Seriously Surprising First Impressions of Botswana [S9-E7]

Oh no! Everyone told us we could do it,  but I'm not sure we can?! Uh oh  There's a family of warthogs just walking around the town! If you want to lose your life ... the crocodiles are very fast! oh Okay! After spending the past 4 and a half years driving our UK camper van around the world, we visited the most epic places. We have driven to the Grand Canyon! And after driving the length  of Zimbabwe, we got to see one such place...

the spectacular Victoria Falls, now that's another site we won't forget!! That's proper rain! And although we've loved our time here, it's time to move on to a new country and head West into Botswana. Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.... Ralph Waldo Emerson. Good morning and welcome back to  Victoria Falls here in Zimbabwe,   it's been absolutely amazing here, we stayed  in this little campsite here at the N1 Hotel.

But today is the day that we need to leave  Zimbabwe, and we're heading over into Botswana. So we'll get the map on the side  of the van and show you the plan for today. This is where we currently are here, in Victoria  Falls, we have a short drive to the border here with Botswana, and then the place we're going to stay is on the river here in a town called Kasane and then the plan for the rest of the week is,   we're going to head over into Namibia,  up to stay on the Zambezi river here,   and then follow it down before crossing  back and heading south through Botswana. That's if it all goes according to plan? So the problem we might have today is, due to our  carnet, so this is a bit of paper that you need to   get a foreign vehicle into countries in Africa  and the problem is, they've only got a limited number of pages and we're planning to cross into Botswana, into Namibia and back into Botswana,   then into South Africa and that's a total of four  pages that's needed, but we only have three left! But looking online there's a customs  Union between South Africa, Namibia,   Botswana and LeSotho, so theoretically we  should only have to stamp the carnet once to   go into Botswana, and then they'll stamp It  and sign it out when we leave South Africa. The problem is if they do stamp  it when we go into Namibia,   we won't have enough pages to get back through  Botswana back to Durban to then ship home. So the plan is I think what we're going  to do is ask them on the border when we go into Botswana do they need to stamp  the carnet out of Botswana when we leave,   because if they do, we might have to change  our plans..... but more on that later!

We'll figure that out as it happens. Before we leave I just want to show you these barbecues. All of the campsites have got really cool barbecues, but this one is particularly cool because it's on a little pivot here, so if it gets too hot, you can just move it off the heat instantly like that, absolutely genius idea! I think I'm definitely going to have to get one of those when we get back home! Right, you ready to go to Botswana? My mind has been blown every time we say a new country, especially in Southern Africa, it's been fabulous! Another border crossing, okay let's hit the road. You do see lots of cool rigs, you do, look  at that! That's one has got a roof top tent there.

Bye nice to meet you! Happy travels! Oh bye, nice to meet you! Okay all clear, let's go! A sunny day here in Zimbabwe, it is  literally like the the perfect weather, mid 20s during the day, but we've really enjoyed our time at Vic Falls, it's been great to see. Over the railway line, yeah we're all clear, we did actually hear a steam train coming down the track, so we know it's in use. Yeah, another problem we had with the carnet  is that the South African side, when we left at the Beitbridge border crossing, they actually  started filling in the top right hand section on the wrong page! Which is supposed to be done  when you leave the country, so the Zimbabwe Customs are going to have to sign over that, so  I'm sure that's going to create some confusion,   so fingers crossed that goes okay. I love those conversations, yeah! then right here, then it's a straight run  all the way to the border. We are in Zimbabwe and we are driving  Trudy to Botswana.... mad!

Yes it doesn't matter how many times we say it, it still  feels surreal that we are actually here!! It was funny in the campsite, there were some kids there, and I asked oh the kids are on summer holidays? And they said - no no no it's our winter holiday! Of course everything's reversed isn't it? it's summer holidays back home, and winter holidays here, hence the fact that  it looks like autumn colours on all the trees,   it really does feel like an Autumn back  home, isn't it? looking at those it does.  We've been told that in just a month's time,  at the end of winter all the leaves will have dropped off, which makes it perfect  viewing time for Safari and Wildlife. Suddenly the roads have pot holes again, they just really do surprise you! So if you do drive through Zimbabwe beware! Everybody's just swerving on the different sides of the road, where's he going? I don't know, but I'm just going to stay on this side,   I'm going to stay on this side. It's mad isn't it,  it's just Madness!

Look at that, we just spotted, look! Elephants wandering around, amazing, oh  there loads of them! It's like a whole family,   look at that ..... it's mad that you can  actually see the elephants out there, and we're not in a national park! We're just driving  down the road and there's a herd of elephants!   Fantastic! It doesn't matter how many times you  spot elephants, it's still a magnificent sight! Okay guys, there's elephants in the road! How exciting ! You don't say that every day do you? How exciting is this? That's wonderful! Look at that! How amazing is that? It's coming back out again, because  that one belongs to that herd, oh look, oh go on mate, young boy, get over the road! That's amazing, just adorable isn't it? Police stop. Hello good morning, how are you? how are you? I'm good, and you? we're amazing thank you! Where are you from and to? We are from England, from England? and from now, right now? Now we're going to Kasane. From Vic Falls in Zimbabwe and now we are going to Kasane. Okay then Kasane back to?  Well Caprisi then we're going into the Caprisi strip and then back down into Botswana, and then  we're driving to Durban, because the van is getting shipped back to England. Oh you shipped it from England? yeah, Yes I saw the number plate is from, it's from England?! Yes it is from England, we're driving around the world, so we shipped from India....

We explained the route we travelled and the officer  was fascinated, How many countries did you visit? I think 25 or 26? Yeah with the van, yeah and then we ship it between the countries over the oceans and the seas, only on the oceans - can. you put a boat here? yeah yeah James Bond, I'm going to call him later! It can't go over the seas yet, but I'm going to call him and ask how do you do that? or put a helicopter so you can fly ! Oh that would be nice, wouldn't it? quicker! Thank you very much, ok safe journeys guys, have a nice day, thank you bye, take care, That's a great idea, let's put Hydrofoils. The border is coming up, so we'll turn off the camera and hopefully it all goes as smoothly as we hope, fingers crossed, we'll see you on the other side! Okay good news the carnet that was filled in incorrectly by the South African guys was no problem, he just stamped, it initialed it, gave  us a big smile and said "have a nice day" So we're out of Zimbabwe, now just got to cross into Botswana and find out about the carnet for Namibia, and hopefully we've got enough pages?! So yeah we'll see you in a minute! Officially we have done all the paperwork for Botswana, but ...... the plan has changed, the plan has changed, because they're going to stamp the carnet when we go into Namibia, and then back into Botswana and then we won't be able to get back into South  Africa, because we don't have enough pages! So the plan now is that we're going to stay in Botswana, see what we can see, and then head back down south towards South Africa, so that's it, I think we've got one more Customs check and then we'll be officially driving in Botswana, It's a pretty simple process, only half an hour crossing. I also want to add that it's another reason  to come back to do Namibia in the future, and also we have heard that Botswana is one of  the most beautiful countries in Southern Africa.

Welcome to Botswana! We've done  it, we've done it, we've done it. So yeah Kasane is where we're going, it  is about 15 minutes away, so we'll go, get settled in there come up with  a plan for Botswana, eat some food find a find a SIM card can I just say thank  you to the lovely border staff here in Botswana, what a lovely welcome ... yeah they  were super super nice they wanted to look in the van, and just had a chat about our travel,  so yeah a very warm welcome here in Botswana. I'm loving it already and the roads at the moment  there's no potholes ....it's a looks like a new road. impressive looking Baobab tree that one  look. we also just passed a sign which said Wildlife Corridor - drive slowly at night! So we're open to Nature here by the looks of it, We're just coming into the outskirts of Kasane and we've just spotted a grocery store and a cell phone shop, so we'll give that a bash and see what we can get.

Okay this is good, we got groceries and Cell City  for a SIM card and there's an ATM over there. Okay so the lady in there was helpful, we didn't get a SIM card, but she did say if we go to BTC in town, it's apparently got the best cell coverage  so we'll go there afterwards, right shopping time! I'm eating my pastry outside  because I always get more on me,   than I do in my mouth! So cheers, a couple of  chicken and chilli and cheese and mushroom pies! With no luck getting a SIM card  we head into town to try again. The towns always look bigger on the map  because they're all single story buildings,   it's not built up in the sense that you'd imagine  is it, no, it should be just on the right here somewhere....

oh BTC, I can see the sign there... technical office... let's try that one. So look BTC mobile should be down here? It says BTC there ..... yeah  well apparently it seems to have moved, so we'll jump back into Trudy and just drive another  couple of blocks, see if we can find it.

We asked someone for directions and headed off down another street, this doesn't really look like the kind of street we're going to find the mobile phone shop, we're in the housing area now? Oh adorable... we carried on but so far  there's no sign of a mobile phone shop,   although it is turning into a quite  an interesting drive. There's a family of warthogs just walking around the town ! Guys what are you doing here? That's unbelievable, I don't know where we're going, I'm completely  lost now, turn left up here.

Right it's not this way because we're going out of town, so we'll loop back round... We are getting a guide tour of the suburbs of Kasane! Okay going straight ... We decided to head back to the middle of town and try and ask somebody else. Okay we've done a full loop, we're back in town,  we're try again let's try again. Where? Are we there? Really? By pure chance it seems we've parked  up outside a BTC service point, we headed into the shop to see if we could get a SIM card.

We had a good chat to the guy about various SIM cards, but when we came to buy one he said he didn't sell them, and and then he directed us down another side road to the BTC shop that we've been looking for. Sometimes when you travel the simplest things can be the hardest, but it makes us appreciate our connect plus hotspot even more, as it's worked in almost every country and saved us going through this with every border crossing. BTC Telli Centre, Yay! Hi, hello, I'm trying to buy a SIM card,  and I've been all over town and they've told me to come here, where do I park? The door is here, oh thank you very much, thank you so much, thank you. This does not look anything like a SIM card shop... it looks like an office block? I think so, there you go BTC there she go let's see see what we can get. Okay, job done, we got the SIM card the 35 gigs of data for 350 Pulu and now we're going to go and find somewhere to park up while we're here.

There are two more warthogs right there, it's strange, they're just walk around town? They're just walking around town ....I would like to  just walk around town like a warthog!! We found somewhere online to park up, but we  don't have a reservation, fingers crossed they can accommodate us. We have just got to make  sure it's not too sandy, but so far so good, let's go around here. Okay this is reception, hopefully they  have room for us, let's go and find out. I think they will ...

Yes, these are the trucks they use for safaris, so you get the view all around, but it is definitely more fun in Trudy,  what you reckon? It's definitely more fun! We're in our camper van, our small camper  and we wanted to just check if you have   parking or camping, I'm sorry we are fully booked. Okay where else would you recommend, you can check Chobe Safari Lodge, some guest just came from there they said it was fully booked Oh Fully booked, you can try the  big five, thank you - is it safe to sleep on the street? No! okay, Unfortunately they are fully  booked today's not really going quite as we we planned. So let's try another one, at least  we have data now, so we're able to find places or possible places to park, okay we found another Lodge about 4 and 1/2 km down the road.

So fingers crossed, we'll try them. We headed to our plan B location, let's hope we can get a park up here as it sounds like town is pretty busy this week. Hello, Hi, you have camping have right?  Yeah Do you know if there is space? Maybe And is it that way? Is it on the right?  Thank you very much, thank you, Reception? where is reception? Ow it looks  nice, it does looks nice, okay fingers crossed. So we believe we have a campsite? Yes, have you got space? We're completely self-contained,   we don't need anything, but we do need  somewhere safe to park up for the night.   It sounds like they're full, but they asked  us to take a seat whilst they double checked.

Okay, so it's sounding like they've  definitely got somewhere for tonight,   maybe tomorrow? So she's doing her best to  squeeze us in, so it would be good if we   could base ourselves here for a few days. while  we figure out what the plan is, but it's all good, it's all good, we got tonight sorted so that's all that matters. We got tonight to work out a plan. Everyone says it's not safe to sleep outside, but  yeah, we are not sure whether that's the people or the animals? Okay the good news is that they  have space for us tonight, but we were planning to spend at least a few days here, so we'll still have to find somewhere else tomorrow.

Okay we're all settled into the campsite good little spot for Trudy for one night. A few other people dotted around, ablution ... that's what they call the loos here! This whole region of Africa it's quite strange it's not a normal term is it where's your ablution? Rather than asking where's your toilet? If they have hot water I'll be impressed that I can have a shower yes shower time! Always good, that's the advantage of staying in campsites is you get to have nice hot showers sometimes, and I just love these Vines ... look at that ! After a nice light shower we  headed to the bar, another advantage of staying in lodges! And then there was  an unexpected local dance performance What a fantastic display! One we will never forget, maybe because we both ended up dancing with them! Good morning, actually as it's about lunchtime now we had a great night's sleep here at this little campsite, we were going to stay on an extra night we just checked with reception in case they had any cancellations but unfortunately they haven't, but we have found another place 3 kms away so this week I think we're going to be doing a little bit of campsite hopping for the next couple of days, what was actually interesting is I asked the lady yesterday is it dangerous to sleep out on the street and she said oh yes it's very dangerous, because there's iOverlander spot down by the river, and she said no no no don't do that, and I asked, is it the people or the animals? and she said it was the animals, because there is elephants walking around, we are in the heart of nature, hippos that  come up onto the banks of the river, so she said please don't sleep outside, because even though you think you're safe in your car or your van, you might not be ... Hey ho when in Africa, it is best to listen  to the local advice so we're going to another campsite, I am always careful when I pick these up  in case there's any nasties hiding underneath! oh there is a mongoose! Where? A little mongoose right there! It is not every day you wake up to a family of mongoose walking through the campsite is it? so yeah the spot we found tonight  is literally only probably 7 minutes away   so it's very close, So all good, and the sun is shining, it's another beautiful day, but it's been super busy here, the whole town seems to be really busy. how you doing? so yes, as you can see campsite is full! Hi morning ...

I wonder when it last rained here?  because apart from in Maputo we haven't seen any rain, yeah it feels dry here doesn't it? yes it feels really dry it does, it's there? what? oh yeah that's a road. Is it this one here? Are we going to get down there? I don't know, but I don't want to get stuck in the sand! 2 km to go, so let's just go Let us just go slow and see what the roads like. This is one of the problems we've had, as soon as you turn off the main road it turns to sand, and Trudy is really not good on these types of roads. If we are going to turn around, now is the place to do it ...I don't know where we're going though? But ....okay we're taking the risk! sensible or mad I'm not sure, but it's seems okay at the moment... yeah, the ground seems compressed, so I'm not worried about sinking.

Morning .... What was that? dead end? he's saying it's  dead end. Oh where are we going? Banyana? Yes - how are you my friend? I'm fine and you? we we think we're going to Banyana campsite? No, there's no Road! there's no Road? how do we get to Banyana campsite? You can't go this way? No go back, okay, oh go around this side, is the road very sandy? is it very sandy or is it okay for this van? It's a paving road, Paved Road? Magical, that's wonderful, yeah - thank you, thank you, all the campsites are full so we're looking for somewhere to sleep tonight, oh okay, thank you my friend! oh there you go, good job this gentleman gave us some advice, because the road isn't there! it didn't feel right did it? No Yeah I don't think it's a good idea turning around there, because it looks really soft, so  we're just going to go straight back.

A nice big bit of elephant poop! That's often the problem when you  use Google Maps, you never really know,   it sends you funny way sometimes, but there are roads that are like this, so you just got to go with it and just try not to commit too much. Okay we made it without getting stuck! That wasn't the best idea we've had! We just passed a sign for the big five Lodge which we were booked in from tomorrow, so we decided to pop in and try our luck. Okay well we didn't actually plan to come to this campsite today, this is the camp site that we called up to book from tomorrow  for two nights, and they were fully booked for tonight, but we thought we'll just pop down just in case they've had a cancellation. Mariann's idea, yeah and they did and I even did a happy dance! She did, she charmed them and even cheered the reception staff up with the dance! But this is a great campsite and it's actually on the river, so we can show you that a little bit later but we've got our own sink for washing up, we've got our own a little Electric Supply here if we want to plug in, and amazingly we have our own toilet and shower room! So every camp spot has one, with hot water! so that's really good! So we're going to hang here for a few days and hopefully we can do a boat ride out on  the river, and go and find some hippos and crocs and things and enjoy Northern Botswana, before we start the long drive south! Happy? I'm delighted! It's a great place, this is really lucky, really lucky! The big five, the big five!! Hello! It is in fact the next day, the sun is  shining, we're excited today because we've booked a boat, to go on a little tour! I say a little it's a 3-hour tour down the river, so hopefully.... no no hold on It's a Sunset Cruise! yes a Sunset Cruise, that sounds very posh! The most romantic things we are ever going to do in our lifetime, I'm feeling it! So yeah we're heading out, the truck's going to take us down to the jetty to get the boat, so hippos here we come!! so these are the trucks that we're going to get down to the river for our Sunset Cruise!! Look at us! Come on Marianne! Remember I'm a grandmother! Okay, oh we got water, thank you sir! thank you OT.

So this is OT, you know OT - in England we say OT means overtime? it means you work extra hours! So it means you must be working very hard! Yes! I'm OT, from where we are driving, where to Kasane, 15 mile drive. We actually booked a boat for two!   Marianne booke a romantic cruise for two! So it's going to be a lot more peaceful, the others, they're celebrating a 50th birthday party, I think so, they've all got champagne they're going to go wild on the river! And I'm going to be squealing when I see the wildlife! Oh this is going to be cool, no swimming huh? The local people swim? No no! Dangerous? If you want to lose your life! It is possible to lose your life! Well there are crocodiles or hippos?  Crocodile and hippos!! yeah The crocodile is very fast! oh are they big? Yeah! You have small one, big one big one! How big? 2 m? the bigger one!! Big big enough to eat you! Bigger than you! bigger than me! Hello, hello! only two of you? Only two, oh  feel comfortable, it's very romantic! Are you our captain? I'll be a captain, and what's your name sir? Mojo. Mojo, I'm Chris. We're going to go fight crocodiles? Yeah? Ah yes, they're also good friends of mine! Okay! I already sent them the email, then we know where to find them!! Okay good job - I'm excited! look and we got a we got a romantic cruise for two, or for three!! Yes - a romantic cruise for three! ha ha it's going to be great fun! Baby, there's a warthog walking down there, on the bank!! Amazing! This is wonderful! Okay the the engine's not starting at the moment, you got it? We have to check, It's okay, to be honest it means we have  quality time together, enjoying the moment! Whoopsie! Mojo just couldn't get the engine started  we slowly drifted across the river towards Namibia, oh well, we wanted to go to Namibia anyway! okay so he's just uh phoning a friend, but it's very picturesque, we just haven't gone very far, this is a great spot to get stuck and we're drifting into the reeds! This is a great spot to stay! I'm happy to stay here! Mojo we have to swim back? no not yet! Not yet? we might be drifting into the reeds in a minute... but that's okay because you're with me! There's nothing more romantic than drifting with your wife! We're in the bamboo.... and there's a beautiful bird! And we are in Namibia! Oh is this Namibia? is this Namibia? We've just crashed into Namibia!! I didn't bring my passport, Do I need my passport!! Mojo look at that little bird here....

We weren't planning to crash into Namibia  today, but that is the Chobe River, on the one side you have got Botswana, and then on this side we're in Namibia! Mojo kept trying to start the engine, as we sat in the reeds admiring the view over the river, and then suddenly .... Okay we have power, we have power! oh we got good power, we started! We're going to go on a little test to make sure we're all good, Phew .... good news, the boat seems fine time to start the official boat ride. Mojo! MOJO ... okay so Mojo, he will be your captain and your guide till sunset, beautiful, thank you! and I'll do a very quick brief about the river that we are floating  on, okay ... so this river is called Chobe River and Chobe is one of our local language, it means paddling ..... we set off down the river, okay let's see what we can spot!? It wasn't long before we spotted a king fisher the birds are amazing that king fisher that  we just spotted with the black and white - fantastic! There is actually a bar over here called pole pole, but it's on the Namibian side, so if you want to stop for a beer you need your passport! pole pole, it's it's a Swahili language, okay, you find it in Tanzania, Kenya, and Congo, it means slowly, slowly.

That's quite some root structure  on that tree! We just spotted a couple of monitor lizards, look, look how close we are! Right there on the tree! absolutely beautiful, the colours on them, and the one shaking his head, I think it's the male doing his sexy dance!! Ah there's a baby crocodile... although  that probably means that Mum's nearby!! Okay so we just pulled up to register to go into the park, which you have to do, so Mojo's just heading up there to sign us in. oh what a special tour! It's 190 Pulu each (per person) to go into the Nature Park, Yeah and we splashed out 1,200 for the private, quiet boat tour, yeah..... that's because I'm worth it! of course you are Marianne. We headed into the park and it wasn't long  before we spotted a herd of buffalo. It's not every day that you get to Park up and look at a couple of elephants from a boat is it? I'm so grateful that my dad let me borrow his binoculars, I feel like I'm getting a front row seat of these elephants, they are pulling the grass, washing it, flicking it around, before giving it a good chomp!! It's another one of those moments that we're definitely going to remember... that is, isn't that's just like one of the most magical moments..... amazing!

Okay so apparently the crocodiles here in Botswana are Nile crocodiles, and they grow up to five or six metres in length, which is about the length of this boat, or three and a half times of me!   that is why we're not swimming people!! Mojo wanted to try and find an adult crocodile for us, so we can see how big they really are, so fingers cross we see one, as long as it's not too close!! We spotted another king fisher hovering and then it suddenly dives.... This is the African Jakana bird also  known as the Jesus bird. Its large feet allows it to walk over liles and other plant life, giving the appearance that it can walk on water. There's another monitor lizard, they're  really quite clever, the female will dig a hole and lay her eggs in a termite mound, the termites then repair it and seal the hole, hiding the eggs. When the eggs hatch, the baby lizards feed on the termites until they've developed enough strength to dig out, and then the termites reseal the mound again.

Mojo suddenly spotted a crocodile and we changed direction and headed straight  towards it. That is at least 3 m long! Oh my goodness, all right Mojo seriously that is getting  a bit close! There is a monster crocodile, I can't believe that we've actually just  pulled in here and there is a crocodile that is at least 4 and 1/2 M, literally 2 and 1/2 M away from us! Apparently they don't attack on the land, and if they get scared they'll just run into the water ....... let's hope Mojo knows what he's doing... We sat there staring at the prehistoric creature, it's a beautiful... this is beautiful...

is a the most incredible prehistoric creature  which is exactly what everyone says, but to get this close is unbelievable! That is definitely the biggest crocodile that I have ever seen in my life! But do you know what shocks me? I expected it to have like dead eyes but its eyes are really beautiful.. it's got like greeny greeny grey eyes, He looks like he's smiling at me! Look that! Oh okay! that was quite terrifying! I've seen Lake Placid! That's mad to think he's just under here! That's why you can't go swimming people! There is another baby croc there and another beast of an adult! I just can't believe it ran in, right next to the boat, if you have not seen Lake Placid you should .... and it's probably the worst B movie ever, but I thought it was brilliant fun, that is exactly how scary that was! And there's another one right there. We're just crossing over the river  we spotted a couple of hippos in the water. So far today has been absolutely amazing, and it's not over yet! We've just spotted a buffalo swimming  across the water here. We held our breath watching him swim  across, I mean I've seen what's under the water! This time he's lucky, he's made it across! As the sun started to go down Mojo spotted a herd of elephants in the distance, they're about to cross the river so we headed round to watch them.

In case you're wondering why they're flicking dirt over their backs, it acts as a sun protection, repels bugs and helps keep their skin dry and warm in cooler. months. As the others started wandering off, a large male headed towards us .... probably best to back up and give him some space.... what a magical experience Mojo  gave us ....we're so pleased we decided to take the private boat, another day we'll never forget ...... Good morning, what a fantastic spot, hey? That Safari on the river yesterday, this beautiful campsite which is a lot quieter now than when we first arrived.

The sun is shining, it's another beautiful day here in Botswana, but today we're going to be heading south a little bit, but before we do we got to go  to reception and settle up for our stay here but it's been absolutely lovely. I don't know whether you can hear the bird noises? But they sound very different to the birds  back home, they sound like they're on helium, it's like beeepppp - yeah it's like weeeee! This campsite they've planted loads of new bushes and trees so when it when they all grow up it's going to be very lush, but they also have cabins and rooms that you can rent there, but the temperature in Trudy is absolutely perfect, it is perfect,  winter van life in South Africa is amazing! One thing I do love is all the wood and carvings that they've got, absolutely amazing detail! There you go but I think this is one of my favourites .....the warthog! Look at that for a carving! And these guys here, amazing! Good morning ladies! Good morning, how are we doing? We're leaving today... today should you leave ? No I think we should stay forever!! oh please don't go okay!! We're staying!! We have had such a lovely time, thank you! Did you tell your cat that you're leaving? I'm not telling the cat that I'm leaving! Marianne found a cat friend, in fact I found two !! and what's cool about this place, is it's actually on the river, so next to the restaurant bar area here you got a view right over the Chobe River. Okay we're all paid up! Now where we're going today is only about 15 20 minutes Drive south of Kasane, there's a place called Senyate Campground which apparently is very beautiful and a good place to see elephants in the water hole, and because we didn't get into Namibia, because of the carnet issues, we're just pacing ourselves slowly in the North, because apparently in the north there's a lot more nature than in the South, so next week we'll be power housing a little bit faster South, and who doesn't love elephants?! You can never see enough elephants! Thank you thank you! There is a big family of mongoose! come on buddy, oh  there's loads of them! yeah unbelievable! You can see them all there! They're very cute they're like stripey meerkats almost aren't they? Oh they're so cute! look there's hundreds of them! there are! thank you thank you goodbye my friend thank you - see you again! Straight down the sandy road, It is pretty firm sand, so we're all good, yeah she's been handling it really well, and we're avoiding any bad roads .... we're trying to .....!

Okay we've just turned off the main road, yeah  looking at the road you wouldn't drive down it, but there is a sign here look.... Stop thick sand, keep right, 4x4 only!!! For 2x4 Road via Lisoma, and it's 1,000 pulu per rescue, let's go back to the main road. Yes let's go back, I'm not going down there! not a chance in hell! They've obviously had so many people get stuck, that they put a sign up! okay a little bit further. although breakdown is just there! Okay let's try this one.

Yeah Senyate 2x4, that it's great they've side posted on a proper road. Now bizarrely there are lions just here ... apparently! Yeah just roaming, Mojo was saying that sometimes the Lions wander into Kasane town, and a couple of people that came back from a safari yesterday, they said they saw a lion! and actually doing a kill! hunting! So yeah they are definitely around!  We're definitely in the Wilds of Africa! I don't mind meeting that one because it's  full up! Okay it says Senyate this way, follow the signs and we'll just go slowly to make sure we don't encounter sand, it didn't say 2x4, it didn't, what do you think? I think this is the only way to go, I think this is the way.

looks a little bit sandy, so you come off and it's sandy, yeah No sand! you just have to go slowly .... A cockerel - thats perfect timing! he knew we were filming him, didn't he? yes because he crowed on cue!!   oh my goodness still Sandy isn't it? oh it's  getting sandier! These roads really aren't great and they're not designed for a two  wheel drive van, but now we've started there's no way we can turn around so we'll  just have to keep going and hope it gets better! Oh my goodness this is very sandy! This is not good, this is not good! Just's keep driving, I'm trying, this can't be the 2 x 4 track? This is much better than the other one! my heart is going! yeah, mine too!! oh my God ! hold on, I don't want to stop! no ....oh there you go, that's better, that's better, there you go that's better ! Were we supposed to be on that road? I think we were supposed to be on that road! I think that was a shortcut! Now we just got washboards, oh no this  is dreadful! There is just so much sand, come on Trudy, you got this! We don't want to get stuck! yes I think it will be a miracle if we don't get stuck! Thank you! I don't like this all, no! Everyone told us we could do it, but I'm not sure we can.... uh oh 200 M on your side! okay this is firmer, is it? Stop on the concrete! Okay - I love that it says that everyone enters at their own risk, yeah may never get out again! This is okay at the moment. it is.....

I don't.... it's so soft! Soft sand ! I can't believe Trudy's got here! That's crazy! I don't know whether we're getting out! We headed into reception and explained  the route we took, it sounds like we took the wrong road. We said we needed the firmest Camp spot they had, so the reception has kindly showed us a couple of possibilities to check out.

Yeah? okay. And then you turn here by where there's where the cars are parked just here. We're supposed to be in one camp spot tonight, and then we're going to move to another camp spot tomorrow, but we're going to walk  the route just to see if we can, as it is very soft! it's very soft, but let's just have a look.   So we have to come around here,

through this sand here, so this bit it is not too bad, it's getting here that's the problem. You can see just how soft it is! and it's firm here, but all the way here it's too soft, I'm not risking it, no because if we get stuck, we're in trouble aren't we? Yeah this is really soft, I don't think we're going to get.... I don't know what to do? It is really soft. Okay so we know that we can't make it to  the Camp spot, the one that we looked at so we're just going to ask whether there's somewhere else that we could park for tonight, yeah we'll see, this is when the 15in wheel  lets us down ....

and we don't have knobbly tires we've got allterrain but they are not great on sand at all, and I'm going to let the PSI down but even so it's just not going to happen .... Okay we're going to look at another one, Marianne's taken her shoes off because she got too much sand, it is like a day at the beach !! here's 15 okay, not so sandy, I think if you can check the sand there? so the car will be going this way, it will be coming this way, so that's the street that you're going to join from going here. We looked at the new park up and the route in, and really don't think that Trudy would make it without getting stuck. now most of you will say why don't you just leave and find something that's got better parking, and the only reason that we've come here is we've heard that the  elephant viewings here are just insane! we took a look at the watering hole to see if we could spot any elephants which is what makes this place so popular. Wow - we weren't disappointed, we couldn't have timed this any better! does elephant viewing get any better than that? Okay we've made the tough decision that it's  just not going to work out and we'll try and go back to Big Five just for a night to have somewhere tonight, because it's too far to drive on really, and it's only just down the road, so fingers crossed we can get out without getting stuck. I suppose the advantage is  that we would get to stay then! yeah around your side, just a corner you might have to get a bit of power.

yes that's the bit I thought we were  going to get stuck, we haven't got out on the road yet! left and don't stop! Yeah it is sandy just here! come on girl you've got this! Let's go go! We headed off trying to keep our  speed consistent and not brake, and this time we managed to stick to the correct route, okay see if a BMW can get through  on this road then we're on a good road. we are in the middle of the bloody Bush  though to be fair, middle of nowhere! that's a big hole ! We eventually made it back to  the pave Road without getting stuck. Did you miss us? Oh I miss you! We couldn't get in there the sand was too bad, we nearly sank and I didn't want to do it, I want to go back to big game five!

2024-08-24 03:04

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