Category: South Africa & Botswana

For our last day in South Africa, we arranged a tour of Soweto. Soweto is short for South Western Townships and was the scene of the 1976 student uprising, where students were protesting the introduction of Afrikaans as the language medium of institutions.

The number killed isn’t clear, but between 176 and 700 people were slaughtered by the Apartheid police forces. The population of Soweto is approximately 5 million, packed into an area of about 106 sq. km, although the last census put the population at 1.3 million. Johannesburg has a similar population and an area larger than 500 sq. km. Soweto is home to two Nobel Prize winners, Dr. Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu.

We visited the good, the bad and the ugly. Poverty is still endemic, and the youth unemployment rate runs close to 70%. Shantytown areas still exist side by side with nice brick homes built in the ’80s.

Soweto was created in the 1930s when the white government started separating Blacks from Whites. The original settlements were born out of the area in 1886 when gold was discovered. The history of this area is both fascinating and sad, as the era of Apartheid took hold, families’ homes were destroyed and the Black population was relocated to make way for Whites.

We visited Nelson Mandela’s home; Walter Sisulu Square, where, in 1955, the Congress of the People met to draw up the Freedom Charter, an alternative vision to the repressive policies of the apartheid state; and the site of the murder of 13-year-old Hector Pieterson, who became the icon of the Soweto uprising.

In remembrance of these events, June 16 is now a public holiday in South Africa named Youth Day.

This was a sad period in the history of SA, but it was the start of the eventual dismantling of the horrible regime of apartheid, the release of Nelson Mandela and the eventual free and fair elections held April 24, 1994, which changed the history of South Africa.

There is so much more to write about on this subject, so I urge anyone who is interested to dig into the details and discover the struggles the Black people have faced and, 25 years later, still face under the corruption of their government.

Exclusionary financial and economic policies still persist and will continue under neo-liberal systems that were created to suit the needs of Europe but are implemented in Africa, which is entirely different. They do not work in favour of local communities or understand how local communities operate. The African agenda must be considered, and policies need to change.

Far too many are trapped in poverty and unemployment, and the communities will continue to suffer at the hands of the system until a true economic transformation happens.

Soweto is the epicentre of the movement that changed the history of this incredible country. It was a moving experience that opened our eyes to the struggles of the past and the struggles that exist to this day.

We departed Zambia on September 2nd after some great adventures. We gassed up and headed out from Livingstone for a one-night pit stop at Nata Lodge in Botswana and a final two-night pit stop at Mopane Bush Lodge, located in the Mapesu Private Game Reserve in northern South Africa.

The drive from Nata was supposed to take about seven hours. If only we knew what was in store.

I plotted our course using Google Maps, and it showed what I thought was the most reasonable route. We had covered some of the same roads heading up into Botswana, so it made sense to do a little backtracking. Sure, there would be some gravel roads, but I prefer this to pothole-filled roads.

The journey would take about seven hours. We would re-cross the Pont Drift border crossing into South Africa, and then it would be a short drive to our lodge.

Our GPS had a different route, which would take us through Martin’s Drift border crossing. The route was a little farther and a roundabout way to go, but the roads would be paved and therefore—and therefore what? I’m not sure.

We have had many issues with our Garmin GPS, but for some reason, we decided to trust it this time. In the back of my mind, I knew it was a mistake.

We hit Martin’s Drift crossing at 1:00 pm, a five-hour drive so far. Not seeing any traffic on the way, we expected a quick crossing into South Africa. Us and 500 other people, cars and semi-trailers were probably expecting the same thing!

An hour later, we were off and running. Our GPS showed an arrival time of 5:20 pm. My calculation was 5:00 pm at the latest.

We proceeded down some very out-of-the-way side roads, mostly good until we hit the potholes. The goddamned potholes! I thought we were done with this.

We followed the R572 to the R521, turned right, then headed east and onto the R522 or 23 or some number, then the N1 until, finally, our GPS indicated a left turn with only about an hour left to go. Finally!

The turnoff had a couple of signs. None of them indicated Mopane Bush Lodge. This should have been a warning, but we trusted our GPS and shouldn’t have.

We drove and drove and finally hit a curve in the road. Our GPS said go straight. There was a road that went straight, but it was blocked by a large gate. There was no one in sight, and there were no signs. That was an ominous sign.

Below is what Google Maps suggested as a route and the one I figured would be best!

Below is what our Garmin GPS suggested.

After we hit the curve in the road, backed up and confirmed we couldn’t proceed as directed, we figured we had no choice but to continue on. Our GPS showed us travelling in a large circle. The road became more unfriendly, and there was not a soul in sight. We had no choice but to continue driving, hoping for a miracle.

Finally, we saw someone up ahead, so we asked if he knew Mopane Bush Lodge. He didn’t, but fortunately, another vehicle was approaching. We flagged them down, explained our GPS had us going around in what looked like circles, and we had a laugh—ha ha ha.

They thought they had heard of the lodge. They thought it was near the town of Musina and, yes, there was a tar road only a kilometre or two away. Great, the sun was getting low, but at least we would be in a semi-civilized area. What we had passed along this road so far were the backsides of game farms and hunting concessions.

We hit the main highway, the N1. The N1? That was the road we had originally turned off on our way to “the lodge.”

We stopped and pondered our situation as the sun slowly set over the horizon. Let’s try re-entering the damn lodge into the GPS.

We did, and this time it showed us driving north on the N1 to Musina, about 60 km away, turning left onto the R521, driving another 63 km and voilà, we would be at Mopane. Okay, let’s do it.

As we were driving, we passed the road to nowhere that we were originally told to turn left onto. That was about 30 km before Musina, so we had no idea how many extra kilometres we had driven just to get back to our first point of no return.

It was dusk, and small bugs started splattering on the windshield, making for a not-so-good driving and viewing experience, when all of a sudden, we heard a noise, a crash, a thump. Now what?

I looked in my side-view mirror—the only one I had left due to an encounter with a tree at Liuwa Plain NP—and saw our table bouncing and crashing onto the highway.

Another “Oh no! Hari Kari” moment. We were so fortunate this didn’t happen on a busy road or highway. I backed up, whimpering under my breath so as not to upset my princess navigator, bent the table legs back into place, opened the back of the truck and barely got the thing to fit inside.

Onward we went until we hit the main intersection in Musina. Our GPS told us to turn left, proceed 63 km and all of our dreams would come true. We sat at the intersection with our hazard lights blinking.

Do we trust our GPS? Nope.

We were able to flag down a car and ask if he knew Mopane Bush Lodge. He did! Our GPS was correct, so I started driving—and then the potholes. All we needed was a flat tire now.

My eyes are not the best for driving at night, so we took our time, the GPS counting down our arrival time: 55 minutes (damn), 45, 30, 10—and then the sign! Hallelujah!

Of course, the whole time, we were worried the gate would be closed and we would end up camping at the entrance. We turned onto the gravel road and proceeded, and in the distance…a locked gate!

In my mind, I was thinking I could honk the horn, flash the lights, maybe drain some fuel from the tank and make an IED that might get their attention. Fortunately, we spotted a small glowing light emanating from a post near the gate.

An intercom! Manna from heaven, communication to the other side—but would there be anyone on the other side?

I pushed the button. It rang and rang and rang, and then stopped. Aren’t they waiting for us? Did they think we changed our plans? Stop crying!

The intercom crackled again, and then, like God’s voice talking down to Moses, a “hello”—and the gate slowly opened. Eleven hours after departing Nata Camp, we had arrived.

Below is our actual route. I couldn’t find the rogue road we were told to turn onto, so I’m just guessing, but it’s close.

Mopane Bush Lodge was a nice spot for a pit stop, but in hindsight, well, who the hell knows! We were literally kilometres away from where we camped at Mapungubwe NP when we were heading north into Botswana.

We spent the next day relaxing. They had great Wi-Fi, so we were able to update the blog. The staff were friendly and attentive, and we had a nice bungalow far away from the madding crowd.

For the past eight years, the lodge has been operating as a place to do safaris, either in the private reserve or at the nearby World Heritage Site, Mapungubwe National Park.

Previously, the lodge operated as a hunting lodge, so the animals in the reserve are still quite skittish. We opted to relax, hang around and update the blog.

One of the guides at the lodge specializes in snakes, spiders and scorpions, so he did a little show-and-tell for us with a scorpion he happened to have on hand.

All in all, it was a nice stay but a bit expensive for what was offered.

We’re in Zambia now and, in hindsight, knowing that cell coverage and Wi-Fi availability would be sketchy, we should have provided a little route information in our first post.

But when we were sitting outside in Johannesburg, the wind was howling, it was close to freezing and the internet was slow, so we tended to keep things short. We’ll start at the beginning…

After a total of 29 hours of travel, 23 hours flying, we arrived in Johannesburg and were met by a nice fellow named Resistance, who proceeded to take us to our accommodation.

We spent our first three nights at a great lodge, Safari Club SA, located near O.R. Tambo Airport. We were warmly greeted by the hotel owners, Jose (sp?) and Alastair MacDougall. The lodge is set in beautifully manicured surroundings, with a nice, welcoming sitting area and restaurant and a separate indoor-outdoor bar.

Our room was cozy, with a comfortable bed and spacious bathroom. Over the next three days, we enjoyed excellent breakfasts and dinners, but more importantly, we shared great conversation with Jose and Alastair. They are a lovely couple who put their hearts and souls into their business.

We highly recommend Safari Club SA, and we are looking forward to stopping in for a visit when we return to Joburg in early September.

To date, we’ve covered just under 2,000 km and have so far camped in the bush for six nights in three locations, stayed at a nice little lodge just outside Francistown for one night, camped for two nights at a so-so campsite in the North-East District of Botswana near the Nata Bird Sanctuary and Sowa Pan, and spent two nights in a beautiful bungalow at Wildtrack Safaris-Eco Lodge, situated in the centre of the newly formed Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area—the largest of its kind in the world.

Departing Wildtrack on the 31st, we made our way to the Kazungula border crossing. After two hours of the most bizarre, red-tape-infested customs process, we crossed the Zambezi River from Botswana to Zambia and made our way to Livingstone for two nights, where we regrouped, picked up a SIM card and loaded up on groceries for our next leg through the wilds of Zambia.

July 20 to 22, Blouberg Nature Reserve

We started off heading northeast towards the borders of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana, driving approximately 430 km, and ended up staying at Blouberg Nature Reserve in the lowveld of Limpopo Province. We had a nice campsite located in a very dry and dusty bushveld.

Blouberg Nature Reserve harbours the biggest breeding colony of Cape vultures in the world and hosts more than 1,000 breeding pairs. We were hoping to see them.

Getting to the reserve was a little bit of a challenge, as our Garmin GPS told us to leave our vehicle and walk to our destination.

We figured it out. We had passed the turnoff.

In Joburg, we had to resort to Google Maps to find our hotel after picking up our truck. Our Garmin GPS didn’t help us.

We were told to turn left into a farmer’s field when we were looking for Woodlands and were told to turn left or right or straight or some other bloody thing several other times.

When we last visited Africa, we used maps. We were told GPS can get you lost. Well, whoever told us that was right, so now we travel praying to the powers that be that we are, in fact, going in the right direction and not towards Antarctica or Bolivia or some other place that is not remotely close to where we want to go.

July 22 to 24, Mapungubwe National Park, Mazhou Campsite

Continuing about 150 km north, our next stop was Mapungubwe National Park. The park is in South Africa and is located near and along the Limpopo River and the borders of Botswana and Zimbabwe.

The park is split in half, with the Eastern and Western sections separated by farmland. The campsite is partially fenced, primarily to keep out elephants, but monkeys, baboons and nyala roam freely around the site.

The nyala are small to mid-sized and are very similar to white-tailed deer. They are habituated and would literally walk up to you and sniff and lick your hands with the expectation of food. This is great, but unfortunately, they have become this way because, without a doubt, people feed them. Not a good thing.

Every evening at sunset, two bush babies would leap effortlessly through the trees surrounding our site. The distance they can leap is quite amazing, and they do so without any sound whatsoever. We didn’t get any pictures of them, but we did a little farther along in our travels.

Before we arrived at our camp, we picked up groceries at a Choppies grocery store. Near the checkout, they had a CFC stand—Choppies Fried Chicken. It looked great, so we figured we would be lazy on our first night at the campsite.

We were very happy we did this, as the four bundles of firewood we purchased at the park gate might as well have been wet noodles. It was impossible to start a fire—more like a smudge—so our CFC chicken came in very handy that evening.

July 24 to 26, Tuli Wilderness, Tuli Block, Botswana, Molema Campsite

About 65 km from Mapungubwe, we passed through the Pont Drift border crossing to the Tuli Block in Botswana, where Molema Camp offered an unfenced wild experience.

To our surprise and delight, all five sites had a little toilet, open-air shower and dishwashing station, complete with hot water. Rustic, but a luxury for sure, because elephants, lions and leopards can frequently stop by for a visit.

Walking to the ablution block—toilets—in the pitch black with only a headlamp or flashlight can kind of raise the hair on the back of your neck a little.

Camping near us were two German couples with whom we shared a morning game drive, but it was the evening before that the excitement really kicked in. It was dark, and I was in the process of searing and charring our peri-peri chicken.

The evening was quiet and relaxed when, all of a sudden, four bright headlamps were pointing our way and quickly moving towards us. Through the darkness, the Germans were running towards us, pots full of rice and chili con carne in hand.

Elephants! Elephants had invaded our campsite! We had no choice but to run!

The minutes turned into about an hour, so we offered them some bowls and utensils, and we proceeded to chow down, all the while keeping our lights and my super-duper 1,000-lumen flashlight pointed towards their camp.

As the ruckus at their campsite settled down, all of a sudden, we heard noises behind and to the side of our site. Oh-oh, more elephants!

We all stood, watched and shone our lights, waiting in anticipation for the next invasion. Fortunately—or not; it all depends on whether you like this kind of action, and we do—the beasts, the elephants, ha ha, dispersed, and we were able to wish our visitors a good night.

Joyce and I sat looking at the incredible night sky, listening for any further visitors, but none arrived. Off to bed we went, hoping we would have another encounter tomorrow, but alas, it was not to be.

At this point in time, I was really getting into building fires and cooking on the braai over the embers. I chopped wood, collected kindling and used my bare hands to move burning logs and place them exactly where they needed to be. I need to come up with a better way of moving burning logs!

July 26 to 27, Francistown, Woodlands Stopover Lodge

Located just outside Francistown and about 170 km from Tuli, Woodlands was a bit of a surprise. We were expecting a lodge complete with a little restaurant and maybe a bar with good Wi-Fi so we could upload some pics and get the blog updated.

Well, this wasn’t really a “lodge,” just a reception office that sold some frozen lasagne, soups, bread and stuff, beer (yes!), and red or sparkling white wine.

Our lodging was surprisingly beautiful, with a comfortable bed, a microwave for heating our frozen lasagne and a nice bathroom with a rain shower and lots of hot water. Joyce was in heaven, as she could wash and dry her hair and rid her body of the dust and grime that had accumulated.

There were two rooms side by side, and as we were unwinding with a cool drink and doing some tech catch-up, our neighbours arrived.

Christian and Nishi (sp?) are a wonderful couple from Norway who had taken a year off to travel. We immediately hit it off and spent the remaining afternoon and evening chatting about whatever subject came to mind.

Nishi suggested we share dinner with them, so while she cooked up a dish of rice and eggplant spiced with chilies, we nuked our lasagne. We sat down, shared our dinners and sipped our drinks into the wee hours of the night.

Well, actually, until around 9:00 pm, which seems to be bedtime for most of us older travellers.

July 27 to 29, Nata Lodge Campsite

Located just off the main A3 highway, approximately 170 km northwest of Francistown, the lodge offers bungalows, permanent tent sites and a very sandy and confusing campsite.

There were too many lights around the sites, so we had to keep most of our screens zipped up. We were located near a dishwashing station, which also served as a security guard station. It was a little bothersome having a guy sitting at the station constantly looking over at us.

To add to that, his buddies would show up in the evening, and they would chat and shoot the breeze while we were hoping for a little privacy.

We spent two nights here, but this would have been a better place to just break up the journey and spend one night. The site is located near the Nata Bird Sanctuary, which sits on the edge of Sowa Pan.

In the wet season, thousands of flamingos gather, and a very large variety of birdlife can be viewed. Being in the dry season, there was really not much to see, so we spent the day dealing with slow internet. Low on supplies, we had a nice chicken schnitzel dinner at the lodge.

July 29 to 31, Wildtrack Safaris-Eco Lodge

Continuing a further 220 km north, we spent two nights at Wildtrack Safaris-Eco Lodge. As mentioned, the lodge is centred in the newly formed Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area.

This area forms a continuous corridor connecting Chobe National Park and the Sibuyu Forest area of Botswana with Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, allowing the free movement of wildlife throughout the areas.

The main lodge is spectacular, incorporating a large, beamed thatched roof and hosting an amazing collection of African art. Our bungalow had a thatched roof, a huge bed, a giant soaker tub in the bathroom and an outdoor shower open to the incredible nighttime Botswana sky.

The staff were exceptional, and the food—much of it traditional Botswanan fare—was delicious. The lodge offers morning and late-afternoon game drives, of which we did one afternoon drive.

There had been some recent brush fires in the area, so the wildlife was limited, but we did see plenty of elephants, giraffes, sable, kudu and other game.

All in all, a very nice stop if you are heading south or north. Kudos to Johnathon and Jacques for the obvious effort they have put into managing the lodge, with guest comfort and enjoyment top of mind.

July 31 to August 2, Kazungula Border Crossing, Livingstone, Zambia

At our departure, after being treated to several local African songs sung by the staff of Wildtrack, we continued a further 170 km to Livingstone, Zambia.

It is about a 70 km drive to the Kazungula border crossing, where you cross the Zambezi River to either Zambia or Zimbabwe. The customs process at this crossing has got to be the most inefficient, time-consuming process in the world.

Clearing Botswana immigration was a snap. A simple departure form, a stamp and you are on your way to the car ferry—one truck, two pickups capacity.

You drive onto the ferry, pay 200 pula and cross the river. You then drive off to the point of no return: the Zambian side of the river and the awaiting quagmire of trucks, dust, fumes and “agents” swarming to offer their services for the customs chaos that awaits!

After two hours of filling in ledgers asking for engine serial numbers, chassis serial numbers, make, model, colour, engine size, registration information, police clearance papers—which we didn’t have—and passport information for the toll fee, you repeat the same process for Interpol and then again for the road tax. You then proceed to pay the associated fees at several different offices.

Total insanity. When we last crossed this border, it was on foot, so the process was simple.

Below is the first step of many more!

Please stay tuned. We’re having major issues with internet speed, and it is becoming very frustrating.