Day 48 Vic Falls to Mahkangu Lodge
Yesterdays’ ride was another long one.
We got away at a reasonable time and headed 200km down to the border at Katima and the Zambezi River. There’s a bridge there which makes it easier than crossing at Kazungula.
The crossing was quite quick and we then we found some sort of civilization. ATMs that worked etc. It was a quick 100km to the start of the Caprivi Park.and what we had hoped would be elephant country. There are signs along the road warning you of elephants but we rode for miles without finding any. We got so desperate that I had to take a photo of Mike next to a sign. However just before crossing the Okavango River we did find 2, not very close to the road.
The Okavango is the river feeding the Delta. It’s flowing at a good rate but having subsided from the massive floods of earlier this year.
We have been calculating distances and estimating riding time to get us to Cape Town. We’ve still got about 2500km to go. The lure of a day’s tiger fishing has however stopped us at a beautiful camp on the river. We’re going to spend the day here, perhaps with a game drive and booze cruise before pushing quite hard for the last 4 days.
This is Mike: Hello everyone, I’ve finally found the time to punch some insight into this little laptop. My dad usually blog’s while waiting patiently for Mark and I to get ready in the morning. He’s always the first to rise, shake our tents, and pack up before it even gets light, whilst we try catch up on the sleep we lost due to his snoring.
The ‘rest day’ we had in Livingstone 2 days ago was spent swimming for our lives down the Zambezi (very relaxing). Out of the 8 or so rafts (each with 6 rafters) in our group, the three of us were the only ones to opt for the bodyboarding/drown option. The rest of the group really got their moneys worth; getting the pleasure of watching us float down into ‘Judgment Day’ or ‘The Terminator’, along with Marks vulgar commentary. My dad’s helmet looked like it was made out of recycled piss potty, Mark enjoyed telling our fellow rafters this upon arrival and told them they could piss into it at will, whilst my dad’s next to him wearing the helmet.
Yesterday the ride from Livingstone to Bagani (back in Nam) was fairly flat Caprivi bushveld. We had a slight team dilemma after about 200km… Normally Mark and I ride faster than my dad, keep checking the review mirrors, and make sure he’s still in range by waiting every 10 minutes or so. After our lunch stop at 200km, my dad zoomed off on his own mission, as he often does, and thought it would be funny to ride fast so that we wouldn’t catch him so quickly. Us two chasers were messing around with ipods and gave him about 5 minutes. We then rode pretty damn quickly for 30 mins and still didn’t catch him. We then waited on the side of the road. We acknowledge that my dad’s GPS is broken and his phone is dead, maybe he’s lost his marbles and ridden off in the wrong direction, crashed into the Zambezi or something. At his usual pace we would have caught him a few km’s down the road. We then carry on all the way to the next town, 110km from the last stop, to find him sitting under a tree with a smart arse look on his face. We didn’t think it was so funny, anyway, we became friends again.
Jim:
We’ve just got in from a wonderful morning on the river which is a really beautiful part of Africa. Willy our driver kept telling us how September was the month for fishing, so good in fact that the fish sometimes jump into the boat. We did however get 2 really nice fish, Mark also getting wildly excited when hooking a tree and a reed bank.
We were in the company of many hippo, a small croc, and great bird life.
We flattened a few beers while out on the water so the other 2 are now asleep and then we head out for a game drive. I think this very relaxing day has been good for us as the hard work now starts as we head down to CT.
Yesterdays’ ride was another long one.
We got away at a reasonable time and headed 200km down to the border at Katima and the Zambezi River. There’s a bridge there which makes it easier than crossing at Kazungula.
The crossing was quite quick and we then we found some sort of civilization. ATMs that worked etc. It was a quick 100km to the start of the Caprivi Park.and what we had hoped would be elephant country. There are signs along the road warning you of elephants but we rode for miles without finding any. We got so desperate that I had to take a photo of Mike next to a sign. However just before crossing the Okavango River we did find 2, not very close to the road.
The Okavango is the river feeding the Delta. It’s flowing at a good rate but having subsided from the massive floods of earlier this year.
We have been calculating distances and estimating riding time to get us to Cape Town. We’ve still got about 2500km to go. The lure of a day’s tiger fishing has however stopped us at a beautiful camp on the river. We’re going to spend the day here, perhaps with a game drive and booze cruise before pushing quite hard for the last 4 days.
This is Mike: Hello everyone, I’ve finally found the time to punch some insight into this little laptop. My dad usually blog’s while waiting patiently for Mark and I to get ready in the morning. He’s always the first to rise, shake our tents, and pack up before it even gets light, whilst we try catch up on the sleep we lost due to his snoring.
The ‘rest day’ we had in Livingstone 2 days ago was spent swimming for our lives down the Zambezi (very relaxing). Out of the 8 or so rafts (each with 6 rafters) in our group, the three of us were the only ones to opt for the bodyboarding/drown option. The rest of the group really got their moneys worth; getting the pleasure of watching us float down into ‘Judgment Day’ or ‘The Terminator’, along with Marks vulgar commentary. My dad’s helmet looked like it was made out of recycled piss potty, Mark enjoyed telling our fellow rafters this upon arrival and told them they could piss into it at will, whilst my dad’s next to him wearing the helmet.
Yesterday the ride from Livingstone to Bagani (back in Nam) was fairly flat Caprivi bushveld. We had a slight team dilemma after about 200km… Normally Mark and I ride faster than my dad, keep checking the review mirrors, and make sure he’s still in range by waiting every 10 minutes or so. After our lunch stop at 200km, my dad zoomed off on his own mission, as he often does, and thought it would be funny to ride fast so that we wouldn’t catch him so quickly. Us two chasers were messing around with ipods and gave him about 5 minutes. We then rode pretty damn quickly for 30 mins and still didn’t catch him. We then waited on the side of the road. We acknowledge that my dad’s GPS is broken and his phone is dead, maybe he’s lost his marbles and ridden off in the wrong direction, crashed into the Zambezi or something. At his usual pace we would have caught him a few km’s down the road. We then carry on all the way to the next town, 110km from the last stop, to find him sitting under a tree with a smart arse look on his face. We didn’t think it was so funny, anyway, we became friends again.
Jim:
We’ve just got in from a wonderful morning on the river which is a really beautiful part of Africa. Willy our driver kept telling us how September was the month for fishing, so good in fact that the fish sometimes jump into the boat. We did however get 2 really nice fish, Mark also getting wildly excited when hooking a tree and a reed bank.
We were in the company of many hippo, a small croc, and great bird life.
We flattened a few beers while out on the water so the other 2 are now asleep and then we head out for a game drive. I think this very relaxing day has been good for us as the hard work now starts as we head down to CT.
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