Finally, a few minutes to organize a post with some spotty
WIFI so we will try to catch up…
Sunday, June 19, 2016 - Livingston, Zambia
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| Our traveling van and companions at a rest stop |
We transferred from our private bookings to the KE Adventure
cycling tour. After a leisurely (??)
morning repacking and sorting luggage to accommodate the new trip, Waterbury
lodge provided a driver to Waterfront Campground to meet up with the KE
Adventure guides and greet all the riders.
We are 11 in all with riders from all over the world, including USA, UK,
Austria and a New Zealander who is living in Japan. Imagine our surprise when the other person
from US, rode with Heidi on the all-female team that raced for World Bicycle
Relief two years ago. We were all amazed
at that!
The rest of the day was spent putting the bike together followed
by a quick 12 mile ride to the entrance of Victoria Falls and back. Our accommodations have taken a drastic
change. We are now truly camping, think
your basic dome test, sleeping bags on a thin foam mat and a shared campground
bathroom. At least they are flushing toilets
and separated shower stalls. A big
step down from even Lake Manze Camp.
Monday, June 20, 2016 - Into Botswana
An early start (wake-up at 5:15) and on the rode by 6:45 for
our first 79 Kilometer ride (You do the math).
We rode to the “4 corners” area where Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and
Botswana meet in the middle of the Chobe river.
The river ferry was typical African chaos but with the help of our guide
we had no trouble getting our passports stamped out of Zambia and into
Botswana. The trucks line up sometimes
for days to make this crossing as it is the only route from Botswana to Zambia
without going through Zimbabwe. Then it
was onto our truck for a very short transfer to our camp. Lunch was at about 1 pm. At 2pm we were back on the truck for a quick
run into town to exchange dollars to pula (the local currency). And yet another boat cruise where we saw many
animals again. It was the first sighting
for many of our fellow travelers so it was exciting to see their
reactions.
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| Synchronized drinking from the Chobe River |
During our short shopping spree in the Kasane, population
6000, we found a queen size duvet in a Woolworths (of all things) to supplement
our thin foam mattresses. When we went
to check out the very nice young lady asked Ted a question and he just couldn’t
figure it out… Beth finally did. “Do you
have a Woolworths Rewards Card?” We just
had to laugh. But boy, the duvet made
sleeping on the thin foam pads much, much better. We had asked before coming if we needed to
bring a camping mattress and were told we didn’t because we would have a very
nice foam pad. That was a significant overstatement.
Food is very basic but filling. Breakfast consists of cereal, fruit, yogurt,
coffee, tea, and juice. Lunch was
sandwich makings. Dinner was beef stew
and spinach. Restroom facilities were
very basic and Beth shared her shower with a spider and a cat.
Riding is very different from any other tour we’ve been
on. Because we are riding through
wildlife habitats the guide is very strict about staying close together. This translates to the single riding with guide
leading the group and our truck following the last rider. We stop every 20 K to allow all riders to
regroup and have a snack of fruit and “sweeties” (candy) and refill water
bottles if needed. No granola bars, nut
bars or any “typical” snack mixes. Also
no sports drink mixes like Gateraid. The
faster riders must wait for the whole group to reunite and the truck with
snacks to arrive before we proceed to the next 20 K stop. Since we are “middle of the group riders”
speed wise this is not a problem, but it prohibits taking a break when you need
it. And the riding is very scheduled
with multiple activities scheduled in the same day so it is “let’s go.. let’s
go” after every stop.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
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| Another rest stop for the bikes |
Another early start with the expectation that we be on the
road by 6:45. The goal was 107 km before 12:30 to beat the heat and make it to
our next planned activity. We rode
through a game park but had little luck.
The animals were quite scarce, maybe because of all the 18 wheelers on
the road heading to and from the ferry. We
rode 80 kilometers as the headwind and flat roads took their toll. It was a lot like crossing Kansas both in
landscape and wind. After we stopped we
found out we had been rubbing our rear brake all day. No wonder the riding was so hard. Lunch was a pasta salad with chunks of cheese,
hotdogs, canned peas and cucumbers with a choice of local “salsa” for topping. Then it was onto the van for 200 km to the Makgadikgadi
Saltpans. The goal was to make the
Saltpans by sunset but we stopped just short of the lake bed. I have to say, the saltpans did not live up
to our expectations. We expected
something similar to Whitesands; but it was a dried lakebed maybe more like the
Bonneville Salt Flats.
Our camp for the night was Planet Baobab. A large number of campers were at this site
so we ended in the overflow camping with two large buses. There were only two toilets and two showers;
very nice but nowhere near enough for all the people. We ended up with cold showers.
Temperatures have been mid 40’s at night and mid 80’s during
the day. The days are very full with
little down time other than the van transfers which aren’t too restful.
Typical Day
5:15 wake up call – pack suitcases, clear test, eat
breakfast
6:45 – On the bikes
12:30 – 1PM - Off the
bikes, lunch and hurry off to somewhere else
Wednesday, June 22, 2016 – Planet Baobab to Maun, Botswana
We had the pleasure of sleeping in to 6AM this morning and
off on the bikes at 7:30! The second
huge pleasure was a 10-20mph hour tailwind during our 60k ride on a dead flat
road. Much more enjoyable than our ride
yesterday. Then another 120k transfer to
Maun and the Audi campground. We were
here by 1PM and have had time to
reorganize things for our safari trip into the bush tomorrow. So we are off the bikes for a couple of
days. And WAY off the grid.
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