BOTSWANA TRIP: 01 October to 11 October 2003 by Pierre de Wet

We left for Botswana on Wednesday 01 October. Abrie, wife Suzette and mother in law Marie in a new Discovery TD5 auto with Conqueror trailer and myself and wife Christi in our Colt. We met at the Total one stop on the N1 to Pietersburg a few kilos North of the Zambesi offramp, Pretoria. From there we traveled over Nylstroom, Vaalwater, Ellisras and entered Botswana at the Stockpoort border post. Then on to Mahlapye, Palapye, Serowe(diesel) and Khama Rhino Santuary(camping at app. P50 pp). Pitched camp at around 15h30 and then left on a game drive. We were lucky to spot 3 Rhinos and some other game. Nice campsite, clean ablutions with hot showers etc.

Thursday 02 October off to the pans over Lothlakane(diesel top up), Mmatshumo and then on to Kubu Island. The fees at Kubu are now P126 for 2 persons, we felt it is ridiculous as they offer you nothing so we decided to camp on the pans. First drove around Kubu but where chased by a local on a bicycle, you even have to pay to take photos so we hit the road back and after about 30 km found a nice spot on a pan and made our camp. The air conditioner on the Colt packed up, a repeat of the old problem so from there on we had to cope with the heat and dust. A custom part will now be installed in place of the pipe that cracks due to vibration so we hope that it will last longer than the 1.5 years since the previous break. It is a wonderful experience to camp on a pan, total silence with a view of 360 degrees with nothing around you.

Friday we took the so called ‘wet’ road which was very dry to Ghweta and then hit the tar to Maun. Stocked up with diesel and some foodstuff and then North to see if we could find Kaziikini community camp. I took the wrong split after the veterinary gate and we missed the camp. It was getting late so we decided to carry on to Mankwè for which I had a GPS waypoint. Arrived there after dark, set up the camp and relaxed. The campsites are very large with a bucket shower, toilet and washbasin per site at P55 pp. The next morning we decided to stay another night and relaxed around the pool and charged our batteries after the many hours travelling the previous days.

Sunday 05 October was time to move on, we traveled North on the Moremi cut line, crossed the Khwai river and spend about half a day in the very game rich area on the way to Khwai River lodge. The lodge is a beautiful place but at US $200 pp way out of our league. Traveled app. 20 km west and bush camped the night. Camp was set up in a laager way with some lapa being put up and a fire made at the entrance so we felt quite safe even with lions roaring for most of the night.

Monday we traveled West with some heavy sand coming up. The Disco initially battled in the sand but it appeared that the overrun brake on the trailer did not release properly. After that all went fine and it handled the trailer very well. The Colt had no problems with the new shocks and torsion bars in the front an absolute blessing working very well and the cross member not in the sand like on the previous trip in the area. We passed a hunting camp called ‘Splash-Camp’ which was empty except for 2 locals taking care of it. After some negotiations they agreed that we can camp there for free but at the end we gave them P30. Nice trees, a toilet and water for washing. That night the lions roared very close to us and we enjoying all the sounds of the night while sitting around the fire and later lying in our tents.

From there after about 5km West there is a track to the North. We took it but it was not used for a long time, heavy sand and lots of branches from the elephants in the road. Travelling was slow at around 12 km/h and after about 40km we crossed the main road (also a sand track) from Betsha to the East. We still traveled to the North and took the split to the East to Kings Pool and eventually Linyanti campsite in Chobe. In this area there are thousands of Elephant. If I add up all elephants I have seen in my life before this day it can't be half of what I saw then. We decided to take the plunge and pay the hefty fee to camp the night at Linyanti on the Chobe River in Chobe. The costs are P120 pp entry fee, P30 pp camping and P50 for the vehicle. This part of the road through Chobe is a transit road so you can drive through for free if not camping.

Wednesday we drove the short stretch through Chobe before taking the Chobe cut line Southeast and then turn left on the Chobe Forest Reserve cut line on our way to Ngoma bridge where we took the tar road running through Chobe reserve to Kasane. The 182km took us 5.5 hours with the first half sand and then good gravel and tar. Filled the Disco with diesel and added P150 to the Colt. The Disco used 127L (2 Jerry cans + tank) over the 550 km from Maun and the Colt not much less, indicating how heavy the sand was. We booked in at Toro Lodge for 2 nights at P38.50 pp. It is a new lodge with the trees still small but nice camping with an ablution per site and a swimming pool.

Thursday was our last day before starting the journey back home. We first wanted to cross the river with the Kazankulu ferry into Zambia but the one ferry is still broken after the accident a couple of weeks ago and they were working on the other one. Instead of wasting time we checked back into Botswana without being into Zambia and out again into Zimbabwe. Had to pay R140 carbon tax and R30 insurance for Zimbabwe but the 5 of us all went in the Disco. The ferry cost R130 in one direction. Off to Victoria Falls (70km), visited the spectacular falls, some shopping for the ladies with prices of souvenirs, handbags etc. very low. An Ostrich leather handbag for R225 as an example. Then back to Toro lodge for a sunset cruise on the Chobe River, costing P99 for the boat for an hour.

Friday, 10 October we started the long way home over Nata with an overnight stop at Woodlands 4x4 stop, 10 km North of Francistown. It is a very nice camp, only 3 campsites and a couple of bungalows with excellent ablutions, a pool and green grass. Costing P40 pp. for camping.

Saturday and our last day. Traveled via Francistown, Palapye, Martins Drift border post, Ellisras, Thabazimbi, Brits and then home in Pretoria.

We paid R1.64 for one Pula. Our cost for the trip (2 adults) including fuel(3100km), camping and all money spend on small items was around R3800. Food and drinks were mostly taken from RSA so very little money was spend on it.