Khwai to Katima

Khwai River Camp

Although Theo had warned us that the next trek to Katima Mulilo was an arduous stretch of road, we voted to drive it in one day. We left Khwai River as early as we could manage. We wanted to drive down the cutline next to Savuti, through the Linyanti Camp, visit our memorable 'Koffie Pan',  and get to the Botswana border post, Ngoma, before it closes at 18h00. Many years ago three families, the Pauws, Malans and Drinkrows, the 'Paumalrow' Group, did a similar trip, and stopped off at this picturesque, small Pan for coffee and rusks. We fell in love with it and actually camped there on a return trip.  The road down the cutline was full of potholes and heavily overgrown, but not as sandy as we expected. Halfway up the cutline, we came across, what appeared to be a Jeep, completely burned out. The heat was so intense that it had melted and curled the windows, and melted sections of the engine and rims. The fridge had completely disintegrated and 2 gas bottles had exploded. We suspect that this vehicle must have accumulated grass around its exhaust system, which is a common problem on these kind of roads. The resulting fire completely destroyed this vehicle and its contents, as well as setting the surround veld on fire.  When we turned into Linyanti we followed the road to the campsite, where we met a couple that informed us about the road ahead - extremely thick sand in which they got stuck. It took them 2 hours to get out! We had already dropped the tyre pressure, and we ARE driving Landcruisers!, so we were not too perturbed. Theo and Ros were leading the way, and we followed a few hundred meters behind them due to the grey powdery dust so typical of the Linyanti. Ros called us on the radio with the dreaded news - they were stuck! We arrived at the scene. Ross and I scrambled around for wood to put under the wheels, the men took out the spades and started digging! No success. We pulled our caravan pass the Pauws Landcruiser and Conqueror and unhitched the caravan. Steve and Theo connected two kinetic ropes to each other, and then to the 2 Cruisers. The 200 Series pulled Theo's whole rig out of the sand. Theo drove his vehicle and trailer off the road to get out of the sand, and Steve dug his Cruiser into the sandpit! It was lying right on the diff! Now it was Theo's turn to unhitch his trailer and pull Steve out! All this took us about an hour. A lodge guide in a passing Landcruiser, came pass us and advised us not to carry on driving on this road, as we definitely would get stuck time and again. He gave us an alternative route. This route was closer to the river (a concession area) which took us past an airfield and then back on the original road. We enjoyed the scenery on this road, and even saw a massive herd of buffalo. Our GPS told us to expect a tar road very soon! This tar road did not materialize, and we realized that with the speed we were traveling, about 18 - 20 km/hour, we were not going to make it to the border. Theo and Ros could travel much faster than us, and so they scouted ahead for accommodation. They found us tented accommodation, and organized dinner with the owner in charge. When we stopped at Mwandi River Lodge and opened the caravan, we found, for the third time during this holiday, that the last two remaining 5L of wine, mixed with Linyanti dust, had leaked out. This was too much for me and I burst into tears! After a great shower, clean clothing, dinner and a few drinks at the bar, we all felt much better. With Steve's help, we cleared out the mess, washed out the caravan and repacked it. Luckily the toilet rolls were packed in the same compartment as the wine and that sucked up a lot of the wine. The next morning the caravan still smelled like a wine cellar.  With the newly added front bullbar  and winch, we have found that the front suspension of the 200 Landcruiser was too soft to handle the badly dug out roads we were traveling. (Hence the numerous wine spills!) Sometimes we were forced to drive at 15 km/hour and less. Steve started phoning around to see if and where we could get an upgrade. We were prepared to drive back to Windhoek, but there was nothing available. At the moment we are waiting for some feedback from Lusaka. If they have the right suspension, we will have the upgrade done there. At the border we were questioned repeatedly about our 'Mercedes' that we were taking across the border. It seems that our new caravan number plate had crossed the border 3 times before (as a Mercedes!) The poor official phoned 3 different authorities, and Steve presented him with all the right documents (Licence, document of ownership, Data-dot identification as well as Police Clearance Certificate!) Eventually we could go! We booked into Namwi Lodge and Camping site, about 5km from Katima. Namwi is next to the Zambezi River, neat and beautifully maintained. Mimi De Klerk is the manager and she runs a tight ship. We took a camp site right on the river, while Theo and Ros opted for a bungalow. There was a lot to be done before we could leave on the next leg of our trip. We loved it at Namwi. The staff at Namwi did our washing (clothing, towels, bedding), and even our cars, caravan and trailer were cleaned. After struggling with his fridge for about 2 weeks, Theo and Steve eventually figured out that there was a bad earth at the plug as well as in the main DB  board of Theo's trailer. We were so thankful that this problem had been solved! We stocked up on food, water etc and Steve managed to get a new Jockey wheel which had been destroyed on our way to the Khwai River. We felt great - all problems solved and resolved, except for the front suspension of the Cruiser. The next day we would cross the border into Zambia!