a difference. The TKH is long and flat with not much to recommend itself as far as scenery goes. So you start to notice other things. Like the preponderance of skid marks on the road. What caused so many?

They are everywhere.

Perhaps this is the reason for all the skid marks.

No fences. The animals just graze on the side of the road and cross as they please.

There are also very forward ostriches, sheep, antelopes and horses who like to dart across without warning. Amazingly we didn't see any animal carcasses lying around. That would have been attention-getting.

Like the time we flew in a little puddle jumper into St. Barths from St. Maarten in the Caribbean. You approach a very short runway by nosediving after the plane has cleared the last mountain. But that's not stomach-churning enough. On both sides of the runway, they have left the various pieces of former airplane fuselage which look like the ones that didn't quite make it.

Are you paying attention yet?