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expedition_retirementEven the transfers between our camps provided some adventure, even though they all worked as planned and didn't include any significant delays or problems. Some of it was because of the condition of the road (Zimbabwe), or the way border crossings worked, or the nature of the charter flights to our more remote camps.
Our first transfer, from the airport in Victoria Falls to Hwange National Park took us along highway A8 to the main entrance to the park. On the map this route looks like a major highway, but the reality didn't quite match that expectation. This road carries a LOT of heavy truck traffic, with trucks hauling loads of coal from the many mines in the area, and the condition of the road reflects the damage caused by all these trucks. There are a lot of huge potholes, many of which could have swallowed our van-type mini-bus whole, and our driver often had to slow to a crawl to navigate them. Sometimes, he simply drove on the wrong side of the road, when that side was smoother and there was no oncoming traffic. And just outside of the town of Hwange, there was a whole section of the road that had been torn up as part of a rebuilding project launched ahead of the last national elections. However, after the election, the construction stopped, and we were told that there is no time table for completion of the project. Meanwhile, the traffic is diverted onto a temporary dirt road alongside the original highway, which was never engineered for the trucks that are using it, so that it is a truly awful road to drive on.
After leaving Hwange National Park, we retraced our route along highway A8 back towards Victoria Falls. Along the way, we encountered a coal truck on its side across much of the road. As we worked our way around it on the shoulder, we saw several men shoveling the coal into bags to offload the truck's cargo. Clearly, it was going to be some time before the road was cleared.
We crossed from Zimbabwe into Zambia at the Victoria Falls Bridge. As would prove to be the case with all of our border crossings, our mini-bus did not cross with us. Instead, the drivers transferred our luggage to new vehicles across the border while we were getting our passports stamped out from one country and into the other. For this first crossing, many of us opted to walk across the bridge from Zimbabwe to Zambia across this historic bridge, built for the Cape-to-Cairo railroad during the colonial period. The bridge crosses the Zambezi river gorge, just below Victoria Falls. The view was a bit underwhelming when we crossed, because the river is at a low volume, but during high flow periods, it is probably a spectacular view. After getting our passports stamped into Zambia, we boarded our new mini-bus and continued on to the airport in Livingstone.
Our camp in Kafue National Park was extremely remote, requiring charter flights to get there and back. We were divided into two groups to board two small, single engine propeller driven planes (Cesna Grand Caravans) for the hour and a half long flight. Much of that flight was over the Kafue National Park, as our camp was near the northern end of the park. When we arrived, we landed on a primitive dirt airstrip in the bush, with absolutely no facilities. We were met by staff from our camp who loaded us and our luggage into safari trucks for the short drive to our camp. These were the smallest fixed-wing aircraft I've ever ridden in, and it was the first time I've ever flown to or from someplace that wasn't an official airport with some sort of facilities.
The flights to and from Kafue National Park were uneventful, and upon our return to Livingstone, we found ourselves back in a mini-bus as we drove to the border crossing into Botswana. Here we found some additional issues that needed to be addressed. Botswana exports significant quantities of beef to Europe, so they are very concerned about foot and mouth disease, which meant that we had to disinfect all our shoes at the border. They had also just implemented a screening procedure for m-pox, which required additional paperwork from all of us. But the passport process was simpler, because Zambia and Botswana shared a single border processing facility, with windows for each country on opposite sides of a single room. We had to queue up on the Zambian side first to get our passport stamped exiting the country, then cross to the other side of the room to line up to get the stamp for entry into Botswana. By the time all of that was completed, our luggage had been transferred to the next mini-bus and we we able to set off for our destination. Our camp was on the other side of Chobe National Park, so we crossed the park on a "transit road" that was smooth and well maintained, a welcome difference from what we had experienced in Zimbabwe. However, after turning off the highway to enter our camp, the last half mile or so was basically a track through the bush, better suited for the safari trucks than for mini-buses, which made for a very slow final approach to the camp.
Transferring from Chobe National Park to the Okavango Delta involved retracing our route back across the transit road to the airport in Kasane, Botswana. Before we could check in for our flights, we had to evacuate the terminal because of an emergency alarm. We never learned whether this was a drill or not, but we only had to wait about 10 minutes before we were allowed to re-enter the terminal. As we had before, we divided into two groups for charter flights on similar Cesna airplanes to our camp, which was again serviced by a simple dirt landing strip without any buildings or support facilities. Our flights to and from the Delta were also uneventful, and when we returned to Kasane, we were back on mini-buses for the ride to the border crossing back to Zimbabwe. One more set of passport stamps, and another change of vehicles and we finally reached our hotel in Victoria Falls, which was our final accommodation on the main trip, and marked the end of our regular transfers.
Through it all, our trip leader did an excellent job of keeping us informed and organized, and made sure that everything worked as close to on schedule as was possible. For some of the border crossings, he collected our passports and stood in line to get them all stamped, so we didn't all need to stand in line. This wasn't possible everywhere, but he knew it would work and took care of it for us. Having all of these transfers pre-arranged and coordinated made the trip much smoother and easier than it otherwise would have been, and allowed us to enjoy the rest of the trip without having to worry about these types of details.
Our first transfer, from the airport in Victoria Falls to Hwange National Park took us along highway A8 to the main entrance to the park. On the map this route looks like a major highway, but the reality didn't quite match that expectation. This road carries a LOT of heavy truck traffic, with trucks hauling loads of coal from the many mines in the area, and the condition of the road reflects the damage caused by all these trucks. There are a lot of huge potholes, many of which could have swallowed our van-type mini-bus whole, and our driver often had to slow to a crawl to navigate them. Sometimes, he simply drove on the wrong side of the road, when that side was smoother and there was no oncoming traffic. And just outside of the town of Hwange, there was a whole section of the road that had been torn up as part of a rebuilding project launched ahead of the last national elections. However, after the election, the construction stopped, and we were told that there is no time table for completion of the project. Meanwhile, the traffic is diverted onto a temporary dirt road alongside the original highway, which was never engineered for the trucks that are using it, so that it is a truly awful road to drive on.
After leaving Hwange National Park, we retraced our route along highway A8 back towards Victoria Falls. Along the way, we encountered a coal truck on its side across much of the road. As we worked our way around it on the shoulder, we saw several men shoveling the coal into bags to offload the truck's cargo. Clearly, it was going to be some time before the road was cleared.
We crossed from Zimbabwe into Zambia at the Victoria Falls Bridge. As would prove to be the case with all of our border crossings, our mini-bus did not cross with us. Instead, the drivers transferred our luggage to new vehicles across the border while we were getting our passports stamped out from one country and into the other. For this first crossing, many of us opted to walk across the bridge from Zimbabwe to Zambia across this historic bridge, built for the Cape-to-Cairo railroad during the colonial period. The bridge crosses the Zambezi river gorge, just below Victoria Falls. The view was a bit underwhelming when we crossed, because the river is at a low volume, but during high flow periods, it is probably a spectacular view. After getting our passports stamped into Zambia, we boarded our new mini-bus and continued on to the airport in Livingstone.
Our camp in Kafue National Park was extremely remote, requiring charter flights to get there and back. We were divided into two groups to board two small, single engine propeller driven planes (Cesna Grand Caravans) for the hour and a half long flight. Much of that flight was over the Kafue National Park, as our camp was near the northern end of the park. When we arrived, we landed on a primitive dirt airstrip in the bush, with absolutely no facilities. We were met by staff from our camp who loaded us and our luggage into safari trucks for the short drive to our camp. These were the smallest fixed-wing aircraft I've ever ridden in, and it was the first time I've ever flown to or from someplace that wasn't an official airport with some sort of facilities.
The flights to and from Kafue National Park were uneventful, and upon our return to Livingstone, we found ourselves back in a mini-bus as we drove to the border crossing into Botswana. Here we found some additional issues that needed to be addressed. Botswana exports significant quantities of beef to Europe, so they are very concerned about foot and mouth disease, which meant that we had to disinfect all our shoes at the border. They had also just implemented a screening procedure for m-pox, which required additional paperwork from all of us. But the passport process was simpler, because Zambia and Botswana shared a single border processing facility, with windows for each country on opposite sides of a single room. We had to queue up on the Zambian side first to get our passport stamped exiting the country, then cross to the other side of the room to line up to get the stamp for entry into Botswana. By the time all of that was completed, our luggage had been transferred to the next mini-bus and we we able to set off for our destination. Our camp was on the other side of Chobe National Park, so we crossed the park on a "transit road" that was smooth and well maintained, a welcome difference from what we had experienced in Zimbabwe. However, after turning off the highway to enter our camp, the last half mile or so was basically a track through the bush, better suited for the safari trucks than for mini-buses, which made for a very slow final approach to the camp.
Transferring from Chobe National Park to the Okavango Delta involved retracing our route back across the transit road to the airport in Kasane, Botswana. Before we could check in for our flights, we had to evacuate the terminal because of an emergency alarm. We never learned whether this was a drill or not, but we only had to wait about 10 minutes before we were allowed to re-enter the terminal. As we had before, we divided into two groups for charter flights on similar Cesna airplanes to our camp, which was again serviced by a simple dirt landing strip without any buildings or support facilities. Our flights to and from the Delta were also uneventful, and when we returned to Kasane, we were back on mini-buses for the ride to the border crossing back to Zimbabwe. One more set of passport stamps, and another change of vehicles and we finally reached our hotel in Victoria Falls, which was our final accommodation on the main trip, and marked the end of our regular transfers.
Through it all, our trip leader did an excellent job of keeping us informed and organized, and made sure that everything worked as close to on schedule as was possible. For some of the border crossings, he collected our passports and stood in line to get them all stamped, so we didn't all need to stand in line. This wasn't possible everywhere, but he knew it would work and took care of it for us. Having all of these transfers pre-arranged and coordinated made the trip much smoother and easier than it otherwise would have been, and allowed us to enjoy the rest of the trip without having to worry about these types of details.