Chobe National Park to Livingstone (Zambia) - June 28th

June 28th, 2008:

Short: Up early and drive through Chobe, See hippos and the closest elephants thus far, More bad roads, Hit a paved road and celebrate, Crazy Zambian border crossing, arrive into Livingstone late, Eat dinner with the “locals”

Long: We were up early this morning and all of us our prepared for a long day of driving. Once again we paid entrance fees (this time for Chobe) and entered the park, but not before capturing a picture of us with the ranger we had the beer with the night before. Interestingly, some people request that in order to take a picture with them, you must send them a hard copy. He left us his address in Botswana, and we promised to send him a copy. The roads through Chobe were very similar to Moremi, with the only exception being the signage. We were absolutely dumbfounded when, on multiple occasions, we came to forks in the roads with no signs. At one point we had to turn around and backtrack to a village to ensure we were on the correct road. Despite the long drive and the bad roads we saw some great wildlife today. We saw our first hippos lounging around the river and also took some great pictures of elephants. On three occasions we drove within one hundred feet of male bull elephants. On one occasion we scared a male bull coming around a corner and he turned and looked very unhappy. We were convinced he was about to charge and took off, with unfortunately no time to snap a picture.

By the early afternoon we began passing through towns again as we neared the outskirts of the park. It is worth noting that by this point in the trip we have determined that our map is terrible. In fact, the road through Chobe is shown as a paved road on our map, and most of the towns were incorrectly located. The road changed from small dirt/sand tracks to a wide gravel road. The road was poor and we averaged around 40km/h. At one point, while stopping to snap a picture of the river, a large truck came around a corner doing around 120 km/h, and took the corner so hard the entire tractor and trailer slid sideways. We couldn’t believe it.

An hour after the truck incident we arrived at the Botswana-Zambia border crossing. After filling the tanks (Fuel is supposedly more expensive in Zambia), we headed to the Botswana checkpoint and had no issues getting through. Zambia was another story. The border crossing from Botswana to Zambia is made by crossing the Zambezi River via ferry. The border experience was about what we had expected for Africa. As we drove down the road we passed a 5 km line of trucks waiting to get on a ferry. Due to recent issues in Zimbabwe the current wait for a trucker to cross from Botswana into Zambia is one week. They literally sleep in their trucks on the side of the road for one week, bringing cargo to a city that is only 2 days of driving away. Luckily smaller vehicles fare much better. We arrived and queued behind other vehicles waiting for the ferry. We were also bombarded by “agents” who take care of the paperwork on the other side in order to expedite the crossing. I checked with others crossing, and everyone was using them, so we did the same.

It was 3 p.m. and despite the agents’ assurances that we would cross the border by the 6p.m. closure, we were not so sure. In fact, the first person in line had already been waiting 4 hours. The second ferry had broken down, and was just now being put into service. However, we really had to throw any logic out the window, because as everyone says, “This is Africa”. One of the ferries docked and instead of the first vehicles in line moving on, the agents pointed to me and others and said to quickly drive on. What ensued was a complete free-for-all as every vehicle in line began driving fast, and furious, to board the ferry. I pushed my way in front of other vehicles only to find the ferry was full. Although we were at the very front of the line now. Indeed we could have been on the ferry if we hadn’t let a man and his family skip ahead of us in line. That’s what you get for being nice! Those waiting for 4 hours were now at the back of the line. It defied any logic, but as people told us, “This is the way it is done”. After another hour, a ferry pulled up again and didn’t dock close enough to land. As can be seen in the picture below, people had to remove their shoes or jump in the water to just get off. We were the first vehicle on the ferry and made it across at around 5p.m.

The Zambia border was not any better than the ferry. None of the border personnel wore uniforms, just whatever they woke up dressed in that morning. At one point Nikolai began talking about soccer/football with one of the passport personnel, and was soon behind the window talking with him, while the man counted a envelope filled with $10,000 dollars. If we weren’t driving we could have walked right into the country without anybody ever checking our passport. After paying an astounding $135 for a three year visa (Europeans pay $50, and Brits pay $175 for single entry and $441 for multiple entry), we collected all of the documents from the agents. One of the documents was incorrect, and we sent them to correct it, but eventually completed everything within an hour. Once again, we give our German friends credit; they managed to stick with us the entire way.


The road from the border to Livingstone was paved, and despite a few police checkpoints, we managed to arrive around 8 p.m. We decided to stay at Jolly Boys, a popular hostel in Livingstone, and were only able to get a campsite (We originally were hoping for one night in a dorm). After showering in luke warm water, Niki and I headed downtown in a taxi, because there have been two muggings of people in the last week outside of Jolly Boys. We ate at a pub that turned out to be very much “local,” at least on Saturdays. We were seated at a table with a white South African and his black Zambian wife. The South African runs a culture-oriented, safari operation, in Southern Africa, married his wife three years ago, and has since had two children. He has no Zambia rights despite his marriage, and must leave the country every month because of his citizenship. Also, he can not incorporate a business in Zambia without a minimum of $500,000 USD because he is not a citizen. He tells us he likes Zambia better, because of the people and their openness. He stated, “South Africa is racist and not as open-minded as Zambia”. We have heard similar comments many times before on this trip, but do not want to generalize.

After dinner we headed back and went to sleep. Tomorrow we are going to do absolutely nothing…It should be great.