Day 12 & 13 Flatdogs to Kapishya Hot Springs North of Mpika On Great North Rd - Zambia

Bridge is moving sandbags 

Day 12

We got the early start we planned leaving at around 6h30 complete with a pack Breakfast and Lunch, the girls with a high sense of adventure and me with some concern, mainly because I had read a lot more about our route and had not shared it with them, including stories of near death and breakdowns in rivers and sand beds to getting lost.

We have to enter the park to get to our destination, but despite being early we saw little game, in fact a lady remarked at the Lodge “you do not have to go in the park the animals come to you” how true that was when at dinner the previous evening an elephant walked in to the outside dining area and as we left this morning a bull elephant climbed over the 1.2m wall surrounding half of our chalet. Claudia thought Denise had been smoking her socks when she “shouted there is an elephant in the garden” having tasted the leaves there he gently walked over the wall one leg at a time. We are then ready to leave but are blocked by 3 Elephants having breakfast and they were in no hurry so that delayed us by another 15 minutes.

I have a lot of information on getting on to the 05 road, but on at least 3 occasions we were not sure which fork to take, all we know is that we must head due North with only a 5° deviation, the road was somewhat boring and we saw little game to break the monotony, just a narrow road along which you could not go faster than 40kmph. We have breakfast about 08h00 and shortly after we reach the deep sand river crossing of the Lubi River without a problem in low range.

We have a brief stop to stretch legs and we are attacked by swarms of tsetse flies, which bite sore and pester us along the way, Denise allegedly took a swipe at one on my head and my glasses shot out the window and we had to go back to look for them; sounds like at least a $5 fine, would have been $300 if we had not found the , this event allowed more flies to join us when we commenced our journey and every time we left the car to take a photos more joined us.

Roads are very narrow in Luwangwa

We then reach another crossing over the Mwamba River that has sandbags in to assist us and I say this looks a lot shorter than the photos I had seen in a magazine, but not complaining, we were not to be disappointed when an hour later we turn a corner and there is the very sand bagged river Mupamadzi I had seen in the magazine with a good flow of water. Claudia refused to test the crossing; sounds like another fine to me.

So we engage low range and set off with Claudia hanging out of the window filming the event and as we crossed Claudia’s voice got higher and higher; now we know where Sinead gets her squealing from, whether it was from nerves or excitement we do not know and she is not telling. It was not a pleasant crossing the bags moved side to side and the vehicle swung and bumped its way to the other side.

A couple of kilometres later we go through the Chifungwe park gate where we check out and are advised the road up the Muchinga Escarpment is a little rocky. A few kilometres later we start to climb up the escarpment ultimately a 1000m climb in a distance of 11kms that feels like 100kms. They said it was a rocky road; the understatement of the century, there were huge boulders, and there is no way it could be classified a road and if going up was tough I cannot imagine going down and certainly not in the rainy season in any direction. The views from the top are great although we did miss one photo opportunity near the top and nobody wanted to go back. We reach another police post presumably so they can check if we made the climb in one piece. One article said it should take 30 minutes, but that must have been in a Company car.

The road up the escarpment, did I say road

We finally roll out on to the T2 Great North Road some 30kms south of Mpika and after filling up with petrol, which we do at regular intervals as stations and towns have been known to run out of fuel in this part of darkest Africa, we travel another 87kms to the turn off to Shiwa Ngandu and another 31kms to Kapishya Hot Springs Lodge where we will stay for two nights. All in all a journey of 300kms in nine and a half hours at an average of 33kmph

A wonderful 3 course Thai meal is given to us for Dinner along with other guests and management we are 18 in total and we have an enjoyable evening with a family from the UK and the Consul from the Dutch Embassy in Rwanda and his family and the owner/manager Mike Howarth grandson of the legendary Stewart Gore-Brown, for more info on this interesting character Google his name. Mike is an out an out Colonialist and he can be a bit much.

We are pretty exhausted, not so much the mileage of the day, but the tension caused by the tightening of ones orifices for at least 4 hours of our day. I have to say it was quite an experience, but I do not have to do it again, definitely one where can say “Been there done it, got the T shirt” oh and by the way, the girls gave me my 4x4 Rock climbing badge although Claudia said it did not look to bad from where she was sitting.

I have to say the alternative of back to Lusaka and up the Great North Road some 1600kms was not negotiable.

Day 13 

We have had a deserved relaxing day although there is a fair amount to do in the area and we may still do something exciting. We are right on the River Mansha, which is flowing well and the grounds are very nice and other than the beds it is a nice place to stay for a couple of nights, there are walks, a small game reserve, several waterfalls in close proximity and some recent archaeological (2011) findings in the area including rock paintings dating back some 60,000 years, canoeing, rafting and mountain biking, but it is in the middle of nowhere.

Sinead enjoying the Hot Springs at Kapishya

Tomorrow we go through the Tanzania border at Tunduma and will be staying at Utengule Coffee Lodge outside Mbeya, the chances of up dating you will only probably be possible in 4 or 5 days time when we reach Ngorongoro as we will only be spending one night each in Mbeya, Iringa and Kongwa and we will only arrive at each place in the late afternoon, but we are thinking of you. Sinead continues to surprise us and is now a seasoned on and off road traveller.  

Day 10 & 11 – Flatdogs in the South Luwangwa – Zambia

Another Beautiful Sunrise in Africa

Our House at Flatdogs

Last night was full of typical bush night noises, and with Elephants and Hippo’s roaming freely through the camp, so much so that we have to signal the dining room with a torch and they then send a watchman to escort us to dinner. Flatdogs is a very nice camp situated on the South side of the Luwangwa River and just outside the entrance to the park, but there is no barrier to game walking across the bridge or crossing the river especially now that it is not very deep.

Residents of Mfuwe do get Elephants raiding their meagre crops and Lions have been known to take goats and chickens, but I was also a victim at our first breakfast when a Vervet Monkey in a flash came down a tree and snatched a muffin off my plate, one has to be very careful and it is not tourist talk, Denise and I went for a early morning game drive and as we walked out the door with the watchman an Elephant was grazing not 5 metres from the door.

We relaxed yesterday only going down to a little factory that is making printed textiles that are really excellent, we were taken on a guided tour of the factory, which was started by a lady from Britain to create employment in the area, it is called Tribal Textiles and it would appear they are doing very well making to order and employing over 20 people.

The food at the lodge has been excellent and just goes to show what can be achieved out in the bush 130kms away from the nearest town.

We were a bit disappointed with the game drive and granted the park is over 9000 sq kms but at this time of year when most of the game is supposed to be close to the river it certainly did not come up to our expectation. We saw a Leopard and probably the highlight was a baby giraffe a few hours old with its mother, the little thing could hardly stand, we were fortunate as we had gone to see why a Batleur Eagle had gone to ground and the guide said it was probably looking for the after birth.

Proud Mum and Baby

Leopard in Luwangwa

The volume of game was very low like 1 Buffalo, 10 Elephant, 1 Leopard a fair amount of Puku, Impala, Bushbuck and Waterbuck and quite a lot of birdlife as I said earlier we were disappointed as the park had some rave reviews, but perhaps we were a unlucky and at the best of times game spotting is a bit of a lottery.

We need to prepare and load the vehicle for a tough 180kms 4x4 route tomorrow through the park from South to North to Mpika on the Great North Road and then onwards about 80kms North of Mpika where we will spend two nights at Shiwa Ngandu, we cross several dry deep sand river beds and climb up a very rocky escarpment before we reach civilisation. Tyres are to be deflated for the sand, but I am confident that “Salama” will get us there safely.

How do you like my hair do

The Ladies are all behaving themselves and we are having a great time, but talking of time it is going so fast already 10 days has passed, but we have seen and done so much it seems like 3 days.

After two days in Shiwa Ngandu we head for the Tanzania border to Utengule Coffee Lodge near Mbeya for one night and the Old Farmhouse at Iringa also for one night.

"Do not leave me Mummy

Day 8 – Livingstone to Eureka Farm & Day 9 - Lusaka to Flatdogs Camp in South Luwangwa

Sinead Chasing the Jack Russel Woo Woo!

Typical Village Scene

Day 8

We were waiting for the bad roads and pot holed roads, but the road was quite good until the sting in the tail some 20kms out of Lusaka when we deviated off the main road under construction and from a day where we commented on the lack of traffic we hit the bottle neck and it was eat dust, dust and more dust in a convoy of some 30 to 50 cars, trucks, motorcycles, and bicycles, but alls well that ends well and we spotted our turn off to Eureka Farm 10kms south of Lusaka. This is predominantly a camping park with around 15 chalets and it was spotlessly clean and an ideal stopover.

Why is it that wherever you go the last thing the owners of the accommodation think of is a decent mattress and quality pillows and the ladies are still complaining about the showers, which have not, in 4 out of 5 places come up to their expectation. For the beds you have to accept being at the bottom of a dip and if there are two in the bed you meet at the bottom or it is so lumpy that you have to wind your body around the humps and bumps, needless to say the old bones and muscles are taking some strain, but hey who said this trip was going to be simple and luxurious.

 Lusaka is a fairly large city with a population of some 3 million souls and is fairly clean when compared to say Lagos or Hillbrow.

At Eureka farm there is a herd of Zebra and Impala and we had to keep Sinade from going and terrorising them, the last thing we wanted was for her to get kicked or bitten. There was an old Jack Russel that soon learnt that hanging about was not in its interest.

We had a good meal and crashed in anticipation of what could be a long and difficult day ahead to South Luwangwa.

Day 9

Another Sunrise in Africa

 This is the longest day and the greatest distance we will do in a day on this trip at 700kms and was a real test for Sinead, who came through with flying colours and in fact was her best day yet, either she is getting used to it or we are, but we were in the car for close on 12 hours less an hour for breakfast at the Lusaka Wimpy having left Eureka at 07h00 and arriving at Flatdogs Camp at 19h00.

Cotton Carrying Truck Completely Burnt Out

We shared the driving with Denise doing the most and tackling a treacherous stretch between Chongwe and Petauke where if one was seen driving in a straight line he or she was drunk, the potholes were everywhere and it slowed us down considerably and I considered doing the shortcut route from Petauke when the road got considerably better and we pressed on to Chipata, which is the capital of the Eastern Province and close to the Malawi border.

Suspension Bridge over the Luwangwa River

Luwangwa River on its way to join the Zambesi

From Chipata I took over for the last 120kms, which they started tarring way back in 2010, but sad to say not only is it a slap dash job, but it is also still under construction and all our orifices were pinched closed as dusk descended upon us and we battled to see what lay ahead with the sun in our eyes to start and the twilight shadows deceiving us at every turn on the gravel section, but we came through unscathed and I said another prayer for our car “Salama” That damn woman on the Garmin, despite have the GPS co-ordinates, was going to take us a few kilometres further, but Denise spotted the turning to Flatdogs in the falling light and we arrived at one minute to seven.

It was beer and double brandies all round and a lovely meal. We have a great double storey chalet with two bedrooms en-suite complete with kitchen, lounges and bags of space, but as it was dark we did not know what our surroundings were like.

All will be revealed, we are here for 3 nights and then we head north to Shiwa Ngandu another 4x4 track in darkest Africa and we are enjoying ourselves immensely.

Day 7 – Mama out of Africa – Livingstone (continued)

The Victoria Falls from Zambia side

The Ladies in our tour party

I did not tell you much about the falls, but as always they are quite spectacular and the Zambians have really upped their game, as I recall it always lagged behind the Zimbabwe side or so I was told, they have spent a lot on the walkways and amenities and although it does not get as close to the falls as on the Zimbabwe side you can still get soaked by the spray and the views of the bridge are excellent. We spent the whole morning there and then had lunch at Olga’s Italian Restaurant. Sinead enjoyed getting wet, but it was a hard slog for Claudia who used the carrier for her. 

Sinead, this is a dogs life

We met up with a hopeful salesman through the fence at the end of the photographic walk, who was trying to persuade us to do the bungy jump, swing or some other crazy stunt off the middle of the bridge, which we gracefully declined.

Jumping off this you must be crazy

Waking up in the morning to the cry of the African Fish Eagle, the grunts of the Hippo and 101 bird songs is exceptional and definitely “out of Africa” eat your hearts out. We were probably 18kms up stream of the falls right on the edge of the mighty Zambezi and you could hear the roar of the falls from there. 

Early morning overlooking the mighty Zambesi from Mama Out of Africa

We got back to our humble abode mid afternoon and we packed ready for a reasonably early start the next morning for the capital Lusaka. 

Alan, Claudia and Sinead at Vic Falls

Day 7 - Livingstone, Zambia

We rise about 06h30 and Denise makes us a great Sunday breakfast and then we travel the 22kms into Livingstone and Victoria Falls from the Zambia side. Zambian residents pay ZKw7 and tourists pay ZKw100 (R200 or US$20) I have to tell you there is very little that you are permitted to pay in any other currency but Kwacha in Zambia by law.

There is still a fair amount of water flowing over the falls so the spectacle was still very impressive and we had never seen it from this side some interesting facts about the falls:-

Max height: 108m (360ft)

Width: 1708m (5604ft)

Max flow rate: 3000m3/sec Min flow rate: 300m3/sec

The local Zambian’s are discontented, with unemployment a problem and other than mines there appears to be little foreign investment and the Chinese have a strong presence, which the local Zambians dislike as they only employ their own.

We spent 4 hours at the falls and then had an Italian pizza at Olga’s.

Denise gleaned some gen on the Livingstone to Lusaka road, which could see us having a slow frustrating trip with sections badly potholed and other sections under construction both for some considerable distance. We will update you on that at a later time.

We had been warned about speed traps and road blocks and I trust I am not tempting fate when I say we have been treated with courtesy and respect as we have treated the police or military in the same way and we are very careful not to give then any excuse to find fault with us including sticking to the speed limits. All in all it is going well.   

Will post photo's of Vic Falls and others at next opportunity and tell you about our trip up to Lusaka on Day 8, we are on our way to the South Luwangwa where we are staying at Flatdogs Camp for 3 days, hopefully we can communicate from there. Love to you all from us at Wimpy Lusaka. 

Day 6 - Kasane (Botswana) to Livingstone (Zambia)

First of all we had to try and get some Zambian Kwacha, but to no avail, we had some from Michael and Elisma, which we thought would see us through the border only to find that ZKw2000 of it was in the old currency and only now worth ZKw2.

What a racket this border is, if you do not have Kwacha you have no choice, but to use one of the agents as there is no bank there and a charming bunch of guys they are, conversation goes along the following lines.

“Sir what I can offer you is a trouble free experience as the Zambia border is very complex and furthermore I will pay all the fees on your behalf from my money and at the end you can pay me in Rand’s, Pula or Dollars”

Although we could have managed you think what the hell for R50 we will have a hassle free navigation through Road Tax, Insurance, Council Tax and Carbon Tax only one of which you can pay in US dollars. The trick comes when you do not know the current exchange rate for the US$/ZKw, everything looks fine, but they tell you the rate is 4 to the dollar but in reality, as we were to find out when we changed some money later at the bank, is 5.4 to the dollar, so our agent cost us a converted R600 instead of R50. The only saving grace is we had cleared both borders in under two hours and learnt a valuable lesson, which was know your exchange rates and maybe do not use an agent.

The trucks waiting to cross the borders must have been at least 3kms long if not 5kms on the Botswana side, a driver told me he had been waiting for 3 days and 2 nights, but at times it can take 4 or 5 days to cross, but crossing into the DRC takes even longer.

I must have had the wrong coordinates for our next stop, as we went past and had to go back about 8kms. The self catering unit is a very large camper van that had been used as a dressing room in the making of “Out of Africa” movie in Kenya starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. The sleeping quarters have been placed under thatch and there is an outside toilet and shower as well as a patio lounge and it has been very adequate. The girls are moaning about the shower and the lack of enough hot water, I have no problem with it and they should be grateful they have any running water let alone hot water,

The caretakers are German and they have a miniature daschound that thought this is great upon seeing Sinead, someone small and his own size I think he changed his mind after having his hair pulled and being kicked a couple of times and now he keeps his distance.   

There is some United Nations meeting scheduled for Zambia in the future and as a result they are busy trying to sort out some of the roads, as some of the locals say, “Why does it take such an event to wake them up”? It sounds familiar to us.

We travel into Livingstone to get some Kwacha so that we can buy some groceries and charcoal, the latter we eventually find near the station and I am sure we were overcharged, then Denise starts to hand out sweets to the children and they pour out of a warehouse nearby like rats then the adults join in the fight for sweets, Denise is guilty of starting a riot in Livingstone so we get the hell out of there.

We enjoy our first Braai that night with yours truly managing without firelighters, but to be honest the dry wood in this part of the world is like tinder, I was probably lucky I did not burn down the “Out of Africa” house and the surrounding veld.

It has been cool in the evenings and the early morning, but by 10h00 the temperature is rising and by midday it gets up to 25°C.

We feel good about having crossed another border and bad about being conned out of at least R500, it is no good saying “I told you so” because we had been warned by someone who did Cape to Cairo, warned on the 4x4 community web site and others, but the guys there are “artists” I have another word for them, which I will not share with you as I will probably contravene some communications act. 

No photographs today, we are in Lusaka and posting days 6 & 7. We are all well and everything is going well, Sinead has been extremely good and has given us some good laughs, everything is still a "Woo Woo"

Day 5 – Chobe National Park

Male Sable Antelope

One of the apparent dead trees

           We have an early breakfast, which started well with Sinead entertaining the waiters and them entertaining her with peek-a-boos’ allowing us to have breakfast in peace We finally get away at 07h30 for a day in the park at a cost of P410

 (+/-R500) we get the whole day and multiple entries if we need them, the park is very dry and there are a lot of dead trees and we travel alongside the Chobe River sighting Elephant, Buffalo, Impala, Waterbuck, Zebra, Sable, Mongoose, Squirrels, Crocodile, Hippo, Warthog, Vultures, Martial Eagle and many other species of birdlife and I might add some birds renamed by Claudia like King Eagle (Fish Eagle), Hoopbill (Hornbill). No luck with Lion, Cheetah or Leopard, but we have plenty of time to see these and others.

We spend a lot of time watching some elephant who are standing guard on what appears to be two dead elephants, then another one drops to the ground, we could have left and told the gate there are three dead elephants down the Bushbuck road when suddenly the two we first thought were dead roll over and get up and we thought elephants do not lie down, to our surprise we see another even larger elephant in another herd lying down, bang goes that theory.

Elephant in the middle having a midday siesta

Just when I said we had learned a lot from driving in sand and we hit a particularly bad stretch and the car bottoms out with Denise at the wheel this time, and we dig ourselves in, fortune smiled on us and we get towed out by a couple of guys part of a tour company who were very grateful for a couple of cold drinks and a few Pula. Will post pictures the next opportunity.

We head off down Route 15 according to our map end up in a herd of elephant with several young and have to wait patiently until they had no further interest in us and as we pass a young one decides to show us whose park we are in and gives us a mock charge, but we are well on our way. We suddenly hit a tar road and find we are on an access road only for the use of Park Officials and the Botswana Defence Force, ignorance is bliss.

Claudia is off on a River cruise from 15h00 to 18h00 and we are baby sitting. Tomorrow we are off to Livingstone and Victoria Falls where we spend two days, before we head off to Lusaka and on to South Luangwa Game Park, not sure when we are able to post our blogs, but all is well.

Day 4 – Elephant Sands to Kasane – Chobe Safari Lodge

Nile Crocodile; no we did not feed Sinead to it

Lovely Kudu

 I have read a number of write ups on Hunters Road that runs along the Botswana/Zimbabwe Border, Hwange National Park, and on checking with Ben who runs Elephant Sands he told me to do it because they were shortly going to declare a Trans-frontier Park, ban hunting along the border, which has a number of hunting concessions at present and you will only get access on an officially sanctioned tour aimed primarily at Photographic Safari’s. We were advised not to take the first turning at the Vet Check Point, but go to the 102km peg and turn off, which we duly did although there were no sign posts.

Some 5kms down this road heading East and we came across what appeared to be a river bed that would be impossible to navigate in the rainy season, we go into low range and crawl along in deep sand at about 10kph for at least 10kms, we had learnt a lot from our sand experience yesterday and although the going was slow we were not getting stuck. The sad part is we saw no game, plenty of dung, but no owners.

Nearly two hours later and we turn into a camp where the two occupants Blue and Sipho tell us that we look lost, we ask them where we are and they tell us we have come into a hunting concession and the owners were out with a bunch of Americans hunting Elephant. The ladies use their toilet facility and we get directions to Pandametenga, they also tell us that in the rainy season the place is teeming with game, but the roads are bad when wet, I wanted to tell them they are not too good when it is dry. We can say “We have been there done it” as far as Hunters Road goes.

We reach Kazangula and Kasane at 14h30 and the girls decide they have to have a shower and wash their hair, whilst I entertain Sinead. We book for Dinner and enjoy a veritable feast, the lodge is close to a 5 star, but Claudia ended up in a bunk bed and they managed to find Sinead a camping cot, which she is used to at home and we wished we had brought that with as opposed to the carrier.

We see more game in the lodge grounds than we have all day, wart hogs, vervet monkey’s, which could be termed a pest, warning signs for crocodiles and hippo’s, but that could be just tourist talk, nevertheless we are very wary when walking the grounds at night.  

Denise and I shop for something suitable for lunch the next day at Choppies Spar right next door to the lodge.

We are again exhausted and are in bed by 21h00, tomorrow we will visit the Chobe National Park.

Day 2 - Martins Drift to Elephant Sands

Freedom

Padkos

Elephant Sands 

We managed to leave Kwa Nogeng at 08h15 after fining Clauidia US$1 for leaving clothes on the bathroom door after declaring the rooms clear.

After a 500 km stretch from Martins Drift we arrive at the access road to the lodge and upon stopping for a bakkie stuck in deep sand we ourselves get stuck, but, take note Michael, we luckily had our sand tracks and were out in two ticks. Other than the first stretch, which was full of pot holes, Claudia managed to scared the proverbial s---t out of us trying to avoid them and they were not ordinary pot holes they had been neatly cut out into squares and oblongs and deepened ready for repair, we eventually arrived intact at 15h00.

We stay here for another day chilling before we set of for Chobe Safari Lodge, but we cannot complain about Elephant Sands not living up to its reputation we have seen many elephants from the time we arrived and they came and went throughout the night to a waterhole that is kept topped up by the lodge, they are fussy elephants though they only want the fresh water that is pumped into a trough. This was very evident when Denise was mocked charged a couple of times because she, the elephant that is, was frustrated because the pump was not switched on and the water was finished.

They say that up to 200 elephant visit this waterhole in a 24 hour period and you can sit and watch them from as close as 5 metres a truly wonderful experience. We may do a game drive later as there is a pack of 28 wild dogs in the conservancy as well as a host of other wildlife

Day 1 - Johannesburg to Groblers Bridge/Martins Drift Botswana

                               Day 1 - Johannesburg to Groblers Bridge/Martins Drift Botswana

View from our Chalet Overlooking the Green-Grey Greasy Limpopo River
at Kwa Nogend, Martins Drift, Botswana  at Sunset

Can you believe it we got away from Home at 08h14 only 14 minutes later than planned, but I have to add we were up before the sparrow at least I was.

We had an inauspicious start mislaying the car keys before we attempted packing the car, the obvious culprits were Claudia; last in the car the evening before and Sinead; whose love for keys is only surpassed by her love for dogs, however, just my luck detective Denise retraced my steps and found them in the wine cellar don’t ask questions.

We assembled the cases, bags, camera equipment, food boxes and so much more in the garage not to mention boxes and more boxes of disposable nappies 420 some sort of calculation  by Richard, which entailed number of days multiplied by 7 to be exact where he arrives at 7 we do not know but put it down to experience.

We packed an re-packed the car at least 3 times and I was on the verge of leaving all the nappies or the baby carrier behind when brute force and ignorance came to our rescue and we squeezed the last packet of nappies between the tripod and my camera bag being assured as the days went by the nappies would be reduced by 7 a day.

We went against the traffic up to Pretoria and one of our passengers were heard to remark “just look at all those suckers going to work” We made good time with a break at Kranskop of around 45 minutes and finally arriving at the border at 13h15 after a 5 hour trip (426kms) only to find a long queue on the RSA side and only one immigration officer on duty; good practise for future patience we are going to have to demonstrate at another sixteen border posts over the next 2 months. Expecting an even worse situation in Botswana we were pleasantly surprised when we found they out numbered RSA by 10 to 1 and they were most friendly and efficient.

Our first stop at Kwa Nogeng Lodge is just over the border right on the banks of the Limpopo River and situated in the Tuli block nature reserve a more than adequate overnight stop and we checked in at 14h30. I got a fright when the receptionist said she did not have our booking unless we were Michelle Daneel what a relief as Michelle had assisted me with the reservation, mind you I do not know what we were worrying about I think we are the only ones at the lodge.

Eat your hearts out we are sitting on a veranda overlooking the Limpopo with a frosty in hand looking at squirrels, and Arrow-marked Babblers Grey Louries, Burchells Starlings, but have not spotted any crocodiles in the grey-green, greasy Limpopo River so we cannot feed Sinead to them, to be honest she has been good except for a screaming match after Potgietersrus, but Mom’s milk was the perfect pacifier and she had a good two hours sleep, which is what she needed.

 We are off to dinner on this, our first night, of our Africa Safari and the thought of no borders for the next 5 days is a joy to behold.

One More Sleep to Go

"Salama" loaded and ready to roll

It took all day to just load the roof rack, thank goodness for Michael, sorry about the strained cartilage in your chest Mike, I just hope I never have to take the second spare down let alone put it back again. We thought a Swahili name would be appropriate and have named the vehicle "Salama: which means "Safe"

Why do last minute arrangements take so long? it is because the dialogue goes something like this - Where should I put this? have you got Panado? that will not be safe there, leave space for this, don't forget that. Seriously though everyone has played their part. Richard had fun and games sorting out the DVD player we are taking along for Sinead, thanks to Karen, it will probably only give her 15 minutes of distraction every now and again, but better than nothing. It is starting to feel like the plan is coming together and if nothing else we are certainly going to look the part.

I am hoping for an 08h00 start tomorrow when we head out for Martins Drift border post with Botswana and just over the border we stay the night at Kwa Nogeng Lodge on the banks of the Limpopo the Setswana name means At the River. I liked the Rudyard Kipling quote from "The Elephant's Child" on their web site; "My father has spanked me, and my mother has spanked me; all my aunts and uncles have spanked me for my "satiable curiosity; and still I want to know what the Crocodile has for dinner!"

Then the Kolokolo Bird said with a mournful cry, "Go to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees and find out."  Well I am not sure if we will find out what the crocodile has for dinner but at least we have been warned.

Africa Safari 2013 begins tomorrow 15th July 2013.

The Final Countdown

We are two sleeps from departure date and we hope that we do manage to get a good nights sleep as we tend to wake up early like 04h00 and cannot get back to sleep and have tried everything other than a sleeping tablet. The list of things that we think we have forgot seems to be endless, but in the cold light of day it has been taken care of or the task cannot be completed until the last day in any event.
We have had problems with our portable fridge, which was not even a year old and had only done one trip to the Cape that is quick even by the apparent built in timer device that ensures the appliance blows up on its due date.
I know we will get away on time and we have a number of helpers coming to our home tomorrow to help load the vehicle, one item is the second spare wheel that is mounted on the roof, heaven help us if we have to get it down en route, but we know Africa you think there is nobody around when you stop then suddenly you are surrounded by many locals who want to help you in return for a small something, at least that is what I am banking on.
Tomorrow will be telling and we may have to limit the ladies packing list, which could be difficult if not impossible.
With the problems in Mozambique we have had to have a plan "B" and a plan "C"with "B" being back via Zimbabwe depending on whether or not Robert won the elections and "C" back via Botswana, the decision is in the hands of the politicians, not unusual on the African continent.

D Day + 11

All we need now is for the Rand to strengthen against the US$ as we need to get our foreign currency in the next week. It is the week for all the small things to be finalised, medicine check list, list of computers and cameras for border customs a just in case list as we had to do this when we visited Namibia in 2011, packing list of groceries and utensils for our self catering stops, I now see I may need a police clearance certificate if crossing into Zimbabwe through Chirundu, which we may do, now that Mozambique as become a possible no go area and a 101 other things including to remember to take our malaria tablets on Sunday.

I got 12 copies of my vehicle registration papers certified at the Gallo Manor police station, I feel for the police officers as all they did the whole time I was there was sign everything from ID's, matric certificates, birth and death certificates, no not for me, by the end of his/her day I am sure they would have writers cramp.

I give an example of the border requirements and costs, this one is for Zimbabwe:-
Third Party Insurance - R225
Road Access Fee - R270 for a 4x4
Beit Bridge Border Post Fee - R100
Exit Pass - R70
Carbon Pollution Tax - R270 for large vehicle
Total Fees R1035
Heaven help you if you do not have Red and White Reflective strips on front and rear bumpers, white in front and red on the rear, Temporary import permit, 2 x warning triangles on a metal plate, which you cannot find for love nor money. Fire extinguisher, safety vests and a ZA sticker.

This sort of list is more or less the same for all border posts, we will definitely get caught out with the steel warning triangles, but they must have something they can fine you for or just make your crossing a miserable event, but we must just keep our cool.

Preparation Phase 3

We have had a couple of busy days getting parts from Front Runner to secure the ammo boxes on the roof rack, connections for the cooler, certyified copies of vehicle registration papers, but the time consumer was cancelling bookings at Gorongosa National Park , Ugezi Tiger Lodge, Archipelego Resort, and Casa John in Mozambique due to warnings about unrest and clashes between Renamo and Frelimo (Government Ruling Party), see the following warnings, although surprise! surprise! nothing on official Government web sites:-

" We have been receiving increased enquiries of this situation in Mozambique, and according to the information received, would highly discourage travel in this area until the situation has been neutralised.

There is a high level of violent political unrest in the central provincial area of Mozambique, and there are several articles reporting tourists being fired upon" and-:

A warning on 4x4 Community web site gave a similar warning about attacks on an weapons depot south of Beira by rebels thought to be from the Renamo party killing 6 soldiers. There is no road traffic on the EN1 between Save and Muxungwe. The impact on tourism and investment if the Government does not get it under control will be severe. 

The first was from a travel agency in whose interest is not to spread alarm and I am grateful to them for their transparency.

So what now? The option is either back through Zambia and Botswana or Zambia and Zimbabwe and with the elections timed for end July in Zimbabwe we will have to see if they are free and fair and without violence. Decisions, decisions.

Sinead had her yellow fever inoculation today and we were advised she could get headaches and possibly a fever over the next week.