Africa Overland - A journal of travelers through Africa

 

 "AOL in the News!"

 

 
Africa Overland Home Page  
 
Vehicles and Equipment  
 
 
 
We want to thank all those who helped!  
Visit our Sponsors  
Places for you to visit  

South Africa/Botswana, Page 1
(We are missing June 18 - 24)
June 25 - June 28, 2004

Preparation ] Europe ] Morocco Page 1 ] Morocco Page 1a ] Morocco Page 1b ] Morocco Page 2 ] Mauritania ] Mauritania Page 2 ] Mali ] Mali Page2 ] Niger ] Cameroon ] Gabon ] Gabon Page 2 ] Congo ] Congo Page 2 ] Angola ] Angola Page 2 ] Angola Page 3 ] Angola Page 4 ] Angola Page 5 ] Angola Page 6 ] Namibia ] Namibia Page 2 ] Namibia Page 3 ] Namibia Page 4 ] Namibia Page 5 ] Namibia Page 6 ] Namibia Page 7 ] Namibia Page 8 ] Namibia Page 9 ] Tanzania Page 1 ] Tanzania Page 1a ] Tanzania Page 2 ] Tanzania Page 3 ] [ South Africa Page 1 ] Botswana Page 1 ] Botswana Page 2 ] Botswana Page 3 ] Botswana Page 4 ] Botswana Page 5 ] Botswana Page 6 ] Botswana Page 7 ] July 22 ] July 25 ] July 29 ] August 03 ] August 09 ] August 16 ] August 24 ] September 5 ] September 11 ] September 12 ] September 21 ] September 25 ] September 29 ] October 03 ] October 09 ] October 15 ] October 19 ] November 04 ] November 13 ] November 20 ] November 29 ] December 9 ]


Country Facts: South Africa

Country Facts: Botswana

Scroll Down the Page for updates made on: 12/21/2004

Updated Information

Date Camp Site or Accommodations GPS

Distance  Today: 279km

Meals

 Soup and Salad

Weather
Pilanesburg NP, South Africa

25 June, 2004

Bakgatla Camp

25°11.338’S
 27°08.944’E

Odometer: 25502km

Sunny, 70(F) Degrees, Cold at Night

We’ve been staying with Slade’s sister Vanessa and her boyfriend Gordon in Johannesburg for the past week since returning from Tanzania. Slade, Krissy, and Vicky picked us up at the airport last Friday and took us to an off road/camping/overlanding expo where we looked around at all the goodies and bought a couple of items. Americans think they have the camping thing all nailed down, but in truth they’ve got nothing on the South Africans, especially when it comes to combining camping with four wheeling. Jen and Vicky enjoyed a little trampoline bungy, which may have been almost as much fun to watch as to do. We had planned to spend only a few days in Joburg, but we felt so comfortable at Vanessa and Gordon’s house that we didn’t want to leave. Gordon’s son Jason took Witt and Slade bass fishing, and the girls got to spend some time in a real shopping mall. Evenings were spent mostly around the braai, although Witt, Jen, and Krissy made burritos one evening. On Monday night we went to the legendary Butcher Shop restaurant for a send-off meal for Vicky who is flying to NZ on Tuesday. The restaurant is just as Slade has been describing it for the past two months. The butcher led us into a refrigerator where we selected our cut of meat and the size we wanted. Slade got a 900 gram (two pounds) T-bone, and Witt, shamefully opted for the 500 gram “lady’s cut” of sirloin. The meat was excellent. We almost felt civilized after eating at such a nice restaurant, except that we had to climb on top of the Land Rover to lift the height restriction barrier in order to get in and out of the parking lot. The next day we drove Vicky to the airport. It was sad for Witt and Jen to see her go; I can’t imagine how Krissy and Slade felt after traveling with her for the better part of a year. Witt and Slade replaced a leaking seal in Rafiki’s transfer case and changed the oil. Slade replaced a similar seal in Sid’s rear differential. On Wednesday evening Witt and Jen went to dinner at a pub with Graham Wilde and his wife Tonya. Graham operates the website tracks4africa, and was interested to hear our story. On Thursday evening Graham and Connie arrived in town with her parents, an occasion which necessitated another trip to the Butcher Shop. On Friday morning Witt and Jen finally said goodbye and headed North for a few hours to Pilanesburg National Park. We spent the remainder of the day driving around the park We’re still looking for leaopard, the only one of the “big five” we haven’t seen. We did get an excellent close up look at some elephant and a white rhino.

Updated Information

Date Camp Site or Accommodations GPS

Distance  Today:
414km

Meals

 Stir-Fried Beef

Weather
Near Mahalapye, Botswana

26 June, 2004

BushCamp

 23°41.008’S
 26°30.271’E

Odometer: 25916km

Sunny, 80(F)
degrees

Last night we were very glad to have our down sleeping bags as it got cold enough for frost to form on the car. We poured some of the hot chocolate we made in the thermos last night and spent the morning on a game drive in the park. We saw some rhino and elephant, but no cats. At eleven we left the park and headed north toward Botswana. We crossed the border on a minor road and soon emerged onto Botswana’s A1 highway. We drove until about 5 pm and pulled off the road to bushcamp. A partially overcast sky provided a beautiful sunset and kept the temperature much warmer than last night.

Updated Information

Date Camp Site or Accommodations GPS

Distance  Today:
502km

Meals

 braai'd chicken

Weather
Kubu Island

27 June, 2004

Kubu Island Camping

 20°53.560’S
 25°49.341’E

Odometer: 25223km

Partly Cloudy, 85(F)
degrees

Yesterday morning Rafiki had a little trouble starting, which is unusual. I ascribed it to the cold weather and didn’t think much more about it. This morning, however, the temperature was quite mild and the car had the same problem. It appeared as though the fuel line had come loose from the metal end of the injector pump, so I pushed it further on and tightened the hose clamp. After stopping for lunch in Somwe, the car again didn’t want to start. Closer inspection showed that a disused fitting from the original fuel line assembly had worn a hole in the metal end of the injector pump causing a loss of pressure. It seems to run fine once it’s started and the fuel loss is minimal, so I plan to talk with Graham about it when we meet him in Moremi on Monday. We drove all afternoon and turned north toward Makadikadi pans at about 4 pm. The pans are an old part of the Okavango Delta that the water no longer reaches. An hour on dirt tracks and salt pans brought us to Kubu Island, an oasis of baobab trees in the middle of a salt pan. It’s a popular tourist spot, reputed to have the second best sunsets in Africa. The local community has taken to charging 126 pula to camp there. The people are friendly though and the beautiful camp sites are spotlessly clean. We enjoyed another lovely sunset, built a fire and grilled some peri-peri chicken and corn on the cob. We enjoyed a nice bottle of wine and sat talking until late.


Makadikadi Pans

Updated Information
Witt & Jen

Date Camp Site or Accommodations GPS

Distance  Today: 401km

Meals

 Tuna sandwiches for lunch, skipped dinner

Weather
Moremi National Park, Botswana

28 June, 2004

South Gate campground

 19°25.522’S
x 23°38.710’E

Odometer: 26317km

Partly cloudy, 85(F) degrees

We left Kubu island this morning after a leisurely breakfast. We drove north through the pan arriving back on sealed roads at the town of Gweta shortly after lunch. The drive through the pan was beautiful with long stretches of open grasslands, and desolate salt pans, all topped off with an enormous blue sky. We arrived in Maun at about 4pm and ran into Graham, Connie, Debbie, and Brian at the supermarket. We had heard that we had to be inside the park by sundown, so we quickly did our shopping, topped up our fuel tanks, and headed out of town. The trip to south gate took longer than expected, and we didn’t reach the park until after 7pm. We did enjoy seeing some elephant and a cheetah on the road leading into the park, lit up by our headlights. The facilities at the campground are basic but adequate, with a wood fired boiler for hot showers. Botswana has adopted the high-cost, low volume approach to tourism. Park entry, camping, and vehicle permits cost a total of 270 pula or $US60 per day for two people in one car.


Campsite on Kubu Island

On to Botswana.....

We appreciate our Sponsors, please take a moment to visit them.
 

Safari Gard

Land Rover Flatirons, Boulder, Colorado

Pangea Expeditions

Note: Country Facts Links are provided by The World Factbook.

All rights reserved copyright© 2002 - 2007 Africa Overland

Web Site Created by Your Virtual Resource & Hosted at ProSiteSetup