Big decisions needed to be taken to route home - Malawi/Mozambique, Botswana or Zimbabwe. But whatever route we chose, we had to cross Zambia. Retracing our way down to the south was a three-day exercise.
We managed to circumnavigate Lusaka to the west, so Livingstone / Kazungula won the toss for the way home.
We were so surprised and impressed by the town of Livingstone. It was so clean, well sign-posted with lots of development since we visited 10 years ago. We were delighted to get good food in Shoprite, and settled down at Thorn Tree Lodge campsite.
A unique central chill area for campers made for a good vibe with our fellow travellers. Here we met James, from Bristol, UK, who was bicycling solo, starting in Uganda and heading for a round trip around South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. People are so brave and travel so light! The central area had an honesty bar, an equipped kitchen and both eating and seating areas. There was also a pool which is great in the heat.
The Zambesi valley has had very little rain and the farmers are desperate for rain. Luckily for us, the Victoria Falls was as spectacular as ever, with enough water to make the falls cover the entire 1708m width, without a massive spray cloud. We did get thoroughly soaked in the rain forest while admiring the unique plants and those adapted to the wet conditions. We spent two hours on the paths in this area, all very well maintained.
The falls are a major tourist attraction for both Zambia and Zimbabwe, planes, helicopters, and microlights all do viewing flights over the falls. A new Radisson Blu in Livingstone showed the commitment to providing stylish accommodation on the Zambesi River with huge river cruisers for sundowners. We had breakfast at the hotel, and were the only ‘locals’ there – Americans, British and German tourists abound.
We wanted a last adventure before driving into South Africa, so booked into Ihaha Campsite in Chobe National Park, Botswana. We crossed the border at the impressive Kazungula one-stop border post - so many trucks but cars go up front and it was seamless. This border complex covers crossings between 4 countries- Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. It used to have a ferry service which resulted in massive time delays, but today a bridge handles the traffic across the Zambesi river for a levy - well worth paying!
We spent one night in Kasane, a buzzing town handling tourists coming and going in big numbers. Chobe Safari Lodge is a huge hotel and camping on the banks of the Chobe River, with incredible sunset views. We were delighted to spend time in the river-side bar, where visitors can drink and socialize. Here we met Antonij and Marie-Anne Koopman, from the Netherlands and we spent a happy extended sunset drink chatting with them – they leave their kitted-out camper car in Maun and fly in regularly for safari adventures in Africa.
These visitors know the countries and parks so well, and it reiterates how lucky we are to have these areas right on our doorstep. This was a common theme, Germans, Belgians, French and Dutch store campers in places like Lusaka, Maun or Windhoek and fly in to pick up where they left off previously.
We travelled west from Kasane through Sedudu Gate into Chobe National Park – which we last visited in the 1980s. What a lovely place to return to – so many big herds of elephants, groups of buffalo, impala, spurwing geese marabou storks and big families of giraffe, kudu, guinea fowls and baboons. The bush was incredibly dry, temperature in the high 30s and animals concentrated along the river. The campsite offered little shade, so we took to driving the river route, finding a dense tree to park under and just watching the comings and goings to the water.
Our favourite spot was a small group of Sable antelope, so very beautiful; along with 4 different eagles. Waking up to at least 3000 buffalo between our tent and the river was a wonderful sight – they just meandered on their way without as much as a sideways glance at us. Lion, jackal, hippo and numerous birds completed our final bush experience.
We had our final meal back at Chobe Safari Lodge – a celebration in the restaurant which was surely the best meal of the holiday.
We left at 6am to drive through the length of Botswana to Martins Drift Grobersbrug border post. We were delighted to do our 10th and final border crossing back into South Africa. Getting onto home soil and booking into the beautiful Moriti campsite on the Limpopo (7km from the border) made us reflect on the time we had spent out of the country.
Three months had flown by and we were on the last leg home to Johannesburg, Our hearts were full form the experiences, full of anticipation of being with our family again and full of expectation for a decent roadside garage loo, coffee and eats! The road to Johannesburg was the best we had been on, the views of huge farming operations and busy industrial areas made us proud to be South African.
What an unforgettable time we had had – and decided the only word to describe it was ‘Epic’
“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” ― Lin Yutang
Travel distance 14500km in 88 days. 8 days too long! (Around Africa in 80days?)
