June 27th, 2008:
Short: Up early and drive to Moremi’s south gate, Decide to venture to Third Bridge, Experience the worst roads thus far, Ford our first river, Arrive to late to enter Chobe (but gate already closed), Camp for free, Have beers with the lonely park rangers, and build a large fire to keep the animals out, Woken up by Elephant very close to camp
Long: Once again we were up early and managed to get the car loaded and on the road by about 8am. The road to Moremi’s south gate was paved for half of the drive and then turned awful (e.g., the angle was so bad one could quite easily topple a car over on its side), as the road was under construction. At the south gate we paid for entry permits, and also spoke with some of the other people getting ready to enter the park. Third Bridge, a desolate portion of the park, was highly recommended and we decided we would drive there first, and then attempt to make Savuti camp in Chobe National Park. As the day went on it became clear this would not be possible. We had been prepared for bad roads, but not for what we found at both Moremi and Chobe. All of the roads through the park are unmaintained, and exist only because others drive on the same path. Most of the area is within the delta and the soil is extremely sandy. The roads are a fine, and in some cases deep, sand that can be extremely difficult to drive on. We had packed away our air compressor deep under bags, and were therefore determined to make it across all of the roads without deflating the tires. We made it, but at times had to stop to cool the engine. At one point the sand was so deep you couldn’t even rev the engine enough to get moving in first gear, you had to shift into Low 4x4 just to get the torque requires to move forward.
Around Third Bridge we came to our first river crossing. The entire area was a swamp (picture below), and we had three routes to choose from. We selected the left most route, and despite the depth of around 3-4 feet, we made it across with no issues. We forgot to mention to those in the back that we were crossing a river, and needless to say, they were a little worried when they found water almost up to their windows. Interestingly, I am writing this from Livingstone and just spoke with another person that passed through the area a few days earlier. When he arrived at the ford a 4x4 was in the middle of the second route, half submerged and stuck. While they were pondering their next move, the park ranger and the owner of the 4x4 drove in to pull the car out. The ranger said the best crossing was the one on the left. We chose….wisely. Again, we also have the snorkel, which the other vehicle did not, and it apparently makes all the difference. Lastly, while we made it through with no issues, we were a little surprised to find very little infrastructure or park checkpoints, to ensure peoples safety – so we were very happy that Betsy didn’t breakdown! We had heard that Botswana was very touristy, but we later learned this portion of the park is rarely driven by tourists, we only saw around 3 cars the entire day. People typically fly in and take Safari vehicles to certain portions of the park. For the most part the people we saw along the way were Safari operators or South African’s on holiday with their 4x4s.
We give our German friends a lot of credit because despite the bone jarring roads, and the uncomfortable seats, there was no complaining on their part. It must have been awful. At 4 p.m. we had driven only 60 miles in just about 6 hours. We arrived at the Mababe gate to enter Chobe at 5p.m. The ranger at the station would not allow us to pass into Chobe, saying it would take another two hours to arrive at Savuti. Two hours before, a ranger told us it would take two hours, and we are beginning to see a theme. No one really knows how long it takes to get anywhere. Everything worked out perfectly, as we were allowed to camp close to the gate for free. We were directed to a small camping area with no fence, where we could also light a fire, by the ranger. We promised him we would come by later with a beer. He told us to walk, not drive, to his barracks, as it was not safe to venture far from a fire at night. You can see why from the picture of the Chobe camping rules below! While the Germans setup their tent and collected firewood in the area, Niki and I drove down the road to look for larger logs. We parked the car and ventures a few feet away and nearly shit ourselves, when two large bull elephants walked out onto the road only 300 feet away. They eventually moved on and we quickly finished collecting the wood.
We setup the tent, lit a fire, and everyone cooked their own food for dinner. We even played the “This is how I bounce my stick game,” mentioned earlier. After two bottles of wine, we hopped in the car and ventured over to the ranger’s station. What we found was pretty amusing. Two rangers, off duty, in the middle of nowhere, were huddled in their quarters watching satellite T.V. Apparently the park service supplies satellite T.V., in an attempt to remedy the boredom. Ten minutes later we found ourselves drinking a beer and watching the latest news on the Zimbabwe election on BBC. After passing cigarettes around, Nikolai also had another first for the trip. He smoked, but did no inhale!, his first cigarette ever. It might be his last. Two firsts: Pitching a tent and smoking a cigarette…not too bad. We learned the rangers are four weeks on and one week off and both live in Maun, the city we began driving from in the morning. After driving back to the campsite, I threw all the wood on the fire and we all went to bed. It was an interesting day, and I should mention that we did see a good bit of wildlife, just not as much as in Etosha. Also, during the night an elephant must have ventured close to the site, because it trumpeted loudly, waking everyone up.
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