We entered Botswana at the Tlokweng border post near Gaborone. From there we travelled to Khutse, Central Kalahari, Maun, Moremi, Savute, Chobe and finally Kasane. From Kasane it took 2 days via Nata, Francistown, Palapye and Martins Drift to home.O
Our routes, waypoints and tracks are available in Garmin Mapsource format - botswana.zip (right click and then Save As...).
These were recorded by a Garmin V gps. It works beautifully on the supplied base in the middle of the dashboard using its own antenna. The only time we had poor coverage was when parked under some big trees at Third Bridge. I set the resolution for the tracks to about 1km so that I could capture our whole journey in the log. I still had to save the first few days separately in case they were over written.
Our journey lasted 3 weeks and we travelled 4000km using about 760 litres of petrol. We have in board tanks to carry some 225 litres of petrol. Interestingly, it appears that our friends 300Tdi used about 2/3 of the fuel that we did. Our worst consumption was in the Khutse where the roads are very sandy. Here we used about 200 litres to travel 700kms.
I took 242 digital pics and 72 35mm pics. Here is a selection of the digital pics.
Lion Park, south of Gaborone. Believe it or not - they have all night raves here.
Our first night in Khutse. Absolute isolation. And hot. Maximum temperature we registered was 48.8C.
I hope you like sunsets - there are a lot.
Sekushuwe Pan
Ground squirrel
Bat eared fox.
Sundowners at Moreswa Pan, Khutse.
Our campsite at Moreswa Pan.
Brunch.
Dinner. Lots of mealtime snaps too.
The road north into the Central Kalahari.
View from Xaxa campsite.
Xaxa Campsite. Thai chicken curry, if I remember correctly.
Heading north to Rakops.
The Tsienyane Bar in Rakops. Cold beer isn't as special when you have a decent fridge. Our biggest problem was leaving the beers in too long and then they would freeze!
The road heading towards Rakops from the Central Kalahari Gate.
Deception Valley
Brunch in Deception Valley. Eggs, bacon, toast etc.
Pipers Pan
Sundowners at Pipers Pan. Just after I took this pic a cheetah wandered past in front of us. Just another shit day in Africa.
Told you.
Moon rise.
Sunrise. Not often I get to see this but on this trip I think I saw just about all 21.
Repairing deck chairs. Pipers Pan.
Sundowners near Pipers Pan. We went through copious quantities of gin.
Brunch again. Toasted sandwiches.
Deception Valley
Deception Valley. Waiting for the rain.
And here it is raining.
Audi Camp, Maun.
Christmas Brunch.
Christmas Dinner.
South Gate, Moremi.
Third Bridge, Moremi.
The pans near Third Bridge campsite
Mokoro trip, Mboma Island, Moremi.
The included walk.
Another lazy day in Africa.
Third Bridge, Moremi.
Brunch near Third Bridge.
Xakanaxa, Moremi.
Our lonely golden weaver who spent a lot of his time talking to and fighting with his reflection.
Well, I guess a hippos head is better than nothing.
Dead Tree Island
The bridge to Dead Tree Island, Moremi.
Now we know what a bull bar is used for.
This chappy ( a Bataleur) was having a feast eating flying ants.
Brunch, again.
Dombo Hippo pools.
Savute.
Savute Marsh
The road up to Chobe. This was the good bit. The improved part going through the villages was a nightmare.
Brunch
What happens when the intercooler wears a hole through the radiator. This was the only real problem we had. Unless you count Mikes aircon packing up on the second day as a problem. I say it was justice for all the ragging we had to put up with - "Hey what is the temperature in your Landy? Gee it is a little chilly in our Landy. Might have to turn the aircon down."
Chobe River.
Ihaha Camp, Chobe. I found lion spoor the next morning right about where I am standing to take this pic.
The last brunch at Serondela.
Thats it folks - time to head home.