top of page

2008 - Okavango Tour


Day 1 - Saturday 26 July 2008

It is hard to believe, that another year has gone by since our last Adventure Trip to Pondoland. Our bones have hardly been thawed out. This morning our new team assembled at Klaus’ house at 6.30 for a cup of coffee hoping for an early departure.(if possible) The basic core of the Big-Five are still Klaus, Hansi, Lou, Scott, Mike and almost Franz, our friend from Germany. Another invader from Germany is Herman, who graced us with his presence for the second time round. Andreas aslo joined us again for the second time. He obviously enjoyed himself the last time in the freezing cold. (Oh,sorry I forgot that the last time he has been travelling in great luxury in his BMW station wagon as a support backup. This time however on his newly aquired BMW 650 Motorbike. A set of newcomer are the father and son team of Colin and Ryan. So all these guys arrived at Klaus' residence for the expected cup of coffee before departure and were instead treated to a full breakfast with all the trimmings.That of course brought our departure back to +/-7.30.Klaus is joined in his Gelaendewagen by Herman and Mike kept Colin company in Colins Bakkie. This Bakkie by the way, proved its value at a later stage.


So off we went towards Pretoria, through two Tollgates on the Platinum Highway past the Carousel Casino into Limpopo. From Makopane(“Big town” in Limpopo) to Groblers Bridge spaned about 185 km. This proved to be our first mindless drive with absolutely nothing to see and enjoy. About 100 km before the Border crossing (Groblers Bridge) we made our first Piss Stop (sorry, that should read Pit Stop) To test our kitchen utensils and to check if Mike could still make the standard issue Lunch. This proved to be possible with Herman lending a helping hand. The last Petrol stop for the day was just behind the Border crossing. From there to our first day's destination the "Itumela Camp" we travelled another 125km.We all arrived safe and sound and slightly exhausted @17.30. We were booked into 3off two man tents and into two caravans which were just about breaking down. Mike found that out the hard way.


Entrance to the Famous Itumela Camp

Entertainment area in the garden

After a fairly reasonable dinner, which we consumed in an open air thatch, with the help of a few drinks, most of us retired at a respectable time. That was when Mike found out that his ‘Bed’ was not what it should be. His bed was a wooden board supported at both ends by some sort of pedestals. The board obviously could not support his weight and decided to conk in, which in turn did not allow for a very comfortable sleep.


Day 2 - Sunday 27 July 2008


After a coolish night and a minimum cleaning up in the morning ( due to lousy bathroom facilities) we left the camp for Palapye’s Wimpy Bar to have some Breakfast. Strangely enough we left without Scott, the nightrider, since we could not raise him this early in the morning.(He must have had a late/early bedtime). After breakfast we left in the direction of Orapa. About 160km of again mindless driving through nothing brought us to a stop next to the road called Makuba.


Makuba, a place next to the road where we made a cup of coffee.

We tried in between to get hold of Scott by cell phone, to no avail. When phoning Itumela camp we were told that Scottie left there about 10.00.The road we followed send us past Letlhakane, Mopipi and Rakops towards Maun,our destination.Just before Maun, the bikers stopped close to a petrol station to wait for the support vehicles, when out of the blue old Scott came out of this petrol station to meet us. What a surprise. He obviously drove a different route to us and he did not stop for anything except for petrol. So now we were all together again for our final leg to the Discovery Camp just outside Maun. There we were greeted by a nice couple by the names of Mariji and Rene who were running the Camp. After unpacking the Gelaendewagen and the Bakkie and putting all our equipment into our appointed Rondavels,and then before anything else, we all had to have some sort of refreshment which came in various forms.

Featured Posts
Recent Posts
Archive
Search By Tags
No tags yet.
Follow Us
  • Facebook Basic Square
  • Twitter Basic Square
  • Google+ Basic Square
bottom of page