JULY 2002 TRIP REPORT
HUNTER’S ROAD, MAMILI, TSODILO & in betweens
Herbert, Ilze, Edward & Nina Smith
Derick, Michelle, Silke & Annika Jordaan
André, Riëtte & Janelle
Marais
Wed 26 June
Frantic scramble to finish last work. Ilze has done all shopping and packed. Start
loading at lunchtime. Go back to work
at 23h00. Close office at 02h00.
Thursday 27 June
DDAY!
Finish loading – quite an exercise with no roof
rack. The load bin takes 2x52 l water
containers, plumbed to the tail gate, 4 full jerry cans, plastic drawer system
with 8 drawers, fridge, 2x No 10 gas cylinders, paraffin heater, 2nd
spare wheel, high lift jack, hub capstans, ground anchors, spade, 3x3 dome
tent, hiker’s tent, shower assembly, plastic basin, nappies, additional food
boxes, spares, spare battery, 10 l oil, 10 l paraffin, 4 sleeping bags, 4
folding chairs, folding table, 2 large shade net ground sheets, charcoal, fire
wood…. All have to be accessible, and the canopy door must close! 
Most
stuff is secured with tube inner bands and sturdy wire hooks through the woven
rubber mat to the expanded mesh screwed onto the floor. Clothes bags go in the
cab underneath and below Nina’s elevated child seat.
Tidy up the house, and do all the odds and ends. Leave at
11h00. Cruise up to Ellisras, and have
mediocre lunch at the lodge on the main road. Kids enjoy the ducks. Drive on to Buannete, just before the
border. Get a room with linen and shared bathroom for the family – R180 for 2
adults, 2 kids 3 and 1. Gerda Vos Tel 014 767-1401. Plenty
firewood provided. Derick and fam amble in to join us from Pta at about 17h00.
We have the first braai of the trip, and struggle to get the pharmacist’s
oversized capsule with ground Malarone down Nina’s throat – only later did she
take pride in swallowing it dry. Good
to be there after a year’s planning!
Friday 28 June
Frozen meat gets stored in all sorts of interesting
places. Martins Drift border is quite
busy - only find out later we should
jump the truckers’ queue at SA customs and get your gate pass in front. Vehicle ownership and chassis number check.
SA facilities look decidedly tired against Bots’ spanking new border post.
Passports stamped, and pay 10 Pula for road disc – will also accept rands.
Take the tar road to Palapye, passing through some vet
gates, and then north to Francistown. A
vet gate every so often, mostly asking for meat or looking in the fridge. We
made a point of switching off the noisy aircon, turning down the window, and a
solid “Good morning, Sir! How are you?”, before exchanging a joke. This
smoothed the way throughout the trip.
Stop at the Engen/Game centre on entering Francistown. Eat at the Wimpy, and fill up with the Visa
card. The queue at the cash machine was
at least half an hour long, so we end up leaving town still without Pula. Pull into Nata Lodge at about 16h00, where
we meet André, Riëtte and daughter Janelle face to face for the first time.
They had driven from Cape Town in less than two days. Pitch the tent for the first time, and start working on my sleep.
±P30
per adult for camping. – accept Visa.
We exchange rands @R2.00/Pula, as opposed to the R1.75 that the others
paid at their banks beforehand. Go for
a nice walk to look for the large baobab, but end up finding a large nothing.
Saturday 29 June
Break camp, and leave at about 9h30 – this pretty much
became the time at which all were ready throughout the trip.
Fill up again with Visa at Nata Shell, and take the road
to Pandamatenga. Make a sudden stop for
to lovely elephants crossing the road – a dramatic wildlife intro.
Stop at Marius Fourie’s butchery on entering Panda to
collect pre-arranged meat. To be recommended! T-Bones, rump steak, wors,
whatever, cheap, pre- vacuum packed and frozen to order. Tel 09 267 623 2065.
Drive to the border, zooming in on the T4A track on the
GPS as we approach the border post.
This makes it possible to zip onto the Hunter’s Road track without
asking any questions. Throughout, Wouter
Brandt and T4A’s tracks were invaluable, taking us straight to where we needed
to be.
The first kilometres up to Kazuma Pan are graded and
open, although Derick and André still preferred the parallel Zim track (they
run about 20 metres apart in most places).
The new Load Hog blades on the rear springs impress – the bakkie handles
much easier than usual when loaded. After a while the road turns to a good jeep
track. 
We
find a lone Acacia on the edge of the pan with a great view, and set up
camp. 
That
evening, a guy drives up and asks if we are a private or paying group. Seems
that he may be getting a concession for the area, something about building a
lodge somewhere.
Sunday 30 June
We remain put for the day, all getting onto André’s Hilux to explore the area. We find the guy from last night with a group on the northern edge of the pan. No water, and warthogs the only animals. Looks as if the place can get very wet in the wet season.
Monday 1 July
Edward’s 4th birthday starts dramatically with
a lone elephant ambling across the pan in front of the rising sun. We break camp, doing our best to remove all
signs of our visit, and head north. We
endure about half an hour of bumpy, slow Bots track before deciding to move
over to the excellent Zim track.
Uneventful drive to our second camp, about 15kms south of
Kazungula. Huge twin Acacias in the
middle of a grassed valley prove too inviting, although they may have been on
the Zim side. The elephants have nicely
cleared the ground underneath the trees, and left lots of firewood around. We pitch camp, and have a birthday party for
Edward, complete with cake and candles! 
At
sunset a large herd (50+) of Eland approach in the distance, but eventually
turn away.
Tuesday 2 July
Stay put for the day. 
IIt’s
windy and cold, and we put up a wind screen and keep the fire going all day
long. Twice a plane overhead, and twice
a military Land Rover passing on one of the tracks, some 100 metres off. Looks
like Bots guys. We wave and they acknowledge. Elephants come to visit in the
evening, but fortunately head around their usual spot to feed a few metres
further on.
Wednesday 3 July
Break camp, rehabilitating the campsite so that even I
could not find the spot where we had the fire. Complete with elephant dung
replaced. Head north to Leshomo quarry.
The track passes through there, but the gate is closed, and a Bots
military Land Rover is waiting to get in.
We decide not to push it, and ask the guy for directions. He puts us
onto the escape route to the main road, where Derick, André & Kie see some
more elephants.
We head into Kasane, but with the long queues of tour
operators and overlanders at the Shell we decide to push on to Katima. Derick
gets something at the pharmacy across – he says a neat place. Sign the book on
entering Chobe on the transit route, and see elephant, zebra, impala and some
other along the road. A long haul truck
comes charging past, and drives a herd of elephant off the road.
The Bots border post at Ngoma has a lovely setting, and
the Bots official serves us in Afrikaans – across the border they only spoke
English! Cross the bridge over the
Chobe River to a brand new border post on the Namibian side – even covered
parking. Fill out everything, and learn
about the cross border charge – R70 to be paid in Katima across the road from
the Zambesi Lodge. Take the lovely tar
road to Katima, driving straight to the wildlife office waypoint before
town. Meet with Charles Musiyalike,
Chief Warden for Caprivi East, tel 09264-66-253027, cell (081)284-3919, to whom
I first chatted a year ago. Alex next
door issues the permit free of charge, and confirms after asking that the
Sangwali entrance is still under water – we need to go through Matenga, where
the map says No Entry. He also says
that it is still not possible to reach the Linyanti River. He gives us a copied brochure with a faint
map, and I’m grateful to Jaco Pauw for sending me a decent version
beforehand. This allowed me to make a
Garmin map by manually creating a track file based on this and stuff received
from Wouter, and it proved accurate and invaluable.
Pitch camp at Zambesi Lodge, R20 per person & R15 per
vehicle, lovely setting with basic but clean ablutions. Set off en masse into town, where
Ilze heads into the Sentra supermarket, and I go across to the Shell for fuel
and gas refill – say “buo tarde” to friendly Samuèl when you get there. In 5 days and despite some half frozen
beers, we had used only 1.4kg of gas on the stalwart old Edesa fridge, and only
0.9 kgs on the gas stove, hot showers included. Ilze goes over to the butchery,
where getting meat is a patient process.
I go to the bottle store, and stock up.
Fair selection, but everything nearly double SA prices. Only red wine is Tassies. Paid with rands throughout Namibia.
Back at camp we fill up the tanks with water. In 4 days,
we had used about 60 litres of washing water, and 20 litres of drinking
water. The 2x52 litre combination
worked well, with the drinking water also doing duty for washing when the
washing water was finished. The shower also worked well – pumping water from
the basin to the tinned copper coil on the gas stove and on to the shower rose,
allowing a hot shower with minimal water. 
I
will need to expand the filter on the pump intake to prevent clogging, though.
We are told that the lodge’s water sometimes comes from
the river, and sometimes from town. The
kids and us nevertheless drank it without hassle. There’s a nice floating bar
in the evenings, but unfortunately the lodge restaurant only opens at 19h30 –
too late for the kids, and we have another quick braai.
Thursday 4 July
Break camp, and take the road towards
Mamili. The dirt road serving the fist
of the Caprivi is smooth and wide enough to land a Boeing across, and the
government water line and tank at every village impresses. The GPS turnoff to Mamili an hour out of
Katima is spot on – we would have missed the sign without it. 
From
there, we follow the line on the GPS religiously, eventually passing a sign
telling us that we are entering the park.
We get to a rickety sort of floating bridge which makes for a noisy
crossing, and head on to Lupala Island – an expanse of trees in the dry, grassy
flats which I presume fill up with water in the wet. 
Say
hello to some Canadians who are travelling the subcontinent for 6 months, and
they confirm that they haven’t been able to reach the Linyanti. Undeterred, we head on, on firm, dusty jeep
track that obviously becomes very messy in the wet season, following the lines
on the GPS to the Lyadura campsites. On
turning south from Lupala Island, we get wide channel cutting off the
track. I get out and start wading. The bottom is firm and sandy, but I quickly
realise that I would at least have to let go of my shorts. When my jocks get in peril as well, I have
to accept that the Ford shouldn’t ford this, and I walk out. Debating the situation, a CY Land Rover
comes from the other side and shows us the shallower crossing to the side of
the main track – a lucky break, and
will teach me to keep my eyes and head open. 
We
cross without incident, and the park rangers arrive in their Cruiser to join
us, and offer to take us to the Lyadura campsites, eventually some 3 hours out
of Katima.
The first of the two sites is on a little ‘island’, shady
and elevated with a grandstand view on the river. The CY guys had asked if they could have it – they were in the
process of moving there – and we moved on to the second. Eventually have to choose between camping in
the shade inside all the trees, or in the open on the edge but with a grand
view of the river and the flats. We opt for the latter, and start setting
up. Bingo! A noise and everybody
stalls. Elephants emerge from behind
the shrubs some 30 metres from our tent, and move to the river. 
A
herd of 50+, into the water and noisily wading through to the other side. It turns out we are camped right beside a
favourite river crossing, with some 150 elephants crossing that afternoon. They did become scarcer later on, but they
mostly seemed to ignore us. A couple of
times at night we had a herd coming past on the track right in front of our
tents. Moving without a sound, only the splashing through the river gave them
away.
There wasn’t a large variety of game – mostly elephants
and hippos, with the odd croc, lechwe or warthog. Even so, it was magnificent to have surround sound for much of
the time of hippos grunting, elephants rumbling with the odd trumpeting, hyenas
calling at night and once a lion grunting.
You are free to walk as you please, and the responsibility of looking
after the place is yours only. The bird life seemed quite impressive. 
Became a little crowded, with the ranger bringing a party
of 4 vehicles that evening to camp inside the trees behind us, and two gents
tap-tapping through a two hour beach ball session every afternoon up to
sunset. Otherwise they were good neighbours,
probably better that us with excitable kids, and left their campsite
spotless. There were about four other
groups in the park at the same time as us, and it can’t be too long before they
start charging fees.
We stayed there for four nights, doing the odd walk and
game drive, including a revealing evening drive. André’s sturdy roof racks and
Hilux at times carried all 11 of us with ease. Must give them credit – although
their first overlanding trip, their 2 solid months of preparation paid off, and
they operated as smoothly as any – and they make one helluva pot bread! I
filled up the washing water tank from the river twice (we washed clothes), with
the little 12V shower pump taking about 25 minutes for the 52 litre tank.
A bleary eyed party of two vehicles arrived at dusk on
our last day. Unaware of the road
condition, they had entered at Sangwali, and with water over the bonnet had
converted their little Venter trailer into a submersible. They repeated this exercise at the crossing
south of Lupala, and were grateful when André showed them a third camp site
that he had discovered across from King’s Pool Lodge a little further along the
river. When we left, we gave them
co-ords for the easy way out.
Monday 8 July
Pack up and head back north the way we came to the dirt
road. Turn west on the dirt road to Kongola.
One of the filling station’s pumps is operating, and I fill up. Buy warm white bread. The old convoy starting point is now just a
checkpoint, and we hit the beautiful tar road to Bagani/Divundu. One of the
Shell’s pumps at Divundu equally has fuel, and we all fill up. Stop at the
little local supermarket to buy some dusty stuff. Stop at Popa Falls, and
negotiate the entry fee down from R20 to R10 per adult. Little disappointed at the falls, which are
rather rapids, but have some good fun in the water. Move on to Mahango Lodge, and pull a German tour group’s Kombi
out of a mud hole on the access road. Nice
setting on the river, trees and grass.
Ablutions spotless, but way too few for the 4 overlanding groups that
evening. Meals by prior arrangement only.
Water was drinkable, but rather chlorinated. Camping R30 per adult, R15
per child. Cottages around R190 per
night (?) Firewood provided.
Tuesday 9 July
Pay about R20 per adult at the Mahango National Park
entrance, and do the river drive. Huge
baobab, and nice picnic spot overlooking the flood plains. Likkewaan, Kudu, warthogs and some others. Exit at the rather informal Mahango border
post, and enter at the air-conditioned Botswana post. At all Bots posts the kids didn’t need there own forms, even
though they had their own passports. Nam posts took a form per person.
Stop at Drotsky’s Cabins to collect pre-arranged meat
from Eileen – thank you! Derick and
André had found the gas refill place in Shakawe to be closed for lunch.
Head out to Tsodilo Hills at about 14h00, coming across
an unexpected vet gate. I may have lied there. Get to the Tsodilo turnoff
(middle road), and see that they are indeed building a new road. The first 4
kms were wide and smooth calcrete. Then
faced a couple of graders, whom we failed to intimidate. And then the old Tsodilo track. 
The
sand was fairly hard under wheel, but speed was kept down to first gear by the
incessant humps. Deflate to 1.5 bar
front and 2.2 bar rear all the same. Knowing beforehand that that the 20+ kms
would take us three hours, we sat it out rather with ease. André had fun locking the manual throttle
and getting out on the roof, letting the tracks steer the Hilux. Meet with Lopsang and company from the
museum on their way out, deliver the goodies sent to them by Eileen, and
arrange for a guide for the next morning. Adding the Lonely Planet sketch map
to the track on the GPS, we make it straight to the Makuba Woods campsite
recommended by Eileen.
With the kids clambering in a tree, we start pitching
camp. Annika gets stung on the foot by
a bee, and a second time by another on the same spot two minutes later while
Michelle is removing the first sting. We then notice that there are bees all
over. Inside and outside the bakkies,
all around Derick’s water tanks, and quite agitated at that. I become environmentally unfriendly, and
spray the cab with Doom. When all’s
closed and quiet inside, I drive off a couple of metres and repeat the
procedure at the back. A bee gets in underneath my shorts’ hem – Aauchh! We end up bundling tents and kids back into
the cars, and follow André, who had returned from scouting, further down the
track. It gets dark, and we end up
pushing into a clear patch beside the track.
Three quarters of our camp lights had packed up the previous day,
including my neon and my backup gas.
The kids are tired and hungry, and Ilze’s got the gas stove going in the
back even before I have laid out the ground sheet. Pitch the tent in the car’s lights. Somewhere in between André had found time to organise a fire, and
we have a rapid braai before retiring.
Wednesday 10 July
Met the guide (P50) at the museum. A local girl, not very talkative. She takes us onto the Rhino Trail where we
scramble up Female Hill, and points out various drawings. Nice view from the
top, must be awesome from the top of Male Hill. Ilze and I turn back before the
kids get tired, and I fit a new plug to the neon light, heating the soldering
iron over the gas stove. Our camp is in
the shade of Female Hill, and the sun only peeks over at about 10h00 – lekker
brisk! Laze around, and the others come
back at lunchtime. André & Kie go off to the local village to trade and
kuier. I only realise later it’s the
San village, and feel a bit silly at missing the opportunity. He says some nice and THICK sand, about an
hour from our camp. They had a good
time. When they are back, we start
preparing the mother of all bush meals.
A whole fillet from Eileen roasted to succulence, garnished pumpkins,
veggies in foil, pot bread with butter and jam, pudding. 
Eet
tot jy lê dan lê jy en eet!
Thursday 11 July
Head out back to Drotsky’s, reminiscing on the fate that
will befall Tsodilo once the new road is completed. Lovely camp spot at
Drotsky’s Cabins. Do book ahead – Eileen Drotsky, Tel (09267)675035, drotskys@info.bw, Camping P30.00 Per Person Per Day +10% VAT. Also other accommodation options from P215/person/day. Spend the afternoon planning the return route and
have pre-booked supper @P60/person that evening. Not quite as good as our bush
meal, but nice to have someone else do the dishes!
Friday 12 July
André leaves early for Cape Town, and Derick & Kie head for Maun for a delta flip. We start out at 9h00, and stop for fuel at Etsha 6. Expensive at about P5 per litre, Pula or rands only. We do some shopping and lunch in Maun (Rileys Shell took Visa, BP not), and get to Nata Lodge towards 17h00. Restaurant does not serve a la carte that evening, and we make do with a few hamburger patties in the pan. Slight depression sets in. We’re on our own, and on the way back to barbarism….
Saturday 13 July
We actually manage to break camp and be on the road at
07h15. Fill up at an Engen (I think) in Francistown with the remainder of our
Pula, the balance on the Visa. Just
keep the tar rolling - I adore the Ford’s steady cruising ability. No problems
at any of the vet gates, and we take the indicated turnoff to Martin’s
Drift. Different from but parallel to
the way we came. About same distance, all tar, but the road is not marked on my
map. After a friendly license check, we
get to the border at 12h00, going through within 20 minutes. Hit the road to
Ellisras, where we find one of the trip’s gems 1 km before town. A tea garden
cum restaurant, Café a la Fay, where the hostess impressed with style and
creativity in a lovely setting. I opted to take the lace cushion off the garden
chair, lest I leave my impression on it.
I also hid my hands under the table while we were being served. They may be starting with B&B soon,
which should provide an alternative to Buannete. Reasonable prices.
After lunch, we turned the Ford’s nose southwards for the
home run, the ol’ lady again amazing me with the ease at which she cruises
laden at that sort of speed. We arrived
to the minute on the 17h00 ETA.
All in all a most relaxing and a very rewarding trip,
with Mamili a definite highlight. It’s been 5 years that the kids have been too
small or the wives too pregnant to travel north. The kids, however, enjoyed it thoroughly, and it turned out an
important building block in their make-up. The short daily distances, the
frequent stay-overs, the fortunate lack of any incidents and great trip
companions made it possible to take in, digest and enjoy.
Stats
Total distance: Just less than 3600km
Vehicles: My 1993 Ford 3l V6, 205 000km, Derick’s 1993
Mazda 2.6 240 000km, André’s 1996 Hilux 2.4 106 000km.
The Ford’s best fuel consumption: 12l/100km idling at
100km/h from Kongoma to Divundu.
The Ford’s worst fuel consumption: 20l/100km which included the Tsodilo run.
Typical fuel consumption: 14-15l/100km
Vehicle breakdowns: Nil (Take that, Land Rover! In
defense of the best 4x4xfa, the terrain was relatively easy, and our cars are
still pretty young – ouch…duck)
Punctures: Nil
Recorded track log (Garmin III renderised Ozi Explorer)
Pre-plotted map for Mamili, fits into one saved log on Garmin III