Onto the Elephant Highway

A time trial took us into Botswana, our 8th country, and the start of a new section, the Elephant Highway. We bid farewell to Livingstone and headed for the border town of Kasunga (well, most of us did..Sarah B decided on an unintentional detour towards Zimbabwe and the falls but soon she was back on track again!) where we crossed into Botswana and elephant country! The time trial started about 18km out of town amongst the speed bumps and police check points. The majority of riders (expedition and racers) decided to take part despite a couple of monster hills! The reward? Lunch at 8.30am and a ferry ride across the Zambezi into Botswana! Paddy’s folks were there to cheer the racers, on making for a very entertaining start to the trial. No border day would be complete without someone forgetting their passport, leaving it in their red box in one of the trucks which had already crossed the river! Jan E was forced to hang at the border, drinking loads of soda as the rest of the tour boarded the ferry, found his passport and then crossed back to deliver it to him. Otherwise, Thebe Camp is situated right on the river and although it is a bit flooded at present, the views of the fast flowing Zambezi make it a worthwhile place to be. Most of us have pitched out tents a little ways back from the water after hearing the story of the crocodile that ambled on up to a couple of tents a few weeks ago thinking it was going to get some dinner!? A few of the riders headed off onto a river boat cruise for some wildlife viewing, bikes are being repaired by Dean and Miles, and the African Routes boys (complete with Trevor, our new African Routes addition) are preparing a “mean” looking barbecue (or braii as you term it in these parts of the world) for dinner…because nothing ever bad happens in bike heaven!