So we have made it to Zimbabwe safe and sound after a great time in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. After a lot of drinks on one of the first nights our truck (may have been after a wine tour) has now been named TATONKA, a very fitting name for such a beautiful truck.
Some of the TATONKA group, Barrie on the top left likes to be different!!!
On the same night the idea for everyone (the boys) to get mo hawks…..so we now look like a bunch of crazy rock stars travelling on a truck, it does make the constant dealings with Zimbabwe police even more exciting and interesting.
After a hard day at the wine tour.
Well in Namibia, where we do a lot of bush camping (just pull of the side of the road somewhere and camp), which is technically illegal there, without getting caught. We did find one spot that had Zebra and Oryx (antelope) everywhere and thought it would be a great place to camp, but our excitement was short lived as we found out we were in a national park and by no means could we camp here. We knew it seemed to good to be true.
As we are going a long way on this trip through a lot of different countries, when at home I got a second passport. So I have one almost full but with my visa for Ethiopia in it and one empty. I wanted to change onto my empty one so I would have a much easier time getting to Zanzibar. Zanzibar likes to charge anyone with a lot of stamps in their passport $200 for a working visa as they must work for an overland company. It is true, I do work for an overland company but I do not work in Zanzibar…..and as I have told the immigration a lot when getting to Zanzibar…you are no longer a country….you are part of Tanzania and I don’t need a working visa for there so I don’t for here, it never seems to go down too well though haha.
So when entering Botswana I tried to change onto my new passport…but they wouldn’t do it unless I get an exit stamp from Namibia in it. So the Namibia side of the border isn’t to far back so I start running back there with both passports to get it stamped. I don’t recommend to anyone running between borders, but lucky for me this border is very quiet and the police don’t seem to mind too much that I am running back. I then need to convince the Namibia side that I need a stamp in my new passport. With this done I then run back to Botswana and get my new passport stamped. Success!!!
As my parents can confirm there are a lot of elephants in Botswana, great things to be dodging on the road. This also means there is a lot of signs warning of elephants. Grace and I have thought a lot about getting something everyone can sign from the trip that we can hang in Snake Park (great overlanding camp in Tanzania) to remember our trip and we thought an elephant warning sign was a perfect choice. So we found one that fell off the back of a truck and onto TATONKA, with the help of a hammer and spanners.
We have just spent 3 nights in Victoria Falls where our last night was spent at Bomas, translates to place of eating, it is an all you can eat buffet with game meat….ideal. It also involves face painting, palm reading, drumming, dancing and eating worms, all in all it is a full nights entertainment. It also involved being told not to go outside as there is a leopard outside, got to love Africa.
A plate with five different meats and the Boma man, making ideal cocktails!!!!!
The mo hawks at Victoria Falls hotel for high tea, luckily we didn’t get kicked out. If you can’t read the sign it had the distance to Cape Town and Cairo on it….we are steering the ship…..still a way to go.
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