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19 Mar 2005 (Sat)
Middelburg to Khama Rhino Sanctuary via Potgietersrus, Martinsdrift
border post, Palapaye and Serowe. At some 600km its a long
first day and we leave early. Border clearing on SA side a
breeze but then we wait more than a hour to get road insurance on
the Botswana side. Arrive mid afternoon at Khama. We had a
reservation and was allocated to campsite #2. Close to ablutions
but also close to other campsites. Next time we'll ask for a
site somewhat further away from the others.20 Mar 2005 (Sun)
Khama to Maun via Lethakane, Mopipi, Rakops. Left after a
sizeable breakfast and made good progress up to 20 km south of
Lethakane when a funny noise start emanating from the Kia's drive train.
We stop at Lethakane to refuel and the gearbox and surrounds get a
visual inspection with nothing obvious visible. We decide to
push on for Maun as the noise did not have an expensive sound.
On the Orapa bypass road the situation changed for the worse and a distinctive
"clunk" signaled the end of the gearbox. Luckily we
had cell reception and after fruitless discussions with insurance
companies we managed to contact Toyota in Maun whom dispatched a tow-in
service. As we were still some 400km from Maun we hitched the
trailer to the Landcruiser and the Kia to the Landrover and pushed
on. The road section from Mopipi to Rakops is terrible and the
tow very uncomfortable and slow. The tow-in service from Toyota
met up with us near Rakops and with the Kia on a dolly progress
improved considerably. We overnight at Audi Camp which was very
full with overland busses and far too many peoplep>
21 Mar 2005 (Mon)
Monday and a public holiday in SA. Get absolutely no joy with
the insurance and eventually decide to buy a replacement vehicle
(Toyota just happened to have an old Hilux available for a
reasonable price). All this takes up considerable time and we
only leave Maun around 12h00, destination Savuti. Road
conditions from Maun to Mababe gate and inside Chobe National Park
was much better than what we previously experienced. Some 20km
north of Mababe gate we come across a huge elephant herd (guessing
around 150) and one vehicle in the group also get to see a leopard
from close by. We spend considerable time watching and waiting
(elephant all over the road) and as a result we only arrive at the Savuti
camp well after dark. We find an
"ignorant" group (can't read their designated site number
on their reservation papers) on our booked campsite but eventually
after some scouting around find an open spot (site #6 I think)p>
22 Mar 2005 (Tue)
Late start after the exhausting previous day. We only need to get
to Linyanti, less than 40km so there is no hurry. The sand
ridge was fairly compacted and we had no trouble crossing.
The bush section midway was heavily overgrown and the sand very
loose (much worse than what we experienced six months earlier during
winter). The Landcruiser, now pulling my trailer, got lightly
stuck after we had to stop in deep sand for an oncoming park ranger vehicle. A bit of pushing
got us going however and the
recovery gear remain unused. Linyanti (all three
designated campsites) was empty, an event almost unheard of!
We pitched camp at site #1 (#3 is a much better site but you may be
visited very closely by hippo or elephant when staying there).
Heavy rain during the night drowned out all night sounds which
was a real pity as these can be magnificent. We did however have
a elephant visiting around our camp during the night. 23 Mar
2005 (Wed)
Linyanti to Manke via the north-south cut-line and Kwai river.
Everything is fresh and clean after the overnight rains. The
cut-line is an easy track but showed little sign of being
used. Some great sightings of small buck, solitary elephant
and the biggest hippopotamus I've ever come across, but very little
activity compared to the Kwai river area. Track along the Kwai
river was busy with lots of vehicle traffic. It was running
late so we did not attempt a river crossing and the back-road to
Mankwe. Instead we opted to go back to the main Savuti track
and headed down to Mankwe via Mababe village. Mankwe was a disappointment.
Its not cheap and although the campsite was neat and clean the
proximity of nearby sites and the lack of hot water was a turnoff. 24
Mar 2005 (Thu)
Destination Maun (Audi Camp). This was meant to be a rest day
which came in useful as I could now arrange insurance issues and
repatriation of the Kia back to a workshop in SA. A
frustrating day dealing with incompetent people...enough said. 25
Mar 2005 (Fri)
Destination Lekuba island via Gweta. Got the full inspection
at the vet control fence en-route to Gweta as expected. A
leisurely trip down to Lekuba and this time we did not get lost
between the myriad of tracks (thanks to the GPS and Tracks4Africa
mapset). Kuba must rate as one of the most beautiful spots in
Africa, if not the world. The weather was perfect and the
sunrise spectacular. We did a lot of exploring and walking
around and vowed to come back again and again. 26 Mar 2005
(Sat)
Destination Khama Rhino Sanctuary. The southern exit road from
Lekuba was wet but the community camp attendant assured us that
others have used it without trouble. True enough, but careless
driving could have got us seriously stuck. At times we crossed
churned-over mud and water covered sections for hundreds of meters. 27
Mar 2005 (Sun)
Back to Middelburg.
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