Crash course in 4x4 101

Savuti campsite in Chobe National Reserve, north east Botswana, gave us a unique siting - the Savuti Channel. This channel is a bit of a mystery in that it doesn't flow in one direction year in and year out. Geologists believe it has something to do with tectonic plates swelling every few years that causes the channel to start and stop flowing as well as to change direction of its flow. Most Batswanas have not seen this in their lifetime and on this occasion the channel hadn't flowed in over 30years. So we counted ourselves lucky!

We have discovered that Botswana is a mecca for 4x4'ers, especially this time of year when the rain turns the roads into an obstacle course. If it wasn't for the advice we have received from friends and family (Andrew, Michael, my pops and Coops to name a few) we would not have made it this far. Mokolodi gave us rocky terrain, Khama Rhino Sanctuary and CKGR gave us manageable wet and dry beach sand, Moremi and Savuti gave us black mud, deep deep dry sands, dried craters, dodgy bridges, corrugated stoney roads and river crossings.

Campbell and I have had a major crash course in 4x4'ing and we are loving it.

The majority of our landy was covered in this muck >>>

We thought this sand was bad until we got to the other side of the hill where we had to keep swapping between diff hi, diff low and hi through the Chobe Forest Reserve >>>

Campbell wading into the Savuti Channel to test the depth so we could drive through it - notice that it is flowing >>>

Believe it or not there is a "bridge" underneath the car. The narrow planks sounded like they were breaking under the weight of the car as I drove across it >>>

We then rattled our way over corrugated roads following the Namibia/Botswana border with the stunning Caprivi strip to our left . We took it slow to try and save our shocks. It was painful.

1 night in Thebe River Campsite and many many mosquito bites later saw us on the ferry to Zambia with Botswana behind us and the crossing of the Chobe and Zambezi to our left.

Zambia border crossing was quite possibly one of the most stressful things we have experienced so far. There is no other way to describe it but CHAOTIC! We were hassled by runners as soon as we got onto the ferry. Before you are allowed into Zambia you have to pay road toll, ferry toll, 3rd party insurance, carbon emission fee and a council fee. Our fixers were a team of three speedy guys - one to do the running, one to client face and one to manage the other two. The other compulsory car accessory in Zambia are white front and red rear reflectors for your car. We thought we had been duped and didn't really need all this shenanigans, but three road blocks on the way into town left us thankful for our team of fixers at the border. Phew!

We are now chilling out and recovering in Fawlty Towers Backpackers in Livingstone while our landy is having a service at Foleys Africa. Tomorrow is white river rafting during the day with a booze cruise down the Zambezi in the evening. Saturday we are going abseiling, gorge swinging, rap jumping and will be doing the flying fox. I am nervous about the rap jumping...eeekkk!!!