Happy Campers SA

 

After a full year of planning the day has finally come. It was time for us to set off on our long awaited overlanding holiday in Namibia and Botswana. This whole route was new to us, with the exception of Kalahari Rest in Kang and Senyati in Kasane, and we were very keen to see more of Namibia and the Caprivi region.

Happy Campers BotsNam 2018 – Travel log Day 01 & 02
Place	Kalahari Rest in Kang Botswana TransKalahari Inn in Windhoek, Namibia
Type of lodging	Chalets
Ablutions	Yes
Water at site	Yes
Powered	Yes
Wi-Fi	Yes, average
Diesel top-up	153.67lt / R2,062-43
Kilometers travelled	Day 1: 754km Day 2: 696km

 

 

We managed to leave home at 04:00 in the morning, which were on point with our planning and we traveled to the Skilpadshek border post via Rustenburg and the N4. We made great time that morning and we go to the border post by 09:30. Crossing the border posts was a breeze and it took us less than an hour to clear both the South African and Botswana sides. From there it was smooth traveling via the A2 all the way to Kang and Kalahari Rest.

Before we left home, I read on the forums that the Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race was taking place during the weekend that we would be traveling past Jwaneng. We thought seeing that we would go past the town on the Sunday afternoon, we would be ok with traffic and spectators so I didn’t give much thought after that. Little did we know what a big event this would turn out to be. The A2 become a parking lot the moment you reached Jwaneng, with spectators and emergency vehicles everywhere. We kept our cool as it was no use getting upset over the delay and we had a lot of fun checking out the locals and their antics next to the road. We even got a lobola offer for my daughter, so we know her going rate is 10 cows LOL. Needless to say, she wasn’t impressed by the offer…

We had a 3 hour delay because of the race and the traffic conditions in Jwaneng so by the time we reached Kalahari Rest in Kang we were very ready to settle in for the night with some good food and a cold beer. We opted to stay over in a chalet instead of camping as we knew it would have been a long day of traveling. The chalet was very neat and comfortable but with a strange bathroom set-up – the bathroom was separated from the bedroom area with a short wall which didn’t afford you a lot of privacy. Other than that we were quite happy with our accommodations and we enjoyed dinner at their restaurant. The food was tasty but a bit expensive in the end. We also had breakfast there the next morning before we set off to Namibia and the Buitepos border post.

On our way to the border we found a very gruesome but fascinating scene next the road. A wake of vultures was served a free roadkill breakfast and biy, did they go to town on the carcass! The border crossing into Namibia also went very quickly and efficiently so it wasn’t long before we were on our way to Windhoek. We saw quite a lot of wild animals next to the road so I think this road might be quite dangerous to travel on at night. It was an awesome tar road all the way to Windhoek from Kang and arrived at the TransKalahari Inn in Windhoek by 13:30 that afternoon. After unhitching the van we set off to Windhoek to find something to eat and to check out Windhoek’s capital. There’s a lot of history in Windhoek with beautiful buildings and houses, and the German influence is still very much present. After enjoying dinner back at the Inn, we went to bed early as we were knackered after two long days of traveling.