After months of planning and booking places it was finally time to start our trip to Botswana, Zambia and Namibia. We set out from Centurion at 6 a.m. and started the journey to Francistown in Botswana, our first stop.
Border crossing between RSA and Botswana was a breeze and we reached our guesthouse in the suburbs of Francistown in the late afternoon. We had an early night and started again at 6 a.m. the next morning. The final destination was Livingstone in Zambia.
Jennie had the first set back that night, incredible nausea after the long car ride. She left a nice souvenir in the bushes outside the guesthouse! J She was back to normal the next day but both Elle and Jen were covered with fleabites…
We had heard that the roads up to Kazangula in northern Botswana were really bad, but they were actually in good condition! On our way we saw elephants and giraffes walking along the road.
After a quick lunch in Kasane it was time to cross the Zambesi river over to Zambia. When we came to the crossing we discovered only one of two ferries was running. We met a couple that had been waiting for 3 hours. It was already 4 p.m. and the last ferry is leaving at half past five, the panic started to show itself! Would we make it across? After some discussions with the border guards it turned out that we were promised to embark the last ferry for the day, what a relief!
Everyone on board!
On the Zambian side we were in for a circus royal. We had to first fend ourselves from all the so-called agents (basically small time crooks trying to rip you off), and then it was time to visit all of the offices for different permits and so on. It took a lot of time, patience and money but eventually we were let in to the country.
Now it was already dark and we had to drive in to Livingstone and find the lodge. One can say that streetlights are not the “thing” in Africa and this made our drive a little bit tricky. Finally the GPS led us straight to the Green Tree Lodge and the ever so friendly Hector welcomed us.
The Lodge was situated a little bit outside of Livingstone, but since this town isn’t that big it was easy going around. The Falls weren’t far away so the first day we went straight to them. It was an amazing experience seeing them and hiking in the spray. We became thoroughly wet and went straight home to change into something dry before having afternoon tea at the Royal Livingstone.
The bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe
The Royal Livingstone, not really in our price range.
A proper lady having tea, thanks to DSG perhaps?
The mighty Zambesi was really mighty this time due to all the rain recently and we got to experience some river life on a boat. The ride is known as the “booze cruise”, but it really wasn’t as bad as it sounds…
About to board the boat.
After three days in Livingstone it was time to do Chobe, so we headed back to Botswana again. Luckily it wasn’t a hassle with the ferry on the way back… There is no money to make from leaving travellers!
Yes, this is the ferry!
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