Team AK and Kev rolled into the finish line at Itumela Lodge in Palapye Botswana, not the beach in Mozambique but an equally awesome finish to a real African adventure! We were greeted at the finish line with a cold and well deserved beer, had our photo taken, set up the tents for the last time and got ready for the last checkpoint party. We covered 9000 kms across five African countries, saw some really amazing places and met some very special people, all accomplished in Kev, the little Citi Golf. It has been an awesome adventure and one we will never forget.

Finish Line

KFP

We left Kasane and headed for Nata on Wednesday. Our progress was halted slightly by a herd of elephants crossing the highway! As you head down Botswana it gets drier and flatter, similar to what we experienced in Namibia a few weeks ago. We found a camp site near Nata and Kev got stuck for the first time on this trip. I would love say he got stuck on a 4X4 course, but we somehow managed to beach him on the road into the CARAVAN PARK!    We set up camp, made what we now think may have been a donkey or goat stew with some beer bread and hit the hay.  Hard to believe we will be at the finish tomorrow.

Nata

Ellies – you can never get enough of them

Don’t get stuck Kev

We took a trip onto the Makgadikgadi pan yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately Kev couldn’t join us as the roads get rather hairy. So we hopped into a landcruiser with our guide “KK” and headed off. The pans are flooded at the moment and will dry out again in Sept. We were treated to one of  the best sunsets of the trip. Check out the pics!

Landcruiser…and also the vehicle

So flat

The pans

Shaaaaaame!

Too much the perrdy…not Michael…the sunset

KFP

We really do love alliteration! After Kev’s boat cruise we pulled into Kasane and found a cheap and cheerful camp site on the banks of the Chobe River. It took a while as half of SA is up here at the moment! We booked a sunset cruise and had hippos and crocs swimming around the boat,  herds of elephants crossing the river in front of us and huge herds of buffalo within spitting distance. After all that we were treated to an amazing sunset over the river. It really was an incredible experience and we would highly recommend making a trip up to this special place.

Yawn

Shame

Hippos and croc

Ellies

More Ellies

Spotter

How perrdy

Special place

You will never regret watching every sunset

KFP

We pushed on from Lusaka to Livingstone to get an early jump on the border at Kazangula the following day. We arrived at the border post to find masses of people, long lines of trucks, road works and hundreds of money changers! Luckily we found a kind gentleman who, for a small fee, helped us negotiate the crossing in quick time. Once we stamped passports,  paid our tenth local municipality tax and the ferry fees we got in the queue for the ferry. Kev had to pick up some pace to get through the two meters of Zambezi between the shore and the ferry, but he negotiated that with little effort. The Botswana side of the border was a complete opposite to Zambia, with a beautifully paved ramp to receive us and about five people, a goat and a rather mangy looking dog. Hello Botswana!

Kevin on a ferry

Looking good

Zambia to Botswana

So Happy old Kev dog

Mike and Kev

KFP