Livingstone to Thebe River Safari Camp

Our tour director thought it a great idea to have a time trial after the adrenaline filled rest day. It would be a 69 km stretch to the Botswana border and most of the cyclists decided to participate. Kim Bremer took first with place with a time of 1 hour 45 minutes and 15 seconds. Stefan Schlett and Arnold van Dijk followed seconds later. What is remarkable about Arnold is that he has only been back on the tour for a few days. He broke his hip the day after Alfonse died and had to be flown back to Holland. Yet he is in top form and finished in third place. Tirtsa was the first woman to complete the trial with an excellent time of 2 hours and 16 minutes.

Our dreams of a Frique band were nearly shattered by the Botswana immigration. As we crossed the border from Zambia into Botswana by ferry, we almost had our hand drums confiscated. Foot and mouth disease is still causing havoc in Africa and we had to ride the truck through a special pesticide. We also had to wipe our feet on it and take some shoes from the truck and rinse it a few times. Meat and cheese products are not allowed across the Botswana border and the cowhide on the drums was viewed as highly suspicious matter. Luckily Christo from African Routes used his charm and wit to rescue the treasured drums.

In the afternoon we went on a sunset boat cruise through the Chobe National park. Typically a few of the cyclists fell asleep while
herds of elephant grazed, hippos snorted and fish eagles swooped all around us – another tough day in Africa.