Strange lights in the night sky over Makhado (Louis Trichardt) last Friday evening had many wondering what they were, but as with all of these “paranormal” sightings, explanations varied, with no conclusive answer. (Click here for video)

Resident Asterix Aucamp was on his way home with his family at around 21:30 when he spotted two strange lights in the night sky above him, moving in an east/west direction. He stopped at the Songozwi Street/N1-intersection, took out his cellphone and started recording the two lights. Moments later, a third light approached from the same direction.

“‘Weird, daddy!’ was my son’s reaction,” said Aucamp. He said his first reaction was that they could be Chinese floating candles, because they flickered red and yellow, like fireballs.
“But then it seemed as if they came to a standstill, changed direction and started moving again. It looked like controlled movements!” said Aucamp. He added, however, that he could hear no engine noise emanating from the floating lights.

“I don’t know … maybe some things can’t be explained. Who knows, was it ET?” said Aucamp.
Aucamp's “UFO” sighting was brought to the attention of Mr Kos Coronaios of the Soutpansberg Astronomy Club. He in turn gave the information through to two of his colleagues, Dr Claire Flanagan (head of the Johannesburg Planetarium) and Mr Greg Robberts, retired satellite-tracking expert from Cape Town.

Flanagan's response was that the lights might well have been Chinese lanterns. Her advice was to try and find out whether some kind of ceremony took place that evening in the area that would have required the launching of such floating candles.
“... maybe they do come with little rocket engines these days ...” Flanagan said.

Robberts, however, was a bit more sceptical. “Chinese lanterns - I guess that is a possibility, although I’m inclined to think it's not the case. I don’t know much about these things, having never seen one other than on TV and videos on YouTube - so I am not an ‘expert’ on how they look and behave or how common they are,” Robberts said.
Robberts said it also did not sound like a satellite. “... they don’t change direction nor suddenly change speed, so satellites/re-entries etc. can be ruled out,” Robberts said.

The next question, Robberts said, was whether the lights could have been UFOs.
“I don’t think I believe in such – that is, not the little green men or blonde Venusians etc. I’ve looked at a lot of videos posted to YouTube on UFOs etc. I have some friends who are convinced such exist, but I am rather sceptical although I cannot rule out something totally,” Robberts said. He added that his experience with the general public was that they were rather ignorant of what happened above their heads and often mistook natural events for UFOs.

“Anyway, this all boils down to the fact that I have no explanation for what was seen, so I guess one can put it in the category a real UFO in the literal sense - an unidentified flying object,” Robberts said.
Determined to find out what exactly the strange lights were, the Zoutpansberger also contacted the nearby Air Force Base Makhado and, for a brief moment, there seemed to be a rational explanation for the lights.

The base’s communications officer, Sgt Thomas Mulaudzi, confirmed that they had indeed had two planes in the air that evening, a Hawk and a Grippen. The two planes were used in a flypast as part of the base’s 15th anniversary celebrations, but both planes were back at the base at 20:00. The video clip was taken at 21:30 and with only two planes used, that still didn’t explain the third light.
It would seem that residents should come to their own conclusion as to what the lights were. The likely suspects seem to be Chinese lanterns. An Internet search revealed that 5 October was one of a couple of Chinese National Day celebration days and the Soutpansberg does host a small Chinese community.