I arrived in South Africa 9pm September 7th 2026. At the campground Clancy is stored at David had started up the camper and shifted near the kitchen. After a chat with Marion and David, I started removing all the stuff jammed in the camper so I could make room to sleep. The inside was musty and dusty, but sleep I did. I decided I needed two days to get everything ready for a run to the Botswana border to get a new TIP (Temporary Import Permit). My existing TIP had been extended by six months but was still expiring on the 19th September, so I had to drive to Botswana cross the border, then come back into South Africa and get a new TIP.
After two days I set off on September 10th towards Botswana and made it after 260km to Hunters Moon a campsite east of Zeerust. Hunters Moon was a nice campsite. It had big lawns and a river. The couple running it had built it up over recent years. It was cheap at 100Rand a night (about $A9).
The next day I headed west towards Zeerust. I had a leaking alternator oil return hose. I thought I had a spare but two searches had failed to find it (about two weeks later I found it stored in an electrical spares box!) . So I went to the Toyota dealer in Zeerust to see if they had a replacement. No luck they showed it out of production. They sent be to a spares place in a side street. They sold me hose, but told me that they couldn’t sell be connectors, they sent me to a place that did hydraulic hose replacements for earthmoving machinery. When I visited them a very helpful guy told be he could make the hose. So I removed the hose from the alternator and gave it to him. I watched him make the replacement hose. With a bit more cutting it fitted, and I had solved the oil leak. He charged me $A5 while the original Toyota part costs $A55.
I then headed north to a little border post north of the N4, at Swartkopfontein. This border crossing did not go well. The cop decided I did not have the right paperwork and made me follow him 40km north to the Tlokweng border port. There was a lot of back and forth and eventually I got released to Botswana with a fine. Then it was 9pm at night. I got through a very busy Botswana border post and then made another mistake. I exited the Botswana border post and headed along a road. It was confusing there were trucks queued along what I thought was a service road, and I was on the main road. I was very wrong, I was driving on the wrong side of the road, and along came a police car to confirm that. I followed him back to the Police Station in the border crossing to be given a 1,000 pula fine (about $A105). Eventually I got on the road again to arrive at Gaberone backpackers at 10:30pm at night.
The next morning I headed for the South African border wondering after all the problems yesterday if I would be able to get a new TIP. When I got to the border it was a long search to find anyone in customs. However after a bit of a delay I got my new TIP and was on my way. I headed again for Hunters Moon, and got there late afternoon. The next day was an uneventful drive back to the campsite in Benoni in Johannesburg.