We didn’t get any power overnight, so by the morning our batteries were getting low. Karen had mostly recovered from her cold, and I was getting better. We both thought we had just had a bad cold that neither of us had experienced for years. We had some Covid test kits in the first aid kit, so I decided maybe I should test myself, otherwise we would always wonder. It was a surprise, or maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise, but I was positive for Covid. It explained a lot.
We headed down to the Zonkizizwe shopping centre to get a few last minute things, and see if we could buy fuel on a credit card. We were successful in both and headed out of Bulawayo for Great Zimbabwe 280km away.
Pretty uneventful drive. We went through about 3 police road blocks, one of which we were stopped at, but we were soon on our way. We got to the Great Zimbabwe hotel about 4pm, hooked up the power and thought everything was going great. Until about 10 minutes later the power cut out. However an hour or so later we got it back.
I spent 3 nights at Tantebane Game Ranch. The first night it was packed with a large group of South Africans travelling together. When I woke up the next morning, they were all packing up and left, leaving me alone.
I did a final fix on the broken storage box, plus some other fibreglass fixes. I did some washing, some gluing and fixed some electrical things. It was nice to stay put for two days straight.
On Wednesday morning I set off for the Zimbabwe border. I stopped at the last servo in Botswana to squeeze as much diesel in the tank as possible. Then I exited Botswana, all very simple and straight forward.
It was then the unknown of the Zimbabwe border. I got through immigration in about 30 minutes. I was handled by three different staff and paid $30USD for a visa with my crisp new $USD notes. Then it was off to customs. I had done a eTip on line the previous day. This seemed all OK. I was told to pay $50 USD at the payment counter and given an invoice to take. I do that, thank the guy and go back to the car. First checkpoint they ask for my TIP (temporary import permit), and I show them my reference number for my eTIP, and they are fine with that and I head up to the next checkpoint. The next guy says I don’t have the right stamp on one of the pieces of paper, and I have to drive back and get it stamped. After asking about 3 different people I finally get the right stamp. I pass the next checkpoint, but I have to see two guys in a hut who are eating lunch. I see them and without even glancing at my wad of papers they say I am fine. I then go to the next checkpoint. They say I have to go and see the guy in a different hut. He says I don’t have a printout of my eTIP. So I drive back again and see two different guys until I get to the original guy that I organised the TIP with. He hands over my printed eTIP which I should have collected after I paid. (Sort of my fault, I should have thought of that). Then it is back through the two checkpoints and the guy in the hut, and finally I can leave, after about two hours.
Then its the drive to Bulawayo about 13km away. I get waved through one police checkpoint. I pay $4USD toll at the toll booth about 100km down the road. Outside Bulawayo I hit another Police checkpoint, and they pull me over. After the questions about where I am going etc, the (rather large) Police woman asks me for money because she is hungry. I eventually give in and give her the $1USD note I got as change from the toll payment.
I got into Bulawayo, stopping at the Zonkizizwe shopping centre for a sim card and some supplies. I then contacted Karen, and briefly met her at her lodge, before heading the the Hillside Conservancy for a campsite for the night.
pelicans on the water holeMy second attempt to make another mud flap.All the solar panels out in cloudy weatherHeating up the donkey boiler for a showerWashingOn the (quite good) road to BulawayoApproaching the Toll boothThe daily exchange rate at the Pick n Pay supermarket for the ZIG currency, which I have not seen anyone have. The cash registers at the supermarket had USD$Camped with power (well until the loadshedding) at Hillside conservancy
Another cold morning, it got to 5C inside the camper. I was reluctant to start the diesel heater too early because its a bit noisy. I packed up and headed back to Francistown. I visited the Spar and one of the -a least three- shopping centres in Francistown. I got even more supplies, convinced, probably wrongly, that I will not be able to get anything in Zimbabwe. I then visited another Builders to get some contact cement and this aluminum angle I am seeking. When I walked in I was offered free popcorn, and interesting incentive to get customers to shop on a Sunday morning. I managed this time to get my Aluminum angle and proceeded to cut it in half with a hacksaw so I could fit it in the roof.
Then off to the Puma service station where I filled Clancy and four jerry cans, 146 litres, as fuel is cheap in Botswana, and expensive, or hard to get in Zimbabwe.
Then it was up the road towards Tantebane, and after that the Zimbabwe border. I got to Tantebane, and was directed to my campsite. A few campers already here (South Africa school holidays…), and it does seem they have crammed as many in as possible. However I am here for three nights, and I have got a good campsite well separated from other campers. No mains power so I set up the solar panels to keep me powered. I am now 45km from the Zimbabwe border.
Cold morning, it got down to 4C. I used the diesel heater again. This morning it was time for some maintenance. I spent a couple of hours doing a long delayed oil change. About 9am a man rode past bareback on a donkey. Once I had done the oil change and filter replacement, I headed the 12km back to the A1 highway. A quick photo of the Tropic of Capricorn sign, and it was heading north to Francistown. I stopped at the Foodlovers supermarket at Palapye to see if they had any better apples, but decided they didn’t. Palapye is another Botswana town that has undergone huge growth, and looks nothing like it did when I first visited it 9 years ago.
The day was getting on. My late start because of the oil change in the morning meant I was running out of time to get to Woodlands north of Francistown before dark. I hit afternoon peak hour going through Francistown. A quick Police stop just north of Francistown, and I was at the turnoff to Woodlands. I got into Woodlands about 5 minutes before sunset. Woodlands was packed out with South Africans with lots of kids, which got me to find out that it was the start of the South African school holidays. Woodlands is a pretty nice campsite, lots of grass, and its probably my third stay there.
Back on the highway at the Tropic of CapricornHeading north amongst the trucks on the A1Another lunch time stop of the highwayCamped on the grass at Woodlands
I headed off from Mokolodi into Gaberone. It had been quite a few years, in fact 9 years, since I had last been in Gaberone. As in lots of Botswana, it has grown immensely. I stopped at the first large shopping centre and got some things, including some lighter shoes, I am sick of driving in boots. I then drove to the northern end of Gaberone to a Builders store to see if I could get some aluminum angle to replace some that I had lost in the damage to the storage box. However no luck, they didn’t have the right size. I also visited a Super Spar supermarket in an adjoining large shopping centre, for even more supplies.
Then I headed north, along the A1, about 160km, turning off at the marker for the Tropic of Capricorn. It was then 12km in to a track running along a powerline, and then a track running off that to another iOverlander suggested wild camp. There are not a lot of camping options on the A1 heading north.
Negotiating the traffic through GaberoneA roadside stop for lunch next to the A1 highwayCamped in my wild camp 12km in from the A1 highwaySunset
My fibreglass repairs again were not completely dry because of the cold overnight temperatures. However I was making progress.
I got going once it had warmed up and headed the 120km to near Gaberone at Mokolodi Backpackers. I wanted to finish early so I could do more fibreglassing while it was warm in the middle of the day.
Along the way I stopped at an Engen service station. I walked past a man who was fixing something, and he said, “can I just tell you something?” . I was expecting a scam of some sort but he said “I have a friend who can get Ivory”. I told him I wasn’t interested. Is there an underground market for Ivory in Botswana?
I arrived around lunch time at Mokolodi Backpackers. A very nice place to stay at, and it seemed there was only one other guest other than me. More fibreglassing ensured.
Two nights stay in Kameel. I walked up to the NW co-op store to get some more bits and pieces. I added outside lights and checked a few more things. Patrick provided his customary loaf of freshly baked bread.
I left Tuesday morning for the 205km drive to Bray the border crossing to Botswana. Bray is out of the way, but its small size and remoteness mean I have less hassles crossing the border. I drove first to Stella, then headed north-west. The road was pretty good at the start. About 100km in, it deteriorated down to a single sandy track, but still was not too difficult. I passed two trucks and six cars, so it wasn’t exactly busy.
I got to the border, to be slightly surprised there were two police there. Last crossing there was no-one but the immigration person. The police looked at the vehicle, but were mostly interested in whether I had any “drinks”. I didn’t have any drinks, but I have had on previous border crossings, so I must remember to be more organised next time. I eventually felt sorry for them and gave them 100Rand to buy “drinks”.
I met a woman at the border who worked at the medical centre and was just crossing the border into Botswana to get fuel. She did it sometimes as often as once a week.
I got to the Botswana side and got my road tax and passport stamped. I applied what I had learnt from a guide at a previous Botswana border crossing. When they ask how long you are going to be in Botswana tell them much longer than you intend to be. if something goes wrong and you need to stay in Botswana longer, it is very difficult and time consuming to get an extension.
I got a Mascom sim at the general store on the Botswana side. They used a special scanner to scan my passport to register my sim, but it failed after three attempts. So I headed off with no internet towards Werda. The road from the border to Werda is fairly corrugated. I stopped once, but when I got to Werda I kept going hoping to make a wild camp on a cutline about 50km north. I turned off at the cutline, which is a sort of boundary firebreak between districts. I drove about a kilometre along the cutline until I met another cutline heading north, and I went up that. I stopped to have a look at the surrounding scrub when I suddenly found that part of the camper had broken. The rear box had separated from the camper and was hanging on by only one side. I knew I would have to be doing some fibreglass repairs that night. I pulled of the cutline into the scrub and made camp.
I emptied the box, and it seemed like I had not lost any equipment. I suspect I had driven at least 50km with this break. I used two jacks to jack the box back in line, then proceeded to fibreglass it back together. It took me a couple of hours sanding and applying glass tape and epoxy in the dark. I hoped it would be enough to hold the box in place, so that I could fibreglass it more next day. I knew it wouldn’t hold any weight initially.
It was a quiet night after that. Just the sound of cattle wandering past, and occasional cars on the highway a km away.
Camped at KameelPatrick’s wonderful home made breadThe road from Stella to Bray in South AfricaThe broken fibreglass storage boxI never noticed it in my side mirror it was too lowIt was full of recovery gearLooking underneathCamped at sunset getting to work on fixing thingsJacking up the box ready to fibreglass it back in place
I arrived at Johannesburg on the 31st May 2024. I had -as usual- things to fix. However the big problem was my broken solar panel on the roof. About a week before I had left Australia, I put in an order to Takealot, the big online retailer in South Africa. One of those items was a replacement solar panel of the correct size to replace the one on the roof. Takealot was the only place I could see a solar panel of the same size. Unfortunately Takealot wasn’t going to deliver until later in the week.
So I installed an inverter I had brought from Australia. This was my second attempt at installing an inverter. My previous attempt brought only smoke. I went shopping gathering up food that would be difficult to get in Botswana and Zimbabwe (like Barley).
One day I drove out to a bike shop to get a couple of inner tubes for my bike. I got pulled over by the police for ten minutes or so. The cop was OK, but my previous experiences with police in Joberg make me wary.
It was warm the first couple of days in Joberg, but then it got cold. Several days there was ice outside in the morning. Some days it was only 14C with a biting wind. Eventually on Friday I got my delivery from Takealot, however missing the solar panel. On Saturday I finally got the solar panel, but it was not the size panel as per the description, and would not fit. So I decided it was time to give up on the solar panel and head off. I left Sunday morning at 7:30am. It was another icy morning, with me trying to get the ice of the windscreen, so I could see.
The 410km drive to Kaleem, was uneventful. I left on Sunday morning to minimise the number of Police roadblocks I might go through. I did drive through two, but they were both engaged with other vehicles.
Arriving at Kemeel is so relaxing. Its rural. Patrick is such a great host, and Kemeel is a friendly rural town.
Starting up Clancy after about 10 months of storage.Parked in my usual spot. It gets sun in the morning.Inverter installed. So far so good.Several icy morning with ice on the camper and storage boxes outsideThe solar panel arrives, but is the wrong sizeReady to leave for Kameel Sunday morning.
I left Karen at Livingstone airport, and drove back into Livingstone, and then headed south. I got to the Zambian border, with the fixers trying to stop me at the beginning of the bridge at Kazungula. Over the bridge, into the combined border crossing on the Botswana side. It was about 15 minutes, paid my bridge toll to the Botswana customs, and had my vehicle checked, then I was out to Kazungula. I went to the supermarket, then headed south towards Nata.
I saw an elephant and baby not far south, and a few giraffes. However it was all pretty dry compared to when I had travelled south a bit more than a year ago. At the wild camp, which I had camped at a year ago, 200km down the road, I stopped about 30 minutes before sunset.
I had a quiet night, but even though I was 500m from the Nata road, I could still hear the traffic.
Next morning I got going about 7:30am. I stopped at Nata for more fuel. Then continued south. The road south of Nata is a bit narrow with broken edges, so I wasn’t going fast, maybe 65kph. Eventually I got to Francistown, which was busy. I thought about headed to the shopping mall on the main street, but it was way too busy, and jammed with cars, so I continued on south. I was going to stay at a campsite at Palapye, but the latest iOverlander review said someone had got robbed their. So I decided to turn off earlier and head to an iOverlander wild camp, east of Palapye, that had got good reviews. I got to the quarry just before dusk, and it was a great quiet place to camp.
Up and going at 6:30am I headed for the border at Martins Drift. I tried to get fuel at the servo near the border, but their network was down, and they couldn’t take a credit card. I cleared the Botswana border, and then managed to weave through the trucks on the South African side. I managed this time to get a TIP (temporary import permit), after about 30 minutes of waiting. Then old though the Police check at the exit to the border crossing. I stopped amongst the dozens of trucks on the South African side and put up the starlink dish, and added data to my Vodacom sim, and then heade south-east. I got more fuel, and kept driving until I got to the Weesgerus campsite near Modimolle. I was jammed in with lots of other caravans, because it was school holidays.
Its an OK campground, and the next morning I got going around 7:30am. It was 10km to the N1, where I hit a police checkpoint. I managed to get though that and worked my way down the N1 for 180km to Johannesburg. I arrived at Airport en Route around 1pm in the afternoon. Total trip around 5,000km.
stopped on the Nata roadFirst wild camp, around 200km south of KazungulaCamped at the quarry east of PalapyeWeesgerus campsite near Modimolle
It was another warm night. As Karen has pointed out we have had about 3 weeks of 35C+ weather. We got everything ready for the Botswana to Zambia crossing. I knew this crossing could be difficult. When I crossed from Tanzania to Zambia last year, it took me more than 3 hours, and I had to employ a fixer to assist me.
We loaded up with fuel at Kazungula, and headed across the bridge over the Zambezi River to the combined Border facility. We had to go through the gatehouse and get a gate pass, something we didn’t expect, possibly because we have an Australian registered vehicle. We then went to the main passenger terminal building. The whole border process took 90 minutes, which was faster than I expected.
Then it was the 60km drive to Livingstone. We got to Livingstone and stopped at the Shoprite supermarket and got supplies. Then down the road to Thorn Tree Safari where I had stayed at a year earlier. We suffered from the large number of mosquitoes at Thorn Tree overnight.
The next day Karen suggested we go to the Royal Livingstone hotel where we had drinks at the riverside deck, and could see the spray from Victoria Falls in the distance.
Then on Monday I dropped Karen at Livingstone airport, and she headed to Iringa Tanzania while I headed south towards Johannesburg.
Crossing the Kazungula Bridge into ZambiaCamped under the big tree at Thorn TreeZebras in the street in LivingstoneRoyal Livingstone Hotel with the spray from Victoria Falls in the backgroundA Giraffe on the way out from the Royal LivingstoneThe local Hippo at the Thorn Tree camp