In 2002 I managed to fulfil a dream of mine. In a fully equipped Land Rover I drove from Cape Town, South Africa, to London, England, via the east coast of Africa. Visiting as many game parks and reserves as possible along the way. The trip took approx 8 months.
To help me fund the trip I placed an advert on the internet looking for paying volunteers to join me in the Landie. This was a ‘no profit’ idea so there was no problem filling the spaces.
The trip started with myself, Glen (an Ozzie chef - damn that was handy!), Yuri (a young Canadian lady, with family roots in South Korea) and in Namibia we pick up Kate, who was from England.
As I have mentioned, my goal was to see wildlife or areas of outstanding natural beauty. I’m not a big fan of cities or large towns. However, they are needed occasionally for spares and repairs, food supplies and other logistical necessities.
The map below is in quite a large scale, so click on it and click bottom left ‘Full size’, then it can be magnified even more!
We only spent a week in South Africa from when we set off. This was mainly due to our route choice, heading north into Namibia. We did however have a stop in the Cederberg mountains so I could set up camp and show the others where all the gear was stored. Then after a two day stop in the Trans Kalahari park bordering Namibia and Botswana we went straight into Namibia itself.
What a gem Namibia is. It is the cleanest, safest and most organised of all African countries. The countryside is beautiful. Deserts, rocky out crops, open plains and absolutely fantastic adventure driving tracks. The north of Namibia, the Kaokoveld, is where the expression ‘vehicle based exploration’ was born.
We stayed a long time in Namibia, longer than we planned, but it was worth it. In Etosha National Park, one of Africa’s best reserves, we had some fantastic sightings.
Next was Botswana. This is also home to some awesome adventure areas. The Central Kalahari, where we found a family of cheetahs, was so remote they normally wont let single vehicles in. We convinced them otherwise when we showed how well eqipped we were and our satellite phone. The other parks of Botswana are just as fun to explore but are more frequented by tour companies. After crossing through several reserves and nearly running out of fuel (despite having two fuel tanks and four fuel cans - the deep sand and mud took it’s toll) we left Botswana via the Kazungula ferry into Zambia, avoiding the trouble ridden Zimbabwe.
To be continued………
