Journey Leg 3 - Botswana - Zambia - Lake Malawi
Something about a Plan!
The plan for this trip was to head north from Joburg to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (Botswana side), stay at Mabuasehube and cross into the Central Kalahari to meet my friends, Inge and Marc, with their Landy ‘Uthando on the Road’
We’d planned 4 nights together, Xade, Lekube & Leopard pan. We would then split, Hari and I heading to Liuwa Plains, as far west as it gets in Zambia, for a few days to see the wildebeest migration, the largest next to that in Tanzania, before heading over to Senga Bay Malawi – a 1500km trek and as far east as we would have been west!
But it all went wrong when Tinus the Tent man, instead of seeing me safe as he’d ‘said’ he would, took a 2000 kilometre vacation, or hired Hari out (who knows), as well as a substantial amount of money for the work on Hari that he didn’t do! The ladder he made was full of water and the wheel bracket dangerous, pulling at Hari’s frame. Those were kindly fixed by Tanya’s neighbour who has a welding yard. With Hari unfit for purpose, I admitted him to a reputable 4x4 workshop for the most urgent work - the severe pull to left on braking and in cruise, broken fuel pump and AC in that order! They were busy, I didn’t have much time - they did what they could. However, on collection the pull was still there. Out of time and money we left foregoing Liuwa plains, as my daughter Georgia would be arriving in Lilongwe for the journey back and I couldn’t risk not being able to pick her up!
McArthy’s Rest border was an experience. Having booked an overnight stay, close by, we found it deserted and couldn’t get in! Eventually we did but on seeing our cabin full of bugs and a camel spider, I opted for the roof tent! Jack, a cute, but seemingly lonely, Jack Russell guarded us all night and jumped into Hari on leaving - sadly we couldn’t take him.
Mabuasehube - Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park - Botswana
Mabuasehube was wild, open and exactly what was needed. Wildlife was sparse, a chance leopard sighting as it came for water and some squirrels. No matter - the solitude was enough. Finding some poaching wire I was able to ‘bush fix’ the the rear wheel bracket to latch it to the ladder, as the screw fixing had broken. That was later swapped out for a bungee as it was a bit stiff and there was no danger as the wheel bracket itself had been made safe and secure. I also forged a couple of hooks out of the metal to hang up my safari vanity unit!
Mabuasehube - Kang - Ghanzi
After four days driving around a relatively deserted Kgalagadi, bar some South Africans shining their lights across the plain all night, we headed direct to Kang.
Taking the wrong track we were subjected to such a brutal corrugations, we could only manage 15 km/h for 160 km! I think that was the most monotonous, uncomfortable and uninteresting distance we ever covered.
Kang rewarded me with The Kalahari Rest Lodge campsite and an excellent eland steak. The ride though had taken it’s toll on the fridge that packed up again (had happened a few times previously care of extreme heat and insulting bumps and bruises). This time there was burning and smoke! In Ghanzi we got lucky finding a south African electrician, on a day off, who fixed it for us whilst I had a drink & a bite in the shade of a local hostelry.
From Ghanzi to Xade Gate the road was long — dust, roadworks, deep, deep sand and a few stand-off’s re who was going to take the worst side of the road! I was on the left, and correct side, so really it should have been them, but as usual the Landy is seen as the strongest! We met Marc and Inge heading out when we were supposed to meet 'in’ - their brakes had failed so change of plan as they had to get to Ghanzi for a fix! No sooner had we left them than something started banging around behind - the bracket holding the water tanks on the roof had broken. Thanks for ratchet straps!
Central Kalahari Game Reserve
Entering the park at Xade Gate, the camp was quite run down. It was also wet and deserted and people had clearly cancelled so we camped close to the gate and the manager there kindly took me to the staff area so I could use the wifi to contact Mark and Inge who’d decided to come in from the north and meet us at Lekhubu.
I stayed one night at Xade, where I had another visit from some hornbills - after Hari’s window rubber again! Sunset with a Hunters Dry saw a relaxing end to the day and next morning we set off to Piper Pan without a booking.
It was an easy drive and we found a waterhole with some impala and eagles and a playful elephant, when we returned later. The weather closed in with howling wind and rain so I slept on the back seat in place of the roof tent!
Lekhubu “camp” was no more than a flat patch of ground. Rigging up the shower I got clean and left to explore the area, a note etched in the sand for Inge and Marc. We arrived back at camp coincidentally and caught up over a glass of wine and supper, turning in early after an exhausting day. I very nearly trod on a scorpion but Marc spotted it in time, thankfully! Next morning they told me a couple of bakkies arrived at midnight, with their inhabitants shouting and shooting. I hadn’t heard a thing! The storms, having rolled in early, left the Kalahari somewhat deserted by animals and humans alike. Wet and cold we decided to move on.
Central Kalahari - Maun - Nata
Hari and I went north to Maun. Home again at Sandra’s, there was work to be done.
The tent was leaking badly, no surprise there - the tent man was as good with tents as mechanics! I’d not been in rain yet so hadn’t had the chance to test it for water proofing! The roof water tanks bracket was broken and the main water tank underneath the vehicle had pulled away from Hari’s body. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t get the lid on the tank (inside nearside rear in the vehicle) something had shifted but couldn’t figure out what!
A fantastic cover was made for the tent (again Botswana workmanship so impressive) and the bracket and water tank were fixed by a team of roadside welders. Oyapu, my Maun mechanic, wasn’t available to check the pull to left but we changed the front tires over which helped a little! Two weeks later it was goodbye again and on to Nata.
With a quick stop to check out Planet Baobab and the meerkat trips, we headed on across the Makgadikgadi on the exceptionally badly potholed road, shared with ele’s and zebras, to Rupert’s Eselbe Camp. A great time was had there with an outing to the bird sanctuary with Michael, an English guy on his way back to Tanzania where he teaches kids sport at a local NGO community school. He joined us to Livingstone. This time the Zambian border at Kazungula wasn’t friendly, demanding Police clearance - but I managed somehow to get through!
Livingstone - Lusaka - South Luangwa
At The Waterfront I met up with Oscar again. He was installing a borehole for his orphanage school but he still needed funds for a brick school and toilet block to be able to formalise his NGO. We took the main road to Lusaka. There were huge mushrooms being sold by the road and I had to get some - biggest edible mushrooms in the world apparently. They were also selling eggs and ground nuts - it gave me a small insight as to how Oscar lived when he was trying to pay for his education. Through Lusaka we inched 2 k’s in as many hours! Arriving at Pioneer Lodge camp, Chongwe, in the dark, it was a quick bite and bed with an early start to make South Luangwa in a day. The landscape through petauke, Sinda, Katete to Chipata was stunning. From Chipata we took the very potholed road to Mfuwe and South Luangwa.
Croc Valley Camp on the Luangwa River was the perfect spot -close to the park which, bar a myriad of typically naughty vervet monkeys, was peaceful and relaxing. Venturing early morning into the park with our guide, Standwell, the scenery was stunning. Thornicroft giraffes (only found in the Luangwa valley) eyed us, their square patterns proud and vibrant against the bright green foliage. Crawshay’s Zebras, with their intense black stripes, so dazzling you could hardly focus on them, more defined and without the ‘brown shadow line’ of the Burchell’s zebra, grazed lazily and gun metal armoured elephants too, contrasted sharply against a symphony of leafy green and gold hues. It is really quite beautiful there and as they’d had so much rain, even more so. In fact the landscape throughout was so green and lush and in stark contrast to my experience in the previous two legs of this sub-Saharan journey.
South Luangwa - Senga Bay & Cape Maclear Malawi
Finding a small track out of South Luangwa and avoiding many of the potholes was a plus! Crossing easily into Malawi, we were subsequently stopped for speeding by a policeman called Gift — and “gifted” him accordingly. He stopped us on the way back too!
Again, we transited beautiful landscape. Malawi felt busier than Zambia - more bicycles, farming, movement and Salima town was a hive of activity.
Arriving at The Wheelhouse on Lake Malawi in good time, we discovered total relaxation and beauty. Jenna and her husband Clint were welcoming warm and hugely helpful as were the staff. I explored the little in a kayak and relaxed at the bar which extends out over the lake - perfect for sundowners.
We took a drive over to Cape Maclear, to check it out, as I’d originally planned to stay there. Whilst it was lovely, I preferred The Wheelhouse, so just stayed one night. I went out on the lake to see the fish eagles, learned to play and bought a game of Bao to teach Georgia when she arrived. Cape Maclear another day maybe..
Georgia arrives - Senga Bay - Livingstone
Georgia arrived on 8th December and we spent 4 days relaxing, getting her accustomed to the tent, playing Bao and visiting the local markets for souvenirs. The weather was closing in so a decision was made to head south earlier than planned, to get ahead of it.
Having just passed her driving test and with Hari also tiring after his long journey and slightly under the weather even as we set out, Georgia handled him really well, and getting the hang of double de-clutching. Her first experience of driving, legally, on commercial ‘roads’ and one not to be forgotten. Pushing on to Livingstone with only one overnight stop at The Bridge Camp, was tough driving and very wet. We got caught by 3 trucking accidents, eventually making it to The Waterfront in the dark (not recommended in Africa), somewhat exhausted! Weather was bad but we managed to get Georgia up in a microlite for a flight over the falls. The pilot told her she must go to the Vic Falls forest. That meant an unplanned trip into Zimbabwe!
Vic Falls - Zimbabwe
Unplanned but eventful and worth it! First plus - we wouldn’t have to face Kazangula going back from Zambia! Georgia got to tick off another country and as Hari had developed a rather worrying problem centred around gears and clutch, we were able to pop into John’s workshop and have him checked out.
Crossing into Zimbabwe I thought it would be nice for Georgia to walk across the bridge, so I let her out and I parked on the other side to walk back to her - except she wasn’t there! There was a lot of official activity coming my way and it appeared that getting out on the bridge was a no, no, and she’d been arrested. So it went, as it often does in Africa, I had to cross the bridge and pay a bribe for her release to someone who looked like he’d just come off the set of Apocalypse Now! In Vic Falls we stayed at the Backpackers Lodge, where I’d stayed before but in a tent this time - just too wet! Having seen the Falls in the sunshine they were really quite impressive in the rain and fog as well - thunderous and moody!
Vic Falls - Kasane - Nata
We crossed into Kasane from Zimbabwe and stayed at Chobe Bush Lodge, took a river cruise, and drove along a lush, green Chobe River, unusually devoid of elephants, but beautiful with lots of game and a couple of lions thrown in. Frogs and warthogs were in abundance, the latter taking a keen interest in our breakfast! It poured down more or less the whole time we were there! In Kasane Hari was fitted with new shoes, and we were confidently told that his swerve to the left was the equivalent of the lower control arm bushes. Stay posted for the end story here!
Senyati Safari Camp followed, beautiful though a bit run down, and our last night in the roof tent! From there to Rupert’s Eselbe Backpackers, https://www.eselbecamp.com/ which delivered to expectations, Rupert the perfect host, and a fun evening was had by all!
We were also ‘treated’ to the sight of a 2.5m black mamba, alerted to us by a bush baby, unusually out in daylight, sitting in the rafters it’s eyes fixed unwaveringly on its adversary! Rest assured the mamba was moved to another territory at least 2k away, out of harms way, and the bushbaby lived to tell the tale!
We went kayaking on the River Nata and my phone got accidentally lost forever to the muddy bottom! Georgia, being the culprit, was truly mortified between her fits of hysterical laughter - it was actually quite funny and actually quite cathartic not to have a phone.
Nata - Tuli Wilderness - Madikwe - Joburg
From Rupert’s we went direct to Tuli Wilderness, south eastern Botswana, for a couple of nights - luxury! Totally different landscape, rugged and rocky but green for all the rain! Food was excellent - Joe our guide, great. Found us brown hyenas and a leopard. Though we had a flat tire within striking distance of the latter and it was hunting - eyeing up both a us and a herd of impala! Georgia was worried but there were six of us - I told her to stand at the back! We also had an incident with a scorpion that attached itself to our curtain - with much ado, it was finally despatched, together with the unfolded case of our playing cards, to the forest.
From Tuli we made our way to Tau Lodge in Madikwe South Africa via a night stop in a hotel in Gaborone, crossing over at the Tlokweng border post. Another couple of nights of luxury and great game drives. We completed the Big Five, plus the 5 brothers Cheetah and wild dogs on a kill. All in all a perfect four days to finish the trip.
Home to Tanya in Joburg for Christmas
From here it was a short 4 hours drive to Tanya’s for Christmas and Georgia’s Birthday which we spent at a local country club.
A visit to an artisan market at Hartbeesport finished it off nicely before leaving for the airport to head back to Europe. Even that though didn’t go quite as planned.
As we drove out of the property, with Tanya at the helm, the accelerator cable snapped! Thank goodness, we were so close to home still and she had another vehicle.
We left Hari on the side of the road to be rescued later.
