Trip Report: Botswana & Zimbabwe
By Cecilia Robinson
We have just returned from a wonderful trip, and as we also from time to time make use of information we obtained from the forum, I was given the task by our kamp kommandant to do a trip report, so here goes! I thought it might be interesting to do it from a woman’s perspective, so unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) there will not be as much detail of fuel consumptions, travelling times, tyre pressures or even costs involved. To us women, something is either expensive (or not)!
Itinerary:
6th May 2011 Jhb to Khutse south gate via Ramotswa Borderpost
7th Khutse south gate to Bape Camp, Central Kalahari Game Reserve
8th Bape Camp to Xade Camp CKGR
9th & 10th Kori Campsite No 3
11th – 13th Khwai River Community Campsite near Moremi
14 & 15th Chobe, Kasane
16th Zimbabwe, Hwange National Park - Robins Camp,
17th Hwange National Park, Main Camp
18 & 19th Antelope Park, Gweru
21st Via Beitbridge borderpost, Tshipise Resort
22nd back to Jhb
Our group consisted of 3 couples. Each couple travelled in their own vehicle, 2 Toyota Hilux 4 x 4’s and a Mazda 4 x 4. Two of our couples travel with AHA fold-up campers that we mount on the back of our bakkies whenever we go travelling, which, for us, is the perfect answer to the dilemma of rooftop tent versus ground tent. Once we have opened our AHA’s, (which really only takes a few minutes) we have ample standing space, fold down beds, a table, double battery system, kitchen, fridge/freezer, 60 lit (or 120 lit if you choose) in water storage tanks under the floor and even a porta potti for when the lions are around your camp! The entrance ladder is only as high as the tailgate of the bakkie and has a handrail for easy access. Once inside you are perfectly safe from any predators and you are off the ground from rainwater and the cold. (for more information see their website http://www.ahaweb.co.za). We have both been using our AHA’s for the past nearly 3 years, and just love it! The only drawback is that when you want to go and sightsee, you have to fold up the camper but it is the same with a rooftop tent. It is relatively quick and easy to fold up the AHA, especially if you don’t have to take your chairs and tables etc along. Our third couple had a flat, aluminium canopy on the back of their bakkie, with a little “pop-up” tent on top that also worked very well. It was an experiment that proved very successful, it was quick to erect and fold down, they used an aluminium ladder to get in and out, but will probably add hooks to hook onto their roofrack to make this more stable for next time. A good solution if you don’t want to sleep on the ground, but also don’t want a heavy, cumbersome rooftop tent! As far as food is concerned, a schedule is drawn up before the time, and each couple normally has to provide and cook dinner and brunch the next morning every third day, so that means that once you have had your turn, you can relax for two days. We all help each other when necessary, but this way the responsibility of providing meals is considerably less, and we always have delicious meals because if you only have to cook every third day, you don’t mind making a special effort! This system has always worked well for us. We decided only to pre-book the places where it might be fully-booked, or where we could not book and pay at the entrance of the park or reserve, so after some research, we only booked and paid for our 4 nights in Central Kalahari Game Reserve. To simplify the booking, (and because it is cheaper) we only chose camps that are run by DWNP, and the whole booking (plus 1 change) plus payment by credit card was accomplished in a day or two by telephone and e-mail through their Gabarone office and a few weeks later we received the official permit by post.
Generally speaking, if you like to camp and travel like we do, usually about 6 people ( of which half are women) in 3 vehicles, one’s perception of ablution facilities change. The women in our group are quite squeamish (as women tend to be) and we find having to do our bathroom business quite challenging. Let’s face it, it simply isn’t as easy for women as for men! We do not mind a “bush toilet” for a night here or there when there is no other way, (we usually blackmail our husbands into digging it for us otherwise we are not coming again), and we all have black solar shower bags that we use when necessary, but an ablution block with hot showers and flushing toilets is preferable, even if half the taps are missing, the loos flush with the help of a wire that you have to pull, the doors cannot close properly due to there not being handles etc. AS LONG AS IT IS CLEAN! I must say, that in general on this trip we had very little complaints as far as that was concerned. In places like CKGR where there are only “longdrop” toilets and shower enclosures with a bucket system, it is still better than not having a toilet at all! You just have to learn to not look down and to breathe through your mouth!
Central Kalahari Game Reserve
We left Johannesburg at 7h00, and crossed into Botswana through the Ramotswa borderpost, with no problems. We were not asked about or searched for meat, which was just as well, as we had decided to take the risk to take our own meat with us. We arrived at Khutsi south gate in the afternoon, where we spoke to the attendants at the gate. They were very helpful and friendly, and they suggested that we camp for the night at the big tree just outside the gate as we were only booked in for the next day. They even offered that we could use their ablution block! As there was a generator running and making a noise, we decided to drive a few kilometers along the fence on an existing track, (as we had intended all along) where we pulled off and camped. We always make sure that when we leave a campsite, there is no evidence that we even were there, we cover up all traces of our fire and, of course, take all our rubbish with us! During the evening a parksboard bakkie drove past with some officials on it, but they only greeted us and seemed friendly. The next morning, we formally booked in at the Khutsi gate, and we all headed for the ablution block to have nice hot showers and filled up our water tanks. We proceeded through Khutsi to CKGR, I somehow imagined there would be a fence or something between the 2 parks, but not so. We arrived at Bape campsite, where there are no abution facilities at all. There seems to be only the one campsite, which is just a cleared are, but has lovely shady trees. The road there was reasonable, although we did not see too much game, and it took us about 5 (?) hrs to get there. Early the next morning, before sunrise, we heard a lion roar not too far away and getting closer, so we started packing up in a hurry as we did not want to be caught in camp by a lion settling down for the day! We left early and proceeded to Xade. It was quite tough going, as most of the track is through sand and thick thorn bush, which meant that one could not see much and our cars got quite badly scratched. We could not even find an open area big enough to pull off for brunch and ended up just stopping on the track and eating between 2 of the vehicles. We did not see another vehicle the whole day! It took us about 5 (?) hrs to get to Xade campsite no 2, where we were booked in. After inspecting it, and finding it was on an incline with no ablution facilities, we decided to take a chance and proceed to the Xade main camp, (which is about 10 km further)and what a good decision! We spoke to the attendants and were able to pick and choose between 4 campsites, and there was a lovely (to us!) ablution block with hot showers (and a resident barn owl)! We were the only people in the whole camp, except when a group of travelers arrived at about 21h00 after having had trouble on the road. The men took the opportunity when we arrived to inspect the underside of the vehicles, and it was absolutely amazing to see how much grass and muck they took out, no wonder so many vehicles catch fire! The trip from Xade to Kori took about …?…… hrs, we were travelling through thick sand and the scenery became more open with beautiful savannahs all round. We passed another burnt-out vehicle, and again can’t stress enough how important it is to check regularly for dry grass stuck under the vehicles. At first we did not see a lot of game, but as we got more north, we started to see herds of gemsbok, springbok, and black wildebeest. It was just wonderful! The rain had stopped about 2 weeks before, and we could see the deep ruts made by vehicles during the rainy season. Even though we had to take many deviations and detours because of that, at least we did not encounter any mud. It turned out our timing was absolutely perfect, it was just after the rains so everything was lush and green, but before the herds of game had left for greener pastures and water. The landscape in the CKGP is absolutely beautiful, and we plan to go back some time to spend more time there. We were booked in at Kori Campsite No 3, but when we arrived there (same old story) it was already occupied. We decided to wait and very soon the people arrived, and told us that they were booked at campsite no 2, but when they arrived to day before, that too was occupied. The woman showed us their booking, which they had done through Big Foot, and which was only confirmed on her cellphone. As they were booked in for the same period as us, we decided to take their booking at no. 2, so much for carefully choosing which campsite one wants and booking well in advance! There was a longdrop toilet and shower enclosure, but we had to provide our own water. Luckilly we could fill up with water at Xade. Enough said about the game viewing, we saw lots of game, but only one of our group saw a pride of lion on one of their sightseeing trips. We heard lion virtually every night though, and will definitely go back to the northern part of the park for a longer visit. We wanted to do the southern part so that we could tick it off our “to do” list, and now we have!
Khwai Community Campsite
The next day we left early, exited at Matswere gate, and had an uneventful trip via Kuke and the vet fence to the A3 and Maun, where we stocked up on meat etc and filled up with fuel and water. We bought beef fillet at the Spar at R59 per kilo, what a pleasure. We then continued on the B334 to the Khwai Community Camp bordering Moremi Game Reserve. We were following the directions for the camp from T4A on our GPS’s, but because of the floods the Khwai river is so high, that a lot of the usual tracks are under water, and we kept on getting to dead ends and having to turn around and find new tracks. We only realized later that it is best to travel on on the B334 until you see the Kwai Community Campsite signboard, and then follow the track. We still had to drive through water at some places, but it wasn’t too deep and we never got stuck. This is a magical and unspoilt place, we saw lots of elephant bathing and swimming in the river, hippos, buffalo, giraffe and much more. We had elephant silently walking virtually through our campsite a few times every day. We even had a visit from a lone lion female two nights in a row! We felt perfectly safe in our AHA’S, and just continued sleeping even when she roared what felt like right next to us! The officials of Kwai Community campsites would visit us every evening to collect our camp fees, and, seeing that there are absolutely no ablution facilities or drinking water available, we felt that the fees of R140 p/p per day is a bit steep. A few people in our group were so ingenious, they set up a gazebo a little but safe way away, dug our own “long drop” toilet, set a portable toilet seat on it, rigged a pole to hang our black solar shower bags, and voila, we had our own bathroom. It was a life saver! The men went to fetch water from the river for our showers (looking out very carefully for crocodiles), otherwise we would not have had enough water for 3 days. This area is not as quiet as CKGR, with groups setting up camp across the track from us virtually every day, but the areas inbetween are quite big, so they were never on top of us and it did not bother us too much. I think we actually bothered them more, as, although we never play any music when we camp, our men all have rather loud voices and even though the women are always “shushing” them, I’m afraid our camp was rather noisy!
Chobe/Kasane
From here we were basically deciding from day to day where we would go next, which was a welcome change from our usually preplanned and booked trips. We decided to travel via Savuti to Chobe, as 2 of our group have never been there before. It was a difficult day of driving through very thick sand, and we heard of quite a few people coming unstuck on this road at the same time. As we reached the Linyanti River, the most unbelievable sight awaited us, because of the flooding in the area, it was just water as far as the eye could see, like endless lakes that just continued on and on! Truly amazing! We took the Chobe river drive to Kasane and saw hundreds and hundreds of buffalo and giraffe, and lots and lots of other game. It was wonderful! The only thing that was a bit irritating was all the gameviewing vehicles with loads of tourists coming from the front on their afternoon drives, and making lots of dust. I suppose we were thoroughly spoilt by now by the lack of tourists. We were going to spend a few days in Kasane, and were going to check out the camp sites there, but the first one we got to was Chobe Safari Lodge, and they offered us a lovely site in a quiet corner. The Chobe River was so full, we had to drive through a stretch of water to get to our campsite. It was right next to a big brand new ablution block (unisex nogal) so we decided to stay. Us women especially enjoyed having toilets and showers just a few meters away, and we decided to spoil ourselves and had a huge buffet breakfast in the lodge the next morning. We did not do the sunset boat cruise this time (having done it last time and also feeling quite blasé about having seen so much already), but for anyone who has not done it before, it is a must! At this point of our trip, Dries and Susan left us to go to Rundu to visit a cousin who has a lodge there, and it was quite sad to say goodbye to them after having had them with us all this time!
Zimbabwe - Hwange
After Kasane us remaining 2 couples took the road to Zimbabwe. We entered at Pandamatenga border post. We were the first people that day (it was about 11 or 12) and whereas Dennis and myself were just waved through, some young guy decided to search Philip & Rene’s vehicle from top to bottom. Most of the officials at this borderpost did not wear uniforms, which was a bit disconcerting in itself, but this young chap wore a colourful, sleeveless t-shirt, and I was in silent hysterics watching Rene’s face as he rummaged through their stuff. It was no joke, however, they felt very traumatized and violated, and we wondered afterwards where this guy came from, for all we knew he was just a curious onlooker, but you cannot cause trouble, so nothing was said, and he eventually let them go after apparently finding nothing of interest. The other officials were watching the whole thing, so he must have been above board. This was truly the only unpleasant experience we had in Zimbabwe. We were aware (having read about it on the forum) of the $1 tolls we had to pay, so made sure we had enough available, and overall found the people from Zim very friendly and happy. We entered Hwange, and spent our first night in Robins Camp and second night at Main Camp campsite. One memorable experience was watching More Blessings and Happy (the 2 camp attendants) at Masuma Dam picnic site remove a huge black mamba that was in the roof of the shower, with a long broomstick with a homemade hook tied to it. The mamba eventually came out at a considerable speed and took refuge in a small tree nearby. We were all standing at a respectful distance knowing how fast they can move! The only thing I can say about Hwange is that it is very sad that in the 15 years since we have visited it, absolutely nothing has changed, the camp attendants and personnel try their best with the limited resources they have, but it is clear that they receive little or no aid from their government. We did get the feeling, though, that game was more plentiful than what we experienced last time. Apart from possibly one other vehicle, In both Robins and Main Camps, we were virtually the only visitors In both the chalets and campsites. The ablution facilities and everything else are in a bad state of repair, but clean, and in each bathroom you will find a few potplants in cut-off coke bottles, obviously planted by the attendants in their attempt to brighten up the place. We enquired about the picnic sites but were told they were fully booked, even though we did not see anyone at any except one of sites, and also did not pass anyone who had enough time to reach the picnic sites before nightfall.
Antelope Park, Gweru
From Hwange we proceeded on the A8 to Bulawayo and then on the A5 to Gweru to the Antelope Park. What a pleasant surprise! We had read about it on the forum, and we were treated like royalty, even though we were only camping! Carlos, who seemed to be one of the managers and who welcomed us to the park, brought us a jug of icecold colddrink and glasses, and later on another jug of ice. He spent some time with us explaining the work being done there and the activities that we could participate in, if we wanted, When we asked about the evening menu in the restaurant, he promptly went to fetch the chef to come and explain the menu to us!
This is a beautiful and interesting wildlife project, with volunteers from all over the world doing research and helping to expand the place. (See their website at http://www.antelopepark.co.zw) They have 102 lions and some elephant, and they offer all sorts of accommodation, camping, and there is a restaurant and lots of activities to do, like walking with lions, riding on elephants, sightseeing walks etc. etc. All at a price, of course, but we felt that they have to do this to fund the project, and they also provide valuable jobs. We decided to do the elephant ride and the feeding of lions, both well worth it and very interesting. If I could give a bit of advice though, only do the 30 minute elephant walk, an elephant is very wide, and imagine sitting with your legs spread out as far as they could go, and then a little wider, for an hour, not too comfortable but I would not have missed it for the world! At one point I asked Philip, who had a bit of a sore neck that morning, how his neck was feeling, and he replied that that was the least of his worries! I was in a fit of silent hysterics again!
Zimbabwe Ruins
After 2 days in this green oasis, it was time to head home, but not before the rest of our group took me to see the Zimbabwean ruins (they had all seen it before). This “city” was built between the 11th and 14th centuries, and is an architectural masterpiece. It is very impressive and truly amazing, and should not be missed on a trip through Zimbabwe. Again, the sad thing was that in the couple of hours we spent there, we saw maybe one other couple visiting the place.
Back home
We then took the A4 to Beitbridge, it is quite a narrow tarred road, but very busy with trucks and taxis, and one had to really watch it and concentrate not to become one of the many signs of accidents one sees along this road. We had decided to go through Beit Bridge borderpost, because it would have been a huge detour for us to go via Plumtree, and we had heard crossing from Zim to SA is not as bad as the other way round. The Zim side was a breeze, but the SA side was very confusing and badly signposted, with us standing in the wrong queues at least 3 times, until some kind person would tell us we are in the wrong queue. There are tents with the sign “Immigration” on it, and then, after 10 minutes, we would find out we are standing In the queue for people going TO Zimbabwe. Anyway, it took us less than an hour to get through the border, not too bad. We slept over in Tshipise and was home the next day with mountains of dirty laundry and already thinking of where we shall go next!
In Conclusion: This was a wonderful experience that we will never forget . Travelling and camping like this is not for everyone, and definitely not for sissies, as they say. It involves a lot of research, planning and hard work, and it is not really cheap either with all the equipment and gear you need, fuel prices being what they are and fees at game parks becoming more and more expensive. A lot of our friends and acquaintances think we are out of our minds to do it, but everyone on this forum will know how addictive it is, and if you ask me when we are going again, I will say: as soon as possible!