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.
