Sunday, July 2, 2017

Botswana

We spent three nights in Russell’s camp, the camp is really great, lots of big trees and very comfy chalets with en-suite bathrooms and plenty of hot water.  We also had three meals a day which is unusual for us on these bike trips because it is so difficult to carry food and often difficult to find food in remote villages.  Jo and Calvin,  the camp managers were fantastic and went out of their way to help us find accommodation and even sent food with us when we eventually left.
Russell took us for a long drive around the concession and there is lots of mopani bush and huge trees, it is hilly and very remote.  Larry is determined that a runway has to be built in front of the lodge so that we can fly over the area.  Russell did his trike license a few years ago but has not maintained it, so that is a good job for us in July when we get home.  We are looking forward to a trip up there with a microlight!!
We saw lots of animal spore but very few animals and Russell assured us that this was normal, this is proper hunting and not culling or shooting.  Plenty of birds and he is keen to get some birding safaris going there.
At one stage we landed up on the old national road, a twee spore track leading to the closest village of Zumba, the negative side of things up there is the corruption of the local leaders, they want meat all the time and expect the hunting camps to provide them with this.  Hippo is a firm favorite and there are plenty of them.  The river is teaming with hippo and huge crocs.
Elephant, lion, hyena and hippo often move through the camp,  unfortunately we didn't get to see them while we were there.
After all our laundry was done for us and our tummies were filled we had to head back to the village of Zumba to clear immigration and then onto Luangwa, to re-enter Zambia and collect our bikes.  Lesley was at home when we arrived at their home and we loaded the bikes and got into our newly laundered BMW suits and headed out towards Lusaka.  The road was an easy run and we got into the city at about 2pm so traffic wasn't too bad, we stopped at one of the large shopping centers and managed to get something for supper.  Our next overnight place was called Moorings and we had stayed there in 2011 and had the worst meal ever so were not going to repeat that.  I decided that bangers, mash and mixed veggies were on the menu, we have a small gas stove and two pots and a tiny frying pan so it was quite a feat to cook a meal like this and serve it hot, pots and pans were juggled on the stove and we had a wonderful feast.
The next morning we headed for Livingstone and we decided that we would like to try and camp somewhere near there.  We looked in the actual town, but didn't find anywhere that grabbed us, too many people and traffic and loud music. So we headed towards the Kazungua border, thinking that we would find  a place along that road, the first road that we went down lead to a very fancy resort, about 2km from the actual resort we came across a herd of elephant, a couple with huge tusks.  We stopped and Larry took some photos and while doing that two game guards ambled up to the elephants and started walking among them! Obviously a tame herd used at the lodge.  We had some sand and I managed it fine with my newly acquired skill of lots of power, got to the main road long before Larry!!
So the next road down had a sign for a lodge and so we ventured down this one,  after two gates and lots of horses we arrived at the fancy lodge and were told definitely no camping, back up the sandy track and the lodge owner told us that down the next track there was a campsite, so we set off again.  We arrived at the third turn off and a nice gravel road greeted us, great stuff! This didn't last long and it turned into thick deep sand, Larry said another 4km and we would be at the camp, hmmm 4km of sand!!  I was doing ok going fairly fast when I must have hit a root or a stone in the road and landed up with my helmet filled with sand and the bike lying next to me.  Larry came back and we decided to turn and head for the ferry.
We had to pick the pace up a bit to get to the ferry and clear immigrations and customs before dark.  We arrived to the normal African chaos and I managed to push and shove to the front and get our passports stamps and Carnets done.   There were a huge number of large trucks lots of them carrying copper waiting to board the ferry, we pushed our way to the front and the bikes were loaded first and then all the foot passengers and one huge truck behind us, five minutes and we were in Botswana.  Last time we were there we thought it would be our last trip on the ferry as the bridge was in the process of being built, the progress is about the same as in 2013.
We headed into Kasane, towards Chobe River Lodge which has some great camping, sorry we are fully booked!!  Oops all the South Africans have invaded up north, maybe that Put Foot Rally?! So we headed back down the road we had just come on.  We went into about five different camps and no-one had space for us, Larry asked the one lady, not even a tiny piece of grass and she replied we don't have grass just ground!
At about 6.15 we landed up at Big 5 Camping and Safaris and they had plenty of camping, it is a very pretty lodge set on the banks of the Chobe River with a very nice restaurant and bar, the camp site was at the back and each site had they own little bathroom and to top it all it was cheaper than any of the other camp sites and better!  We set up camp in the dark and decided that a meal in the restaurant was called for, Larry went across to our neighbor and asked if we could put our illegal meat into his fridge.  This was a Hollander by the name of Peter and we was waiting for a client who had a ticket booked from Holland to Johannesburg and then to Kasane, but he managed to buy another ticket and landed up in Windhoek!  We had a delicious meal of pork ribs and steak and crashed in our tent with our brand new PEP blanket straight after supper.
We had been told that the road to Nata was closed and so Larry set out to find out what was happening further south, it transpired that the road between Nata and Gweta was indeed closed but that was on the road West, we later found out from other travelers that this has been under water since February but there is a very poorly sign post detour.  We will see tomorrow.

S



No comments:

Post a Comment