5 Rivers of the Caprivi - Going on holiday

Have I mentioned yet that I love my car? If not, I’m sure I will.

What started out as a plan for Vanessa’s &%th birthday, and morphed into a bit of a memory jog for some, turned into a real adventure and a renewing of faith that not all of Africa is poked, and Botswana and the Caprivi at least, work.

Given my previous ramblings there is the danger that this could turn into another serialised version, but that would probably lose me my loyal readers, so I’ll do my level best to try to capture the essence of the trip in as few words as possible. Knowing me though, I’ll probably have to come back and delete this paragraph.

It is often thought, by us at least, that preparation for the trip and anticipation of the trip can be almost as much fun as the trip itself, if not that much for the people that watch you do this in quiet and not so quiet envy. This was true in this case. I think that the Pikes and Britzs became a pain in the weeks leading up to this as the planning started to come together. Packing the trailer, getting the car ready, making sure we had everything, menus organised – the day dawned all too slowly.

2 things to add;
I pimped my ride. An awesome ARB winch bar, and Outback roof-rack and some really awe-inspiring IPF spots (I needed all of these – really), extra spare wheel on the rack, a 2m awning and an Engel 40L freezer and we were hot to go. Ho ho ho (said like Tim “the Toolman” Tailor)

Stupidity has a price, and in getting the trailer ready, I emptied it. It became a little back heavy. While cleaning it, it started to fall backwards. Using lightning fast reflexes, unguided by any brain activity (which Nes says is not unusual, but it normally applies to my mouth), I tried to catch 250Kg of trailer with one hand and managed to completely separate one of my bicep ligaments. Anyway, accompanied by some myprodol and a knee guard, we went on holiday. Good news on our return, the doctor says I can still play tennis, which is quite something ‘cos I couldn’t before this happened. Anyway, no harm done (not much anyway) – the doc says I’m too old to go chasing after it and to leave it – the other one will take over

1st August. We’re off!!
Nes “Honey, the car seems quite sluggish”
Gavin “Ya, it’s really loaded ”
Nes “Is the trailer handbrake off?”
Gavin Embarrassed silence as he stops to rectify the sluggishness.

Anywaaayy. Having resolved to stick at around 110Kmph to save on diesel and fines, we left South Africa via the Stockpoort / Parrs Halt border post. A word to anyone going to Botswana, you must use this border post, even though there is about 40Km of dirt that you wouldn’t otherwise encounter. But we were in 4x4’s so dirt was so not a problem – in fact (ho ho ho) it was welcomed. We were the only 2 cars and Botswana definitely does not suffer the Mozambiquen malaise of requiring a little palm greasing to cross. Both sides were pleasant and efficient and we were on our way in no time.

Garmin is amazing – when you do what it tells you, you don’t miss a beat. I’m starting to think that men don’t even listen to Garmin properly when it comes to directions. A little glitch on the way – nothing major – through Serowe for some shopping and onto the 1st stop at Khama Rhino Sanctuary. We had so much space on our campsite that we took ages to decide where the trailers should be. Irrespective of the size or shape of the campsites, this was to continue to be a feature throughout the trip. You would be surprised at just how much thought and discussion goes into this seemingly simple activity.

Done – let’s have a beer and some food. We were early enough to do this without a rush. The amazing thought dawned – we were on holiday. More than two weeks of idyll left. It doesn’t get much better than this. But it did.

Khama Rhino Sanctuary was a stop, not a destination, so our erection was simple and efficient. Read whatever you want to into that. We drove off to fetch some wood and stopped off at the pub for a drink. Facilities 8/10, service 1/10, so we didn’t waste time and went to do our supper.

At this stage, it is probably worthwhile to discuss food and not touch on it again. Lunches and breakfasts were, by and large, to do whatever seemed to be a good thing at the time, and pretty much a “do your own thing together” approach. Occasionally we got together to do eggs and bacon, and once, bully-beef and onion. Suppers were a different thing altogether. Nes and Di had got together prior to departure and planned a menu for the trip, with enough space in the planning for impromptu decisions. But, much to Derek’s and my disgust, only two braais were catered for. No kidding, seriously.

We, strictly speaking, were not able to take beef into Botswana because of the foot and mouth problem, and, we believed, not much opportunity to buy in the Caprivi. We passed through numerous disease control gates that became quite tiresome. Almost without fail they asked about meat, more specifically beef and pig, products, but seldom really checked. We’re still not sure whether we should have chanced some more meat. Both cars were guilty of some smuggling in ingenious hiding places, but not much. We had to walk through stuff, and have stuff sprayed on our cars. We were to discover, with some horror, that this stuff was a DDT derivative!!! At a Choppies (something like a SPAR gone slightly wrong) in Shakawe we were able to get the most magnificent steaks at the most ridiculously cheap price that we braaied. We had so much that we fed on it in various guises for 3 days, thanks to the amazing National Lunar fridges in the trailers.

Back to the dinners. As an indication, on the 1st night we had prawns (proper tiger prawns) on the braai. Magnifique!! Other meals were Lamb Potjie with dumplings, Thai Chicken Curry and Rice, Beef Potjie with vegetables, Spaghetti Alfedo (really), Beef Pasta and we even baked some bread. We rounded this out with dinners in the restaurants of some of the sites that we stayed in. We really did well.

Stunning planning Nes and Di. I followed orders in this delivery, stirred where I was supposed to and added fire when I was supposed to. Derek played a much more active role and actually created as well. This is a great example to the people who have always believed that camping and offroad is all about braaing. Despite our initial disappointment about the number of braais, Derek and I did manage to deliver a number of great fires to commune around.

Those of you who had hoped that my statement on brevity was actually real, would have realised by now that this attempt has flown out of the window so I might as well get some of the other information over with while I’m about it.

If you start thinking, during the telling of the story that this is something that you need to do, do it. It’s wonderful and so good for the soul. But, get a trailer, a Conqueror trailer. By the end I loved that thing almost as much as my Prado (did I mention that?) (oh, and even Derek’s Landy worked, though this might come as a surprise to Toyota drivers) We slept well, really comfortably, on top of feather eiderdowns and in zipped together -8 sleeping bags, 2 pillows each. Warm, comfortable and snug. And the best, you just fold all that in the tent and it’s still made when you get to the next spot. The fridge is great and we always had cold beers, water, cool drinks and fresh food. We had light aplenty, whether the campsite was electrified or not, and some were not. We had plenty of ice for our drinks all along the way, courtesy of the freezers in the vehicles. We only occasionally had to run the vehicles to charge our deep cycle batteries for these. The trailer batteries are much bigger and only need charging on the trips and we never worried in between, but used power when it was provided available.

The other beauty of the trailer over roof top tents is that you still sleep high up, have space for clothing, a bar (yes really), a kitchen (yes really), ample packing space, carpets in and out (yes really), ample water (110 litres), don’t show your arse to the entire world when exiting the bed, and have an established spot that you can lock and leave to explore with your vehicles without having to pack everything up. And, these trailers go pretty much anywhere that your 4x4 can go. Packing and unpacking were simple things too. 30 minutes after you arrived somewhere (strangely, this always seemed to be at 14:30 – irrespective of the time you got up, or how far we had to go), everything was done and beers were opened. In the morning of any departure – everything, including coffee, breakfasts and showers, was done in 40 minutes and we were ready to go. Oh, and a surprise for all – we took too much clothing. I didn’t have enough khaki coloured clothing – this is a must for a trip like this. The dust and the dirt show on everything else.

That should do it for background. We’re in Khama Rhino Sanctuary, for those who forgot, and now officially on holiday. The first test of the plan, the first fire, the first dinner, the first beers, the first magnificent bush sunset, the first sleep and the first sign of the Hippo Whisperer.