Days 281 to 290 Diary Index
Days 301 to 310 
I wake to find the weather is clearing into a fine day. After the usual morning routine we leave Dragons Rest caravan park and drive into Underburg. We then followed the R617 back to the N2, turn North and carry onto Harrismith. After stopping for lunch at a service station on the edge of Harrismith we drive round to the local super market an stock up on food. There we also get information on a campsite at a Dam which is not too far away. We decide to head there as we don't have any better info, so follow the N5 out of town. We follow signs for the R712 then after around 10Km turn onto R74 which leads us to the Sterkfounten nature reserve entrance. We drive down the nature reserve offices, where the guard lets us through to the campsite. It's only later do we realise that we should have stopped at the offices to pay for the nights stay. So me and Mum drive back up to sort this out. The campsite is nice with water and power on each pitch and a clean ablutions block. As the sun is shinning in a clear blue sky for the first time in week, we take advantage and set our gear out to dry. I then spend some time cleaning all the kit that had got covered in mud over the past few days. With that done I turn my attention to fixing my front door, which was not shutting properly. I find that the internal frame has cracked clean through. So I make up a bracket from some aluminum plate I had and pop-riveted it into place. Just as I finish reassembling the door Verena calls and I spend a while chatting to her, and telling her of the adventure of the past few days. I then pack my gear away, a lot of which is now clean and dry. Around this time a South African couple pull in driving a kitted Defender 90, and so after dinner I wander over to chat. They are really hospitable and I end up spending the whole evening chatting to them and listening to their stories of adventures in dunes of Namibia and quad biking. All while enjoying a couple of cold beers.
It was a hot sunny day and I spent most of it relaxing in the shade working on my website. Dad went off walking in the morning and then came back and went for swimming in the dam. Mum pottered around doing odd jobs until settling down and reading for the afternoon. After dinner that evening we go through my trip photo's on the laptop. I then retreat to my roof tent to read for a while before dropping off to sleep.
After getting our gear in order we left Sterkfounten Dam and drive back to Harrismith. There I find a internet cafe to check my e-mail, but there is still no word from Bo about meeting up. I then run around town getting photo copies of my new passport and some passport sized photos. We then head North on the main road to Johannesburg, but before heading into the city center turn off to take a more direct route to the airport. As the Maui office where we have to drop the hired campervan is near by. After reaching the airport I follow the directions they gave us and manage to find the yard and offices. This wasn't easy as there was plenty of road works in the area with diversions, which made it hard to keep on track. Once there Mum and Dad sort out handing the vehicle make, while I chat to the guys in the garage. One of the things I asked them was if they new where 4x4 Mega World was, and told the girl who was driving my parents to the hotel to take me there afterwards. So after we had dropped Mum and Dad at the Hotel Inn Garden Court I followed her down the road. Unfortunately she got lost and so we ended up taking the long route there. By this time it was late afternoon, so I get some better direction from the guys at 4x4 Mega World and again to come back tomorrow. I then drive back to the hotel, where Mum greets me in the car park. She explains that they have booked me a room of my own as a last night treat. So I grab my gear and take it to my room. I then meet Mum and Dad for Tea before going for a swim in the hotel pool. We spend the evening having one last nice meal together in the restaurant in the base of the hotel and enjoying a few beers before returning to our rooms for for a good nights sleep after what had been a long day.
We started the day with a massive breakfast. I first had cereal and then tucked into a full English breakfast. After which we said our goodbyes and the last thing I said to my parents was "See you in Jersey". I then drove out of the hotel car park and round the corner to fill up with fuel, as I was running on fumes. It then drove down the road to 4x4 Mega World. After discussing the work of changing the suspension bushes over with the guys in the garage, they recommended I go and get the standard bushes and refit them. As there opinion was that the Polyurethane bushes are more comfortable but wear out quicker. So I got some directions from them as to the nearest Land Rover dealer, and set off down the road to find it. After having a bit of a search I eventually got there, only to find that they didn't have any in stock. So I returned to the 4x4 Mega World and arranged for them to fit the polyurethane ones. Which they did right away, and the guys were pretty slick and had the whole lot changed within two hours. This dangerously left me to wander around there massive store full of 4x4 gadgets and toys. But I managed to resist and only bought a thermal cover for my fridge, which was some thing I had wanted to get for quite some time. Whilst the Landy was on the car lift I noticed that one of the exhaust brackets had broken. Luckily it was still in place and after squaring up the money at 4x4 Mega World I headed round to a place they said I could get it welded back on. This was Speedy Tire and Exhaust, and the lads there were great. After I had explained the problem they had the Landy on the hoist straight away and it fixed within a couple of minutes. The guy who was doing the welding even put another support to help stop it happening again. While I had been hanging around at 4x4 Mega World I had given the guys at the Maui garage a call to see if they where willing to sell a rear spare wheel carrier I had seen on a wrecked vehicle they had. They were more than happy to help and told me to come round and pick it up later that afternoon. So that's where I headed next. Buy the time I arrived they had taken it off of the wreck vehicle and had it on the bench. I then went through with the guy to check I and all the nuts and bolts and then paid him the agreed price of 300 Rand. Unfortunately the weather at this point turned foil and it started to rain heavily. So I chucked the carrier in the back of the Landy, thanked the guys for their help, and got back on the road, as I wanted to use the rest of the day to drive toward the Botswana border. So I took the main road to Pretoria, drove through the city center, an out along the main road heading West. I drove until it was early evening and stopped at a campsite called Makalani Camping + Accommodation, just past the town of Harteespoortdain. The place wasn't that great and some parts were run down. But to my advantage there were power points on the camp ground, so I then spent the evening fitting the spare wheel carrier to the Landy. Buy the time I had finished it was dark so I just had a light dinner and read for a while before going to bed.
I woke at 06:30. had some breakfast and got ready to leave. But just as I was about to drive off I noticed that the front right indicator wasn't working properly. I decided to fixed it there and then as I was planning to cross the border into Botswana today and I didn't want to give them anything to pick on. It took me an hour in the end, as I had to dismantle the whole front light assembly to gain access to the right wires. I then left the campsite and got on the road and followed the N4 toward the border. Along the way I stopped it a town to spend the some of the Rand I still had on lunch and some other bits and pieces. Not far from the border I received a call from Mum and Dad, to let me know they had got home safely. The border crossing was straight forward and there was no problems with getting the papers stamped. But I did have to pay 100 Rand for the road tax. Just after the border I fuelled up the Landy and managed to pay with Rand. I then drove onto Gaboune, drove through the city outskirts and followed the A1 road North to ward Francistown. I spent the rest of the day driving along good tarmac in this direction and finally reached the outskirts of the town around 20:00. I tried to find a spot to sleep in the Landy, but got bothered by a Police patrol, so had to move further back away from the town to a pick-nick area at the side of the road. There I just slept in the back on the Landy so not to make it look obvious I was sleeping there, even though it was a hot night.
I am on the road again at 07:30 and I drive into Francistown. I then fuel up the Landy, again paying with Rand. I continue to drive through town and find my way to the road heading North West and to Nata. I spend most of the day driving toward the border with Zambia. The road is perfect tarmac most of the way and so I am able to cruise at 90KPH. Along the way I spot an Ostrich lurking in the bushes and a couple of elephants chewing on a tree at the side of the road. I arrive at the last fuel station and spend the remaining Pual, given to me as change, on fuel. Its a short drive to the border post. I have no problems in getting my papers stamped and are soon finished and let through to the ferry crossing point. The ferry is already on my side of the river, so I drive on board. While the ferry guys are waiting for a few more passengers, I take a couple of photos and chat to the passengers and crew. I notice that the ferry is new, and learn that the reason it isis that afew months before they loaded the ferry wrongly, with a large truck to one side, and during the crossing it flipped. We soon set off and it only takes 5 minutes to reach the other bank, where I drive off into the Zambian border post area. I then run into a full case of African bureaucracy. First I go to the ferry office to pay for the crossing I had just done. Straight forward I hand over money and get a nice receipt, no problem. I then go round to the next office, which is the Police post. There they say I have to pay some sort of vehicle levy. I explain that I have no local currency yet, in the vain hope of getting out of it, but they just go off and get a money changer. Luckily I had a good idea of what the official rate was and so managed to bargain a reasonable rate. I paid the Police, got my receipt and moved onto the next office. This was the customs office. I explained I had booked to stay with the Joy Boys Backpackers and that they should have sent the visa waver. The way things were going I didn't expect it to be here, but after some sifting of papers the customers officer produced the right bit of paper. I then handed over my passport and he stamped with no more questions asked. I then moved along to th next counter and got the carnet stamped, and was then explained I would need to next purchase insurance. So now with all my papers stamped I could walk through the gate to the insurance office, but had to leave the Landy in the compound. I didn't like the look of the setup as the insurance office was a converted shipping container, with a old sign forlornly hung above the door. This wasn't helped when the guy who greeted me was your stereotypical dodgy insurance salesman, with crocodile smile, tie with small knot and slick hair. But it just goes to show appearances are deceptive. Because as we went through the details of getting insurance for the Landy the guy appeared to be clued up and honest. He also explained I could buy extended cover which would insure me for all the countries I was planning on driving through. I cautiously excepted and bought the extended cover for all the countries I intended on going through, which cost me an extra 90 USD. This later turned out to be all above board and I never had a problem when producing this so called yellow card as insurance. With feeling that I had been screwed for as much money as legitimately possible, I finally drove out of the compound gates an into Zambia. I was then a easy drive into Livingston and after a little search I found the Jolly Boys Backpackers. I checked in and was warmly welcomed and explained where everything was. I then booked at micro light flight over the falls for the following afternoon. As I had long ago decided that it would be one of the best way to appreciate the scale of the falls. I then settled in and made myself at home. I used one of my dinner vouchers and enjoyed a good meal from the bar and spent the evening chilling and chatting to other travelers. One of which was Michel a woman I had met at Aardvark Backpackers in Cape Town and had mentioned she would come up here to learn to white water kayak.
After a hot and sticky night in the roof tent I was awake early. The morning was spent getting lots of odd jobs done. I fitted the thermal cover to the fridge, checked over the Landy, got info from other overlanders, withdrew money and bought/fitted reflective tape for the Landy. The story with the reflective tape is that the Police in these parts are reflective crazy and use it as another point to try a fine you if you don't have adequate reflectors in their eyes. After lunch I then spent the first part of the afternoon working on my website and using the internet to check my mail. At 15:30 I got picked up to go to the airfield for the micro light flight. I was a short drive and I spent it chatting to the driver who had seamed to have done every possible job in the area at some point, and so had plenty to tell. Once at the airfield I checked in and passed the time by chatting the some English tourists and watching a chameleon get eaten by a snake. It is always amazing to see how they dislocate their jaw. Soon enough it was my turn to go up and so I saw shown to the micro light, seated and introduced to my pilot. We were up in the air in no time and heading for the falls. Along the way we saw a couple of groups of hippo's wallowing in the waters of the delta. As we circled the falls we got great views of all the falls, following rapids and the surrounding area. Including the Zimbabwe side. We then flew back up along the delta and over to the wild life reserve. Where we spotted Giraffe, Buffalo and Rhino, which were the first I had ever seen. During the flight I was chatting away to the pilot and as it turned out he had done his own trans Africa trip on a motorbike about five years before. Once we were back on the ground I said my goodbyes and court my lift back to Jolly Boys. I then spent the rest of the afternoon playing around in the pool with one of the kayaks, to check I could still roll. As I had not been in a kayak where I might have to roll for over + 9 months. I spent that evening making dinner and chatting to Sven and Michel about paddling the following day. With Michel's colourful descriptions of previous trips to put me at ease, NOT!
It was a slow start to the day as I just had a leisurely breakfast and watched the news on TV. I then pottered around doing odd jobs until going off into town with Michelle. We wondered round the high street and down to the market and bought some general supplies. While in the market though I did notice you could buy fried grasshoppers and other bugs.....hmmm. I think not! Once back at Jolly Boys I worked on my website for an hour before Sven came round to see if we could leave at the easily than planned time of 12:30. This was not a problem so we just made some lunch and got our gear together, before Sven came back to pick us up. We then drove down the road to his house to pick up the trailer, kayaks and kit. Then onto another backpackers to pick up some other German guys who were also coming along. We arrived at at the park entrance car park, which was surrounded buy souvenir stalls, and unloaded the kit. To my surprise we were not hassled by the stall owners and were just left in peace. Maybe they had come to realize you didn't have the space in your kayak, or more likely they had just got to know Sven and what he was up to. Sven then organized for some local porters to carry our kayaks down to the water for us. I first thought this was a bit lazy until I had to climb down the track myself and found it to be quite tricky and slippery in places. With all the kit and people assembled at the bottom, Sven gave me the low down on the water and a choice of places to put in. I looked out over the water and surveyed the 2m high and 60m long train of standing waves, which then smashed into the canyon wall and swung right in a boiling mess of white water. Sven assured me it was a straight forward fair glide to the other side. I wasn't so confident, as I hadn't been in white water or serious surf in a kayak for 10 months. I figured though that if I didn't get stuck in straight away I would be in the wrong fame of mind for the rest of the river, and probably have a very bad day. Also because I had foolishly explained my paddling experience, there was now a air of expectation to my abilities. So it was time to put my paddle were my mouth was, and so breezily said "ya, I'll go for it" to Sven. As we edged out into the current I started to feel the pressure of the water on the kayak. With a surge of adrenalin I steered the kayak onto the face on the wave, paddling flat out to maintain my position. The kayak was bucking and lurching in the choppy water and I was fighting for control, until the kayak bounced, the nose dug in and the kayak flipped upside down. In these moments you always seam to have just enough time to realise you have right royally ballsed this up and you are about to be in serious trouble. It's like some evil force wants to make sure you know just what shit you are in, before letting the course of events play out. The next thing I know I am upside down in the water, listening to the rushing water and feeling it carrying me along at great speed. In the instant I am reminded than this wave train terminates in a white water mess against the canyon wall, and the words of Sven ringing in my ears saying "don't worry if you do go it the current will carry you right through". I couldn't roll in this current and standing waves, so I set my paddle to roll and flattened myself to the deck. I was about to find out if he was right. It was some 7 seconds as I counted, before I felt the current ease and the noise of the water subside, time to roll. I broke the surface gasping for air, and successfully stayed upright. Hearing the cheers of some of the other paddles, I turned to see I was well below the wave train and in slower moving water. So I paddled to the side to catch my breath. I then thought to myself "and this is only the start". This set the theme for the rest of the afternoon, big waves, lots of white water and plenty of rolling, as we run rapids 1 to 13, but this is the Zambezi after all. My performance did improve as the afternoon went on and I was progressively making it further through each rapid until on the last few I didn't need to roll. I must admit that I did portage around the two biggest grade 5 on that stretch, 7 and 9, one of which is called Commercial Suicide. I might be adventurous, but I am not stupid. As I felt my ability was not good enough to tackle them. Maybe some other day? All in all I can say I really enjoyed it but will happily admit of being scared on more than one occasion. But fear is good it helps concentrate the mind for what it is about to do. It was then a long steep climb out of the canyon back to the car. Where we all enjoyed a well disserved beer. We then drove back to Jolly Boys, dropping the German lads along the way. I then spent the evening enjoying a dinner of curried crocodile. Which I thought was a bit ironic as I could have been crocodile food earlier in the day. So after a couple of more beers and chatting I had to concede defeat and crawled into bed at only 21:00.
If you are interested then there is a link below to the company I went with. Sven is a really good guide and tells you all you need to know about the water, and some things that you don't really want to know like where the big crock's are. www.thezambezi.com
With the sun beating down I was up and about at 06:00 and was ready to leave by 08:00. I drove out of the Jolly Boys Packers and down the road to the fuel station. The first one I stopped at didn't have any diesel, this is Africa, and so I drove down to the next one. I then drove out of Livingston and most of the day driving to Lusaka. One odd thing along the way was that I and everyone else was stopped at a checkpoint and made to wash our hands in some high grade disinfectant. The reason, I am not sure, and no one seamed to know why either. I arrived in Lusaka late afternoon and refueled before heading straight out of the city again via the great east road. As I was reaching the city outskirts I was stopped by the police for apparently speeding 5Kph over the limit. After a lengthy discussion with the officer it finally sunk in that I wasn't going to pay him anything and he made it look like he was doing me a big favor it letting me go. I then continued on my way ENE along the great east road, which was good tarmac all the way, until stopping around 18:30 to have some dinner. I then carried on driving until 20:00 when I just pulled over to the road side and went to sleep in the back of the Landy.
I was up bright a early again with the sun and started driving again at 06:00. I soon arrived in the town of Chipata, where I spent the last of my money on fuel, before heading out and toward the border. I arrived at the Zambian border post and after the usual running around between offices had all my papers stamped and was let through. It was a 12Km down the road to the Malawi border post. I was immediately set upon my the money changes hassling me. Saying the usual line "I'll give you good rate". Ya, right you do this for fun! I soon got my papers sorted and filling in all the log books and was on my way. There was lots of police check points all the way to Lilongwe, most of which just asked to see driving license or insurance, and other would just wave you through. But there was one manned by a snotty nosed new recruit who wanted to go through everything. Even down to the emergency triangles and fire extinguishers. Unhappily for him I had the lot so he couldn't find anything to make up a fine about. I arrived in Lilongwe around lunch time and went in search for the ATM. After parking up and a quick look around I found one that worked. I then went round the corner to an Internet cafe for an hour or so. Checked, sent e-mail and managed to update the front page of my website with my current location. I then drive through the city in the direction I wanted to leave and stopped to refuel and do a bit of shopping. Once on the main road north it was not long before I turned off and took the main road toward to lake and Salima. Just before reaching Salima I turned north again to follow the road that runs along the side of the lake. The going saw slow because there was so many people, animals and pot holes in the way. Late afternoon I finally arrived in the village of Nkhotakotta, where I was stopped at a police checkpoint. They asked where I was going and when I said Kande Beach the office asked if I could give one of his a colleges a lift there. Because as it turned out he worked there at night as a guard. It was handy for me anyway as he showed me the way. Buy the time we pulled into the camp it was just getting dark. So I arranged to stay and quickly found the bar and drunk a refreshing beer. I then went off and set camp and had some dinner, before returning to the bar for bed time beer and chat to one of the owners.
Days 281 to 290 Diary Index
Days 301 to 310