In August 2024 we travelled 3,700kms in twelve days from Cape Town to Maun via Khaudum National Park in Namibia. I was travelling with our friend, Annie, a Canadian who lives in Türkiye and who travelled in 1979 with us and seventeen others in a truck from London to Kathmandu in eleven weeks.
This was my first trip using my newly acquired vehicle. For the last ten years I have been driving a 2010 Toyota Fortuner. I suspect that I had pushed that vehicle further than Toyota had planned for. I have now purchased a 1999 Land Cruiser 105 4.5 litre straight line six-cylinder engine with 370,000 kms on the clock. I am the eighth owner in 25 years. The man I bought it from had owned it for nine years and had done 100,000 kms, mainly on tar roads. A Land Cruiser mechanic in Paarl had checked over the vehicle, repaired a few leaks and declared that the engine was in good condition. This was good news because my research had taught me that this engine would normally be rebuilt at 350,000 kms and could be rebuilt three times. I am clearly going to have to have this engine rebuilt in the next 50,000 kms. A disadvantage of driving a vehicle this old is that modern facilities are missing like cruise control, variable wiper speeds, more comprehensive air conditioning, warning signals for lights left on and seat belts not connected and a lack of cup holders! Driving this vehicle on this trip proved to be an absolute delight with it tackling all obstacles without any difficulty.
When I quote prices, I use the original currency. At the beginning of my trip the exchange rates to the GB pound were: South African Rand 23.5, Botswana Pula 17.30, Namibian Dollar 23.5 and US$ 1.21. I have used these rates throughout this report, irrespective if rates changed or the actual conversion rates differed.
Day 1 – Tuesday 20th August – Cape Town to Klein Pella – 739 kms
We left Cape Town at 07h00 and immediately diverted via Paarl. I had bought a new Garmin GPS the day before, needed the maps of Tracks for Africa loaded and found the instructions too stressful in the time I had. We popped into their office, and they downloaded the maps to my GPS in five minutes.
We stopped for a late breakfast at Kardoessie just before Citrusdal.
The route through Namaqualand was interspersed with splashes of colourful Namaqualand daisies in bloom and a whole field below the church in Garies.
We filled up in Garies and Springbok and bought provisions in Springbok.
We took the road towards Upington and turned off to Klein Pella where we stayed at the guesthouse of the Karsten date farm.
The receptionist explained that the previous owner of the farm had travelled to Israel in the sixties to see what they grew in semi arid conditions, albeit with plentiful supply of water (in his case, from the Orange River). He was inspired to start date growing and bought plants initially from Israel and later from California. Today they have 33,000 trees of which 22,000 are fruit bearing. They grow the king of dates, the fleshy Medjool date. Almost all their produce is exported, mainly to the Middle East. They produce more pollen than they need and sell the excess to other date farms at the rate of R10,000 per kilogram. They also grow table grapes which is the product grown mainly on other Karsten farms. Annie bought a kilogram of dates (R85) to take home, and we bought 500 grams of pitted dates to eat over the next few days.
Just before sunset we drove through the date plantations.
Day 2 – Wednesday 21st August – to Pella and then to Ramansdrift – 218 kms
We left Klein Pella just after 08h00 as we had an appointment to view the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Pella at 09h00. A nun showed us around the cathedral which had been built in 1895. It is a simple and pretty place of worship and is managed by the three nuns who live in the adjacent convent.
We started on the Namakwa 4×4 Eco Trail by ascending Charlie’s Pass behind Pella. The Trail has been designed using existing tracks and roads and gaining right of access to some areas. Charlie’s Pass is attractive and on two occasions I engaged low range to be sure of passing a slightly complex track surface. The track touched the Orange River and the rose up some hills.
The Karsten Klein Pella estate has granted access rights to Trail participants, and we then crossed the farm passing by the date and grape plantations which we had seen the night before. Soon after leaving the farm, we joined the main road to Witbank. We turned off this large road on to a track towards the Hartbeesmond campsite on the Orange River where we had lunch. I am pleased that we turned off because this a far more attractive route than going directly to Witbank.
After lunch we followed a track along the river through the hamlet of Witbank and on along a pleasant track towards Melhoutboom.
We stopped to chat to a couple who were practising their running and who were wild camping on the river. The track turned inland and did a big, pleasant loop back towards Ramansdrift. Our objective had been the campsite at Ramansdrift, but it was fully booked with two vehicles, so I had booked a site (via WhatsApp) at Sampies se Kampie which is in the valley to the west of Ramansdrift.
We followed the coordinates to Sampie se Kampie and arrived at a few ramshackle buildings. Sampie se Seun directed us to the riverbank and showed us a pretty, flat, grassed site. I assume that this site is a public place that anyone can camp at and accepted that the R500 fee I had paid Sampie was essentially to show us where a good site is. We pitched camp, lit a fire and enjoyed our whiskies as the sun set, and the river flowed by.
I got cold in the early hours of the morning and had to add extra clothing.
Day 3 – Thursday 22nd August – to Nordoewer, Namibia – 129 kms
We passed through the village of Goodhouse.
Soon thereafter passed beneath the structure supporting the water pipes of the water pumping station.
We were now on a wide gravel road.
I reflected on the Namawa 4×4 Eco Trail and concluded that it was somewhat disappointing. Charlie’s Pass was fun. If we had stayed on the main road to Witbank, which is offered as an alternative, we would have travelled a long distance on a big gravel road. By turning off to Hartbeesmond we enjoyed a pleasant but not challenging track. The track from Witbank to Goodhouse, including the deviation to Ramansdrift and Sampie se Kampie was also pleasant but not challenging. Otherwise, there were too many public gravel roads and too many settlements. Except for Charlies Pass and accessing the riverbank at Sampies se Kamp there had been no need for low range 4×4. There are many road and track junctions on the Trail and most have a Namakwa 4×4 signboard indication the direction one should go but many do not have sign boards, risking a wasteful wrong direction. Having left Goodhouse it now appeared that the route would be on good gravel roads to the N7 highway. At a junction, my sat nav (set for Vioolsdrift) indicated that I should proceed on the left fork while a Namkwa 4×4 sign board indicated the right fork. I am so pleased I did. It meandered over hills through lovely countryside ensuring a happy end to the trail.
We turned on to the N7 tar and soon reached the Vioolsdrift border post. We whipped through the South African side but on the Namibian side were caught behind four men with a car, trailer and four motor bikes on the trailer. I waited a good while at the Road Fund desk as they were processed.
Just beyond the border at Nordoewer we filled up and I was disappointed to see that petrol was about the same price as in South Africa, whereas historically, I found fuel to be cheaper in Namibia.
We followed the Orange River ten kilometres downstream and at about 16h00 checked into the Felix Unite base for their kayaking trips. In 2017 Tibby and I had launched from here on a four day, 70 kms, trip down the river with two other guests and two excellent guides who were also outstanding chefs. We slept on the riverbank and turned over in the water twice. Their base is an excellent stopover, and we enjoyed drinking beers overlooking the pool and the river.
Day 4 – Friday 23rd August – to Mariental – 538 kms
I had been awake for a few hours during the night and was woken past 07h00, by Annie knocking on my door, me having overslept.
We now had two long days of travel to get 1,250 kms north to Grootfontein.
We smiled at the sign that welcomed us to the land of meat.
We stopped for breakfast at Toekies Deli in Grunau.
We arrived at the Gondwana Anib Kalahari Lodge at about 14h30. The lodge is 20kms off the main road and was the most expensive night of our trip. Annie and I had stayed at the lodge twice on our October 2022 trip and I had stayed a few times before. Each time the rack rate increased, and it was only the 40% discount offered to SADC holders of their Gondwana Card that makes it acceptable to stay in the lodge (they also have a campsite, which I suspect will be my place of stay on my next trip). The architecture of the lodge is beautiful and the arrangement and fitting of the rooms is attractive. We snacked on cheese Nachos as we relaxed in their bar looking out to the lawns. The lodge was busy with several European groups visiting.
I went for a swim and quickly exited the pool when I felt how cold It was.
I joined sixty others in eight game drive vehicles for a sunset game drive. Because of the drought the lodge is providing feed for animals near the lodge. I counted forty eland, twenty springbok and a few oryx. Our guide, Mackie, drove us over the dunes showing us wildebeest, giraffe, kudu, oryx and springbok as well as huge birds’ nests. We joined up with two of the other vehicles near the top of a dune and enjoyed drinks as the sun set.
Day 5 – Saturday 24th August – to Grootfontein – 707 kms
We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn.
This was our longest day of driving. We were able to travel fast on good tar roads and relatively little traffic.
We stopped in south Windhoek at the Food Lovers Store and stocked up for five nights of planned catering. The new Windhoek bypass took us around the city.
Late in the afternoon we arrived at HH320 guesthouse in Grootfontein. The normal host, Herman, has a reputation of being an excellent chef and being very knowledgeable on Khaudum National Park. Unfortunately, he was away for the weekend and so we were hosted by Lizette, the owner of the house, who had come in from her farm. Lizette (67) was delightful, telling us about growing up on a farm near Grootfontein, marrying a dentist, living in London for two years and now living on her farm in her widowed years. The rooms were simple, if a little old fashioned.
Lizette sent us five kilometres out of town to Pondoki Lodge and Restaurant where children ran around in a pack and my oxtail stew was perfect.
Day 6 – Sunday 25th August – to Sikereti Camp in Khaudum National Park – 386 kms
After coffee and rusks, we bade farewell to Lizette.
Our destination for the next few days was Khaudum National Park, a little-known park, on the Botswana border, renowned for its sandy roads and large herds of elephant. The reserve had suffered in COVID, but I had heard that Sikereti Camp, in the south had been taken over by new concession holders. I booked two nights in the Sikereti self catering tents and two nights in the campsite at Khaudum North. I was carrying four 20 litre jerry cans of petrol to get me through the length of the park, on sandy roads and then on to Divundu. We filled up the jerry cans the previous evening in Grootfontein.
After 45 kms on the tar road towards Rundu we turned east for 200 kms on a wide, well graded gravel road to Tsumkwe.
As we approached Tsumkwe I had three worries (a) while I knew that there was a filling station in Tsumkwe I wondered if they would have fuel (b) would they be open on a Sunday and (c) would they accept payment for fuel by credit card? I need not have worried. A bowser of diesel and a bowser of petrol awaited us, open to serve us and charge our credit card! We left Tsumkwe with 95 litres in the main tank, 45 litres in the sub tank and 80 litres in jerry cans. Did we have enough?
About 30kms from Tsumkwe we turned east on to an unmarked 2.5 km road to the Dorsland Grootboom. The Dorsland (Thirsty Land) Trekkers left the Pretoria area in three separate groups in the six years from 1874. They were Afrikaaners who disagreed with the then current Afrikaaner Government in the Transvaal and were determined to find a better land. They were generally poorly educated to the extent that for some time they believed that they could reach Jerusalem in 1,500 kms (rather than the actual 9,000 kms). They trekked with their ox wagons through the centre of the Kalahari Desert in today’s Botswana where they and their animals suffered from a lack of water. They stopped for a long time at Ngami Lake (which we will visit later this trip) where the earlier groups were caught up by the third group. They were an argumentative, opinionated group who voted often to replace their leaders, with some peeling off on their own. They were already suffering death from Malaria which was to devastate their number. As the main group headed northwest, they arrived at the GrootBoom (Big Tree) which is a huge old Baobab tree. They continued into what is now Angola, to Humpata where they settled. In 2017 I visited some of their graves near Humpata, when I visited Angola. Later some of them returned south to settle in what is now northern Namibia.
We had arrived at the GrootBoom in better health than the trekkers, suffering from neither thirst nor malaria. We marvelled at the size of the tree and could understand why it was a pleasant place to stop. Today many people wild camp at the tree.
We were greeted at the southern gate of Khaudum NP by Ranger Fatima who charged us N$100 per day for Annie, N$70 per day for me as a South African and N$50 for the car. We were paying less than £10 in total per day for access to the park. They are selling themselves too cheaply!
Seven kilometres further on we arrived at Sikereti Camps to be met by Edwin Fernandez, the manager and co-owner of the concession. He rung his hands and apologised that a group of eleven who had arrived the day before and booked and paid in February, had not appeared in their reservations calendar. They were now ensconced in our tents until tomorrow. We declined Edwin’s request for us to camp and were then offered accommodation at either Tsumkwe Lodge or in a new ranger’s house at the reserve gate. Not wanting to backtrack to Tsumkwe we accepted the ranger’s house which we would be taken to after dinner.
I was confused because we were being offered dinner when their website spoke only of self catering. Edwin told us that they had only recently hired a chef. He told us that he and his brother, Henry, owned a printing press in Windhoek and never having been involved in hotels, had won the tender for the concession of Sikereti Camp two years ago. He led us into their newly built lounge and dining area which is a spectacular vaulted hall with six large windows with folding panes, looking out on to a swimming pool. At 13h30 on a very hot Sunday all the guests from the eight tents and the guests from the camping site were relaxing in the lounge and around the pool. This was a busy scene. Soon afterwards people escaped the afternoon heat by going for a nap. We had nowhere to go to nap!
We had learnt that the 5,000 elephants are kept in the park by the rangers pumping water from boreholes to pools. At 16h00 we drove north to Soncana waterhole where we mounted the viewing platform to look at the one hundred elephants drinking water. It was a magnificent scene, but I felt that we were too far from the elephants to see any of the detail normally asocoiated with elephants drinking. We moved on to Shiyambi (10 kms further north) and Omuramba (4 kms) waterholes where there were no animals. On our return, as we approached Soncana again, ten elephants crossed the track in front of us.
Soncana was still busy with elephants, so we positioned ourselves with the elephants between us and the setting sun. We were joining about twenty-five other guests watching the sun set. We delighted in the scene of the sun setting over the elephants.
As we sipped our whiskies around the fire Edwin told us that his parents were born in Goa, still have a house there, but moved to Tanzania where their children were all born. Edwin did post school education in London. His father did training courses in several African countries and told his sons that Windhoek, offered particularly good opportunities. In the early 1990s, first Henry and then Edwin moved to Windhoek and over time, set up a successful printing business. Their parents (90 and 85) have moved to Windhoek but, not having any friends in Windhoek, are now planning to return to Goa. Edwin has no family and is spending most of his time running the lodge. Henry has family, continues to run the printing company and does the administration and reservations for the lodge (not well enough it seems).
Chef Benny served us a tasty three course dinner accompanied by a glass each of Alto Rouge.
After dinner Edwin led us back to the gate to a newly built and unoccupied ranger’s house with one bedroom, a lounge and a bathroom. There was a double bed in the bedroom and two single beds in the lounge but no other furniture. Edwin’s team had made the beds and left us with towels. We slept well.
Day 7 – Monday 26th August – Sikereti Camp – 129 kms
We left early and drove 25 kms to Tsoana Fontein waterhole in the southwestern corner of the park. I enjoy driving on these small tracks but wondered where the deep sand was that we had been threatened with. There were only a few kudu at the waterhole and so after a short time we headed back to Sikereti Camp where Chef Benny served a delicious breakfast.
As we were relaxing over our coffee a group of the campers arrived to check out. They had come from Grootfontein for the long weekend (today is a public holiday). It transpired that one of the group, Attie de Jager of Blitz Panelbeaters in Grootfontein, regularly does car recoveries from Khaudum. For those planning to travel to Khaudum I suggest that you save his mobile numbers of +264 81 342 4090 and +264 81 269 3707.
We made our way to our tents pitched on a wooden platform with an ensuite bathroom at the back. The furniture is limited to a double bed, bedside tables and two chairs on the veranda. We had accepted Edwin’s offer to stay two futher nights and reduce our stay at Khaudum North Camp to one night. Despite the lodge not normally doing laundry they accepted ours.
Edwin had told us that the sandy roads started north of Dussi Waterhole. I, nonetheless, had deflated my tyres from 2.5 bar to 1.8 bar.
There were no animals at Soncana but at Shiyambi, ten elephants were drinking. We pulled up close to the waterhole and turned off our engine. New elephants arrived and drank from the pool immediately in front of us. Elephants are always most interesting when drinking and we luxuriated in the joy of watching these elephants drink and play in the water.
Eventually we moved on and saw no animals at Omuramba. Just before we got to Dussi we stopped to speak to the first car we had seen that morning. The excitable French couple directed us to lions that were sleeping two kilometres past Dussi. We hurried and are sure that we found the site, but the lions had moved on. We had seen that there were no animals at Dussi. A few elephants were wandering around Tari Kora, had drunk and decided to scare us by coming too close to us. We started our engine and moved off.
We headed back the 45 kms to camp, not seeing much on the way (except for ten elephants crossing the track ahead of us) and arriving back at about 18h00.
After the heat of the day, it was a delight to sip whiskies in the cool evening air around the pool. Our dinner, served by Chef Benny, was great.
We retired early and as the night got progressively colder I was pleased that my duvet had a high tog count.
Day 8 – Tuesday 27th August – Sikereti Camp – 88 kms
We left at 08h00 and headed the 25 kms to Baikiaea Waterhole on a good track. We snacked on a nartjie and a rusk as we watched the few kudu at the waterhole.
On our return we dallied at Soncana which had accumulated thirty elephants in our absence.
After breakfast the maintenance worker, Gideon, did most of the work of decanting sixty litres of petrol from three jerry cans into the Land Cruiser tanks. We are averaging 3.84 kms per litre, have about 140 litres left and about 215 kms to go to the next petrol at Divindu. We should have enough even if we visit Tsoana Fontein for sunset and must deal with lots of sand as we head north.
We spent the next few hours relaxing with me writing this record, interrupted by a lunch of newly baked bread with the remains of our sirloin steak from last night.
It has now become clear that the pumping of water is crucial to the existence of the park. If the water was not pumped at the waterholes the animals would not be able to survive and would leave the park. All the waterholes we visited had solar panels pumping water from boreholes. At some locations the water could accumulate in reservoirs but at the busy waterholes, like Soncana, the elephants drink all the water as it is pumped. That leaves Edwin with a dilemma at times. He gets the water for the Sekereti Camp from the borehole at Soncana. When he needs water, he diverts the water from one of the two feeds, from the elephants to the camp. When his tanks are empty it takes 36 hours for them to fill from the Soncana borehole. As long as Edwin is pumping the water to the camp, the elephants must manage with half their normal supply, creating tension. The animals keep arriving at the waterholes at night when there is no solar power to drive the pumps. The rangers, therefore, visit many of the waterholes before sunset, fill generators which then run during the night until the fuel is exhausted. The vehicle of the rangers had gone to town on an errand so they had asked Edwin if he could drive them to four waterholes this afternoon. He suggested that we meet at Tsoana Fontein for sunset drinks. He left mid afternoon with the ranger and we left later, with a cooler box provided by Chef Benny. We drank our G&Ts and watched the sun set behind fifteen elephants drinking from the reservoir.
On our way back in the fading light we met Edwin and the ranger running behind schedule.
Day 8 – Wednesday 28th August – to Xaudum Camp – 115 kms
We bade Edwin and his team farewell at about 09h00 and headed north. There was not much to see at Soncana and Shiyambi but there were eight vultures sitting in a tree at Dusssi. It appeared that the lions had probably made a kill close by and the vultutres were waiting for their turn. We drove around but could not find the lions.
We had been warned that the roads are very sandy north of Dussi and so it proved to be. For long stretches we were lucky to get out of second gear or travel faster than 20 kph. The landscape also changed as we were now seeing a lot more trees.
Little was happening at Tsau, so we headed east to Leeupan which is the prettiest waterhole that we have seen with a big pool of water. Twenty vultures were drinking on the far side, ten Roan were drinking closer to us, and ten elephants were drinking at the source of the water about thirty metres from the pool. It was a delight to sit there and take in the beauty.
There was little to see when returning past Tsau and also little to see at Burkea. We now started to see grass between the trees. We arrived at Xaudum Camp at about 14h30 and set up camp on Campsite 3 which has a beautiful view over the plain towards Khaudum Waterhole (about 1.5 kms away).
We relaxed. I wrote more of this article. Three elephants came over the hill behind us and headed towards the waterhole. At 17h00 we drove down to the waterhole with a bottle of whisky and glasses and sat and watched the twenty elephants at the water hole. We were spoilt with yet another African sunset.
Day 9 – Thursday 29th August – to Shametu Camp – 143 kms
We knew that the sand was going to be bad exiting the Park and then doing the 46 kms to the main B8 road. The car bucked and swung and crawled, often at 20 kph.
We started passing villages and at one we were persuaded to stop and bought three serving baskets at N$250 each.
We got caught behind a pickup with eight people, holding on for dear life, in the back.
We reached the B8 tar road and stopped to inflate our tyres.
We turned east and sped the ninety kilometres to Divundu. I do not know why I had range anxiety. I arrived at the fuel filling station at Divundu with 65 litres in the tank and 20 litres in a jerry can.
We headed south along the Kavango River (as it is called in Namibia). It is the Cabango in Angola and the Okavango in Botswana. We checked into our campsite at Shametu Lodge which was private with our own bathroom and kitchen lapa. As WIFI engaged, my phone exploded with incoming messages, and I spent several hours fighting fires.
Annie had smaller fires to fight so she found solace in a massage in the beauty centre. We had pre dinner drinks with a lovely view over the river and then had dinner in the lodge restaurant.
Day 10 – Friday 30th August – to Drotskys Cabins – 60 kms
We entered the Mahogo Section of the Bwabwata National Park and followed a track along the riverbank. After the acute dryness of Khaudum it was a joy to see so much water. There were many hippos with a surprising number out of the water on the far bank.
The park ended at the Mohembo Border Post. We passed through the Namibian side quickly. Before we could do anything on the Botswana side, we had to present ourselves to Port Health who were checking for Mpox. Our temperatures were taken, and we answered questions about our general health. Having been declared free of Mpox we hurried to immigration and customs but were slowed by the customs computer having to be rebooted. Vetinarary services confiscated our grapes but allowed our chicken skewers into the country.
As we entered Botswana we could see the new bridge over the Okavango River. We first followed the road to the remains of the ferry point and took photos of the bridge at a distance.
We then drove to and over the bridge. We chatted to local people who were also taking photos and who were very proud of the bridge. The bridge provides improved access to the area east of the river and to the village of Sepopa. On some maps a 120-kilometre road exists between Sepopa and Khwai although I have been warned that the road is not much more than a track and not to be tackled by one car alone. I assume that in ten years’ time this will be a regular route to Khwai.
We stopped in Shakawe where I failed to resurrect the Orange mobile number from my last trip and somehow could not get clearance for a new number. The computer said no!
We arrived at Drotskys Cabins, very reluctant to camp. Management would not give us any more than a 10% discount for rooms, but we gave in and upgraded from camping to rooms.
Drotskys Cabins were set up by Jan Drotsky and his wife, 38 years ago, and comprise ten large wooden cabins and and a large communal area all surrounded by acres of green grass.
We signed up for a boat cruise and wandered up the river seeing many different birds.
We were invited to join Jan Drotsky (73) and his manager, Piet, for dinner. Jan confirmed that his ancestor was one of the Dorsland Trekkers.
Day 11 – Saturday 31st August – to Nguma Island Lodge – 180 kms
We headed south and then turned off the tar road for the 40 kms to Tsodilo Hills. On the way we were flagged down by a group of six in a mini van. They said that smoke had risen from the engine compartment, that they had refilled the radiator but now they could not restart the vehicle because of a flat battery. I suspected that their problem was bigger than a flat battery but took out my jump leads and restarted their vehicle.
Shortly after leaving them, we came across a sedan where the occupants were replacing the wheel. We left them to it.
Wikipedia says: ‘Tsodilo Hills consists of rock art, rock shelters, depressions, and caves with over 4500 rock paintings at the site. The site consists of a few main hills known as the Child Hill, Female Hill, and Male Hill. People have used the Tsodilo Hills for painting and ritual for thousands of years. UNESCO estimates that the hills contain 500 individual sites representing thousands of years of human habitation. The hills’ rock art has been linked to the local hunter gatherers. It is believed that ancestors of the San created some of the paintings at Tsodilo and were also the ones to inhabit the caves and rock shelters. There is evidence that Bantu peoples were responsible for some of the artworks at the hills. Some of the paintings have been dated to be as early as 24,000 years before present.’
Our guide led us on a two kilometre walk along the base of the Mother hill showing us a variety of paintings in eight separate locations.
On our way back to the main road we passed a group of men walking towards Tsodilo Hills. They were all the occupants of the two cars we had passed earlier. Shortly thereafter we passed the abandoned cars which were now together.
We stopped for lunch at Swamp Stop with a pleasant view over the river.
Guma Lagoon is a popular lodge at the point where the Okavango River enters the Okavango Delta. I had tried to book a campsite there but had been told that they were fully booked for the fishing season. Instead, I had booked a campsite at Nguma Island Safari Lodge, relatively close (as the Fish Eagle flies).
I was surprised to find the fourteen-kilometre road to the lodge was very sandy. I am sure some people have been caught in the sand on this road.
We arrived at a substantial gate and a substantial fence. We pressed the bell fifteen times without a response. A telephone number was displayed but we had no network connection. I used my inReach device to send a sms to the listed number without success. Several prolonged bursts on the hooter roused no one. I remembered that Jan Drotsky had (probably unfairly) mentioned that the lady owner was ill and might even be dead. I wondered if the lodge was still operating.
We concluded that the only option open to us was to return the fourteen sandy kilometres back to the village on the main road where we hoped to find a network connection to allow us to call the lodge.
As we started to head back, I saw a track going off to the left. On an impulse I turned down this track to come across a well-maintained air strip and at the bottom of the air strip I saw buildings beyond the lodge fence. We approached the fence and sat on the hooter. People came running and we were sent back to the gate where two shame faced men (who were supposed to be monitoring the gate bell on their phones) gave us access. The lodge was almost a kilometre from the gate which explained why nobody had heard us hooting. We followed a wooden walkway past wooden chalets to a delightful bar on the edge of the river. A cold beer helped us settle down.
We pitched camp and had showers.
We presented ourselves for a pre dinner drink before eating in the lodge. We were entertained by a group of four who arrived. One of the males entertained us by telling us how he grew up in Polokwane in Limpopo Province in South Africa where the local language, Padi, is very close to the Tswana language. He learnt the language on the farm from the workers and their children and thus his accent is totally correct. Often when he meets people, after first speaking to them on the phone, they are confused when they find that he is white.
Day 12 – Sunday 1st September – to Maun – 300 kms
For the first 225 kms we skirted the western side of the Okavango Delta. This was a miserable experience with the A35 tar road almost covered with potholes. When we could we drove along the gravel on the edge of the road.
At the junction of the A35 and the A3 we entered the village of Sehithwa which is on the shore of Ngami Lake. Thomas Baines, the explorer, overnighted at the Lake in 1861 on his trip from Walvis Bay to Victoria Falls. Fourteen years later the first Dorsland Trekkers spent two months at the lake, delighted to find so much water after their crossing of the Kalahari Desert. I followed my satnav to the Lake and found ourselves going down a track with thorn trees scratching the car. I remarked to Annie that the advantage of not travelling with my wife was that she would now be telling me what a fool I was to continue down this track. Annie responded by saying that she might not say it but certainly thought it! I reluctantly concluded that this was the wrong track. We returned to the village and on the other side followed a good road down to the Lake. There was no water in the lake and probably had not been for a while.
We then travelled the last 75 kms on a good tar road to Maun thus ending our trip of twelve days and 3,700 kms.
Description of my vehicle and equipment
I drive a 4.5 litre, six-cylinder, petrol 1999 Land Cruiser 105 which I bought in 2024 with 370,000 km on the clock. At the end of this trip, it had done 375,000. The vehicle is equipped with the following: Front bull bars, bash plate, snorkel, enhanced coils and shock absorbers, secondary battery system, 45 litre built in extra diesel tank, purpose built rear bumper and carriers for two spare wheels , Front Runner roof rack, a pull-out awning fixed to the roof rack, a 55 litre water tank on the roof, Front Runner stainless steel/aluminium camp table, four petrol jerry cans and a 72 litre National Luna fridge/freezer.
For when I get stuck, I carry a box of towing and snatch ropes, a high lift jack, two other jacks, an ARB portable compressor, two Desert Escape sand tracks and a spade.
On this trip we camped most nights in relative luxury with an Oztent RV4 ground tent, an Oztent RV5 ground tent, camp beds, Oztent Goanna chairs, a selection of pots, pans and cutlery and a braai grid.
I used Garmin InReach technology on this trip. Garmin developed the inReach system which allows one to communicate with others, using text messaging, through the Iridium Satellite network. The most important feature is a SOS function which sends a message to, a Garmin operated emergency centre in the USA, which then tries to exchange messages with the sender of the SOS and begin coordinating a rescue. They also have details of your emergency contacts who are advised that you have initiated a SOS signal. The inReach facility is integrated into some devices, particularly those used for hiking and marine activities. They also have a device called an inReach Mini which has minimum functionality (besides the satellite communication) and is cumbersome to use alone. It can, however, be Bluetooth paired to other devices, which makes it very powerful. I have the inReach Mini. To use the inReach facility one needs to subscribe to a Garmin satellite communication package which has three levels from emergency use only to unlimited messages. (On all the plans there are unlimited SOS messages.) One must then choose between an annual plan, paid monthly, or a plan which is only activated for the months when needed. The cheapest emergency use monthly plan is £12.50 per month and the most expensive unlimited messages, occasional use plan is £65 per month. I used the latter plan for the period covering the period of my trip.
Fuel consumption
We travelled 3,736 km, consuming 996 litres, with an average consumption of 3.75 kms per litre. The total cost for petrol was £957 and the average cost per litre, in £pence, of petrol, in the countries I travelled in, was South Africa 98p, Namibia 97p and Botswana 92p.
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