Mongu - Zambia - 2016
I have only 5 days leave for now, so my wife (Sue) and daughter (Elizabeth) left for Mongu, driving Elizabeth's trusty 2003 Jeep Cherokee Sport diesel on Tuesday 05 January 2016. I was to leave Johannesburg on the Saturday (9th). I decided rather to leave early afternoon on Friday the 8th and travel up to Big Fig Inn, just before the border and then onto Nata and camping at Nata Lodge the Saturday evening.
So, I pulled out (Chev Trailblazer and Venter Bush Baby trailer) at 12h00.
Big Fig Inn is a super place and I was camping for the evening. Lots of grass and shade. The ablutions were good and there was electric power as well. Also, free WiFi.
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I had decided not to take the N1 and N11 combination, because driving through and just past Mokapane is diabolical. So I decided to take the N1 to Modimolle and the R33 through Vaalwater and Lephalale.
the road is in excellent condition, with the exception of one bridge which was washed away in 2015 and has still not been repaired (so you have to drive over a small bypass.
The border post which I used was martins Drift. (I have previously spent 8 hours waiting to pay the Botswana road tax here). This transit through the border was smooth and there were only 4 other people there.
The road from the border to Palapeye has some bad sections. Just after the border you drive on the side of the road and they are still repairing the potholes. About another 30km's into the trip, there are a few very bad potholes. If you are not careful you will damage your vehicle.
I had decided to stay on the A1 and would use this through Mahalapye, Palapeye, Francistown and onto Nata Lodge. The road was all ok except for some short sections where the sides of the tar are breaking away and you need to be careful of the ruts on the left hand side of the road.
Palapeye has a Wimpy at the Desert sands Hotel. This has to be the Wimpy which provides the slowest service ever. If you are in a hurry, I would suggest not stopping here.
Arriving at Nata Lodge at about 15h30 I checked in and proceeded to the camp site. There I pitched the small tent and settled down to prepare a braai. But the weather had clouded over, lightening and thunder were around. So I waited in the tent. But then decided, as there was really nowhere to sit and cook outside the tent, to have dinner at the restaurant. I had an excellent veggie stir-fry, with chicken added.
Some of the parts of the camping area are for 4x4 only, because of the thick sand. However, that was not a problem. The ablutions were spotless and very good indeed. Electric power is supplied using the normal South African 3 pin plugs.
I left Nata Lodge, proceeded to Nata village where I filled up the diesel. beware, the road from Nata Lodge into Nata town is extremely bad and littered with potholes.
From Nata the days travel would take me to Kabula Tiger Lodge on the banks of the Zambizi. However, this necessitated leaving Botswana, entering Namibia, leaving Namibia and entering Zambia. This was a total of approximately 504 Km's.
I was travelling from Nata, to Kasane, then through the Ngoma border post into Namibia, Katima Mulilo and through the Wenela border post into Zambia.
I chose to use this route, instead of the route crossing and using the Kazungula ferry, because I have heard that the border crossing and queues can be lengthily and troublesome.
Anyway, the route that I was on takes you a small way through the Chobe National Park and its always nice to see some elephants on that route.
The border crossings are now easier in Botswana as they no longer require you to complete forms for every crossing. Its now all "automated" according to the border official that I asked.
But, the border crossing into Namibia is still an issue. You have to complete a from for each person/passport and then you have to purchase road tax. This sometimes takes a while as there is only one official. You have t compete a form, he then types it into a computer ad prints out a receipt. Then you have to pay Namibian Dollars (or Rand) 440.00 for a one way transit. This has to be the most expensive toll in Africa, as its only 90km and costs R 440.00 each way, so that's R 880.00 for 180 km's.
You used to have to get the road tax in Katima Mulilo, but now its only available at the border.
They will ask for this at the border when you exit to Zambia.
After successfully negotiation the border posts it was a 60km drive, on a superb tar road, to Kabula Tiger Lodge.
You get your first glimpse of the Zambezi river, shortly after crossing into Zambia.
The "trail" from the tar road is interesting and at times it feels as if you are lost. But there are the odd signs around to assist with the navigation. Anyway, I have Tracks4Africa on my Garmin and that had all the route marking to the lodge.
Kabula is a small, rustic, lodge. The camping sites are all very shady and the lodge is on the banks of the Zambizi. I was to camp here, but when I arrived it was raining, so decided to upgrade to a chalet for the evening.
There is no electricity here and the lights are all operated by solar power, no problem at all. The water is heated by donkey (an old gas cylinder). It was a very enjoyable evening as I met the owner, Peter, and had a pleasant evening around the fire chatting.
The Zambezi is not as full as I have seen it. In fact, its rather low and I was a little worried about the ferry crossing the next day. Anyway, that was another day.
The next day it was onto the Ferry and the short 246km drive to the Village Of Home, Mutoya campsite. I left Kabula at 6h00 as I wanted an early start at the pontoon.
(The Chinese are busy building a bridge across the Zambezi, but its 99% complete and scheduled to be opened in February 2016. This will make the trip easier. But for now, its the ferry/pontoon).
After 1 hour 45 minutes, the pontoon finally made if back to the bank where I was waiting
After that bakkie rolled off the pontoon, it was finally my turn (together with 2 other vehicles) to be loaded. I drove on and we waited, again !
The motor finally started. But it was a false alarm. The operator revved the engine so that I thought he as trying to blow the thing up. You need to understand that these engines have a radiator, but no radiator cap. So the cooling system is not effective at all (and Zambia gets pretty hot !!) So the engine started to "steam" and cough and splutter. When I asked what was going on he said " we need to replace the fan belt". Wow, what what test to see if the fan belt is ok.
Anyway, he went off to a container and after scraping around came back with a new belt. This was replaced.
In the interim, another fellow had started a water pump and was pumping water out of the Zambezi onto the engine, to try and cool it down.
Anyway, it got us across the Zambizi and I was on my way to Mongu.
The new tar road is on any Garmin, Tracks4Affrica. Its an excellent road and makes the drive up to Mongu pleasant. After crossing the pontoon, the tar road continues to a traffic circle near Senanga. From here, its still on a good tar road all the way to Mongu.
I arrived at Village of Hope at 11h00.
Luckily, at Mutoya they have a few small "chalets". These are normally only used for the Bible Translation teams. However, because Elizabeth works at Village of Hope, we had the use of one. They have a double bed, shower (hot and cold water), flush toilet as well as a shelf and sink. All that we needed.
The camp sites are also really nice, level and shaded. the ablution facilities are good and there is also electricity at the sites.
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While in Mongu we decided to take a drive out onto the Zambezi floodplains. Here these are called the Barotse Floodplains.
The Chinese have built a tar road out into the floodplain so its easily derivable. However, this is as yet not completed. We drove out 28km's from Mongu. This is as far as the Zambezi river and where they are still busy building the bridge. Its quiet an amazing sight.
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Another outing from Mongu was to a lodge, called Itithe Luxury lodge. Its quiet amazing, in the middle of nowhere and down a lousy sandy road.
You then come across this lodge entrance
Well, the place is amazing. The fellow at reception showed us around the rooms and they look fantastiv. They even have a family Villa !!
We used their pool (entrance for non residents was ZK 30 per person) and we also had a very good lunch. Even the beers were cold !
They also have some fantastic camping sites, with electricity. The ablutions were amazing.
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My wife and I left Mongu on the morning of 14 January 2014 to head back to Johannesburg.
We had chosen to say over a few nights on the way back and had selected, Mamwi Island Lodge Katima Mulilo, Nata Lodge, Nata and Palm Park Hotel in Lapelala.
So from Mongu it was back to the pontoon through the border post and into Namibia.
The border crossing exit from Zambia was OK and the entry into Namibia was slow and tiresome, due to the road tax queue.(This time it was R396.00) But, we got through in 1.5 hours, so all in all it was ok.
We were staying in a self catering chalet at the Namwi Island Campsite and Self Catering. This is on the river but the chalets are not on the river and dont have a river view. A pity. Namwi is also very nice, shady and loads of green grass.
The chalet was good, and had aircon.
We left the following morning, not too early as we were only heading for Nata Lodge. But we had to exit Namibia and enter Botswana.
At the exit of Namibia, you are required to write your vehicle details into a very old grubby book. I'm not sure why, as no one checks. But the police officer at the border gate asked to look in the trailer to see that we only had comping gear, as I had said.
The river at the border crossing is not flowing, at all. I passed this way in April 2015 and the entire river was full of water. You can easily see what effect the drought is having.
We passed through the Chobe tar road corridor and did see loads of elephant, baboons and a giraffe.
We stopped off in Kasane for a cup of tea at the old house (which is always nice). Its interesting that the entire place (old house) closes for 2 weeks in January. This is to give the staff a well earned rest. They were closing that afternoon.
Then headed onto Nata Lodge. We did see some game on the road and had sightings of loads of elephants and a few giraffe.
Nata lodge is always nice. We have stopped off here many a time for lunch but only stayed twice before. Once in the "old" lodge (prior to the fire) and once camping. The safari tents, I booked one, look good. However I found that the luxury safari tents don't have aircon, whereas the chalets do. So I swapped our booking for a chalet. This was fantastic and we really enjoyed out stay.
The next morning we were pushing through to South Africa and heading for Lepalale to be staying at the Palm Park Hotel. We had stayed here once previously in 2008. It was still good.
From here, it was back home.
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Trip Synopses :
- According to Garmin :
Moving Average = 84 km per hour
Moving Time = 41.28 hours
(Its going to be a pleasure when the bridge over the Zambezi, in Zambia, is completed.)
- Fuel Situation :
I took 40l of diesel with me. The Trailblazer can run on either 50 or 500ppm diesel, but the 50ppm is preferred. However, in Namibia and Botswana I found that 50ppm was readily available at all the stops which we did.
In Mongu, Zambia, however, you will still only find 500ppm diesel.
Fuel Summary :
11.68 L per 100km
11.31 was the average cost per L of diesel
R 4,204.32 was the cost of diesel
371.79 L of diesel was used
Average cost of R1.32 per km traveled.
- The Vehicle :
There were absolutely no problems experienced with either the Chev or the Venter Bushbaby trailer.
Elizabeth's Jeep also had no problems on her trip up.
On this trip to Mongu, the Trailblazer was fully loaded (back seats folded down) and that space was packed with books, batteries, inverter, dual battery system, stationary and other household items. The trailer was packed with groceries, pots and pans and household items for the girls in Mongu. It also had a tool box, spare tyre for the car, camping 40l of diesel and 40l of water as well as a gas bottle, tent and chair. So it was rather heavy.
- Border Costs :
The border costs were as follows :
Botswana :
Road Permit = BWP180.00 (for a multi entry)
Insurance = BWP 50.00 (valid for 4 months)
Road Fund = BWP 100.00 (once off)
Total BWP 330.00 (ZAR 480.86)
Namibia :
Namibia Cross Border Charge Permit
NAD - 440.00 (for each entry to Namibia)
Total NAD 880.00 (2 entries)
Zambia :
Road Transport and Safety Agency = USD 20.00 (per entry)
Carbon Tax = ZMW 150.00 (valid for 90 days)
3rd party motor insurance = ZMW 487.00 (valid for up to 3 months for trailer and car)
Then you also have to pay some district council taxes.
Sesheke District Council = ZMW 60 (30 each for the car and trailer)
Road toll at a council along the M10 = ZMW 65.00 (official receipt is issued)
Total USD = 20.00 = ZAR 337.68
Total ZMW = 762.00 = ZAR 1,148.67
Total ZAR = 1.486.35
Total Border Charges :
Botswana : R 480.86
Namibia : R 880.00
Zambia : R 1,486.35
Grand Total : R 2,847.22
