Check out this little video we put together…Just to give you an idea of the kind of terrain we covered in 18 days!

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 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

Its not like we have made some kind of breakthrough in the field of psychological research by saying that your perception of a distance, or more accurately, how long it seems to cover that distance, is affected by your state of mind before you set out but this has become more and more apparent to us as we have progressed through Southern Africa. We drove over 1700 km from Lusaka to Lake Malawi and back; 25 hours of car time in order to hit the third check point. Before we started the Put Foot Rally a 6 hour trip to Durban was a mind slog but when you get your head around bigger distances it is amazing how quickly the 6 hour mark comes and goes. Kevin the Rally car has now traveled over 7000 km since he set out from Johannesburg and our perception of distance has completely been altered by this Put Foot Rally 2013!

We only had a day and half to enjoy Lake Malawi! Was it worth it? Was it worth all the pain and discomfort of sitting in a citi golf for 25 hours. Was it worth the frayed nerves that come with night time driving on pot holed and livestock covered roads? The answer is a unanimous “YES”. You just have to check out the pictures from this post to see why. Unforgettable memories that have almost been made more special by what distances we have had to overcome…

It also didn’t hurt knowing that when we got back to Lusaka we would have a hot shower and luxurious Protea Hotel bed to climb into…We love you Protea Hospitality Group!

the light at the end of the tunnel

Our final and 4th stage has very kindly been sponsored by:

KFP

Good bye Zambia (for now) and hello Magical Malawi. In the very short distance we have traveled after leaving Zambia yesterday morning, Malawi has managed to bathe us in her charms! The roads are good, more open, the landscape is beautiful and even the police check points seem nicer somehow (the police are more like information kiosks where they stop you to simply ask how you are doing and point you in the direction of your destination). The roads wind down the pass from Lilongwe to Monkey Bay on the lake making the drive way more interesting and fun. Baobabs and hilly outcrops dot the countryside…its awesome – I already love this place!

The pass down to Monkey Bay From Lilongwe

Baobabs…Everywhere!

Like I said…Baobabs

A massive thank you to Realtime Financial Solutions for sponsoring our stage 03 through Malawi

RealFin

As the rally moves across some amazing countries and landscapes, its has come as sad news that one of the checkpoints has been changed. Announced yesterday by the Rally Chief, we will unfortunately not be sampling some 2Ms and R & R’s on the beaches of Mozambique due to some political unrest along a portion of the rally route in Mozambique.

However, it does mean that we will now be adding another country to the route as the rally moves the final checkpoint to Botswana another beautiful country and setting for the rally! And it may give us the chance to pass through Zimbabwe on the way!

Travel in Africa, particularly Southern Africa is extremely challenging and uncomfortable! Check out the kind of conditions we have had to endure over the last 3 days – how we have managed I don’t know:

How must I shower in this

and sleep in this

We have been astounded by the presence of Protea Hotels in Southern Africa. While researching our Rally Route we realised that the Protea Hotel locations coincided remarkably with our stop overs – who would have thunk. You can travel through most of Southern Africa including Namibia, Zambia and Malawi staying in Protea Hotels all the way.

We have been insanely fortunate to have been hosted by Protea Hotels over the last 3 nights. We spent 2 nights at the Protea Hotel Livingstone which we used as a base for Check Point 2 and for the Put Foot Foundation shoe drop. We are tonight in the Protea Hotel in Lusaka. Both hotels are insanely plush and offer such great relief from the long hours on the road. The staff are so friendly and helpful and are probably the highlight of our stay at Protea Hotels in Zambia.

Protea Hotel Livingstone Team

A true Zambian Oasis

This stage has very kindly been sponsored by:

Drake Fund Advisors

We spent our morning helping out with the Put Foot Foundation’s shoe drop at a small primary school in Livingstone. The morning started with a parade of all the put foot crew cars through the streets of Livingstone. The little mini lead the police escorted parade from the camp site to the school. We were greeted by hundreds of children and after a few speeches and some lovely singing the fun started. Each child was given a new pair of SA made school shoes and a bag with some new socks and some stationery. It was truly an privilege to be part of such a special occasion and were all left humbled by how much joy and pride a new pair of school shoes can bring.

Mini in motion

This dudes name is fluffy…or fuzzy..can’t remember now

the convoy

Put shoes on kids…do it

size 7

Team AK

How classic is that green Merc

Another kid another shoe

Drake Fund Advisors