Louis Trichardt to Letlhakane, September 2022

We are again transiting through Botswana. Our aim is to travel all the way up to Kenya from South Africa via Botswana, Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania. We have about four months to accomplish this adventure and we are looking to weight as much time as possible towards Kenya and Tanzania without missing too much in the other countries.

Last time we breezed through Botswana was on the way to Namibia. My partner was a little huffy then that we didn’t stop at the Makgadikgadi Pans that first time. I was regretful of missing out on the Kasane to Maun route via Khwai and Savuti that first time also. So we have allocated our few weeks in Botswana to exactly those adventures.

It is a very very good thing that we are doing both of these adventures in the dry season! While not overly challenging, Makgadikgadi and Maun to Kasane require a fair amount of navigation and the need to traverse some deep kalahari sand tracks along the way. Trying to manage either of the routes in the wet or even partly wet seasons would probably be impossible for us.

Out of six countries travelled so far, we have only ever gotten our 4×4 hilux stuck in Botswana. First time in deep sand in Chobe National Park and the second time in a huge mud puddle south of Maun heading to a campsite. Those two adventures were in our early days of overlanding and getting out required some significant digging plus the use of the winch. The third and currently last time (at time of writing) we got stuck was after a few kilometers after leaving Savuti Camp in Chobe National Park. The third time was a breeze, getting out of the sand after only two attempts with the use of the sand tracks.

Martin’s Drift, A Lot of Scrubland & Thuuthebe Camp

We enter Botswana from South Africa at Martin’s Drift border crossing. Botswana is part of SACU (Southern African Customs Union). No need to even get the carnet stamped then although, some people advise to do this anyway especially if looking to ship the vehicle on the other side of an internal SACU border.

We have decided a new travel plan. Around three hours of road travel per day so that we can stop, appreciate our surroundings, do more and maybe even get some exercise in. We are finding it difficult to get our regular runs in when conducting blitzkrieg travel. It is difficult enough to find opportunities for a five kilometer run in the wilds of Africa even when there is time. We are often camped or parked in an area with potential lion which would make runs very interesting indeed.

I, however, instantly get in the way of the calm pace idea. Against my voiced opinions, we stopped for three nights at a Louis Trichardt campsite after Kruger to prepare for this next leg and so I have convinced Kirsty that we need to make up some traveling time. We barrel through the middle of Botswana which is relatively flat, scrubby and consistently so through-out the first 350 kilometers. We have already been traveling for a while on the South African side of the border. Our route is Martin’s Drift to Letlhakane along the A14 road. There is a well thought of camp site there called Tuuthebe which we want to arrive at before dark.

The road is very similiar to the west Kasane route through Francistown and Nata. Botswana really comes alive in the north. In the south you really need to be a desert and acacia loving individual. No disrespect intended to the southern travellers.

Tuuthebe Camp is cheap(ish), sometimes sells barbeque packs but not today and provides an easy rest after a long drive. It is also just south of the pans, and has some friendly ducks.