Final Musings

As was put in the last posting, we now had finished with the sleeping part of the trusty Land Cruiser and the drive back to the main road from Kubu Island was going to be the last major driving off road. This time we had a human passenger as we had got to know a large South African group that we had camped next to in Planet Baobab and again at Kubu Island. They had picked up an Italian hitchhiker at Planet Baobab and taken her  with them to Kubu Island. The group knew we were coming the next day and just before we left we had a phone call from them at Planet B to say Sabina, the Italian hitchhiker, had left her wallet and passport in the safe at PB and could we take it with us to Kubu. This of course we did so we met up again and had a great evening sitting round the camp fire. Sabine then asked for a lift to FrancisTown and as we were going said she could although it probably wasnt the most comfortable ride ever as the Toyota had just 2 passenger seats.  The first part was very easy if a little dusty and just following wheel tracks across the salt pans for mile upon mile. After 45 mins of so of driving we hit a sand ridge and followed that all the way to the main road. It was now tarmac so pump up the tyres again to full pressure and set of for Francis Town. It took about 3 hours to get there and after dropping Sabina we drove of to find our chalet for the night at a place called Woodlands. This is a small property with several self catering Chalets alongside a dried up river. There were plenty of birds but it is close to a large town. Next day we set off for our last stop in Botswana and a realy nice self catering lodge beside the Limpopo river on the border with South Africa. We saw plenty of wildlife but it was all very timid and keeping clear of us. We did go out looking but also spent time relaxing before crossing back over the border again into South Africa and a return to Thula Meetse Mountain Lodge where we started 5 weeks before. Here we did put in a few walks but also lots just relaxing and having a beer or wine as you do. The final morning was spent sorting baggage, clearing out the trusty LandCruiser before heading of back down the motorway to Johannesburg, returning the car and getting the flight home. A long holiday, some really great sights, lots of fantastic people and one of the best holidays we have managed to do together.

We would love to thank all the really great people we met, the fantastic places we stayed and the friendly people of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. One major person to thank has to be Andy of "Drive Botswana" who put all the places together,  sorted the route and helped us overall. If anyone reading this should want to do the same then go to http://www.drivebotswana.com and check it out.