Old Report, as requested - Phookawi Safari 2003 (Zambia)

wino said:

btw, if you've got some time, post pics of your older adventures through nam etc :wink:

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The Phookawe Safari 2003

By telling others of our trip, we hope to promote motorcycling into Africa and also to encourage more women to ride motorcycles rather than being pillion riders. Our trip, which we called the 'Phookawe Safari 2003' started in Johannesburg. We traveled through Botswana and Namibia to Zambia, then from Zambia back to Johannesburg via Botswana.

On the 2nd October 2003, I and ten other adventurers left on the first leg of our journey. One of these adventurers' was my wife on her own BMW F650GS. She had only learned to ride a motorcycle about 4 months ago, initially at Paul Fawkes' RotoRookies School and then at the BMW Rider Academy.

Our first overnight stop was at Kanye in Botswana.







The following day we travelled up across the Trans Kalahari Highway, overnight in Ghanzi and then on to Sepupa, which is situated on the main Okavango River in the area called the Pan Handle where we stayed for two nights. We explored the Okavango Delta by traditional mokoro, piloted by local 'polers'. The wildlife and bird life is truly great to behold in this beautiful region, an experience of a lifetime.









Day five we travelled through into Namibia. This day was a test of character for both the inexperienced and the experienced riders. The 35 km sand road from the Botswana / Namibia border to the Rundu / Katima Mulilo road was extreme (especially for the novice) and temperatures of 40 degrees C did not help either. With 3 adventure bikes and 4 road bikes, one of them being a Honda 1500 GoldWing complete with trailer, it was an eventful section. We crossed the Caprivi in temperatures of 45 degrees C. We had left Sepupa at 5:30 am and finally arrived in Livingstone, Zambia at 8:30 pm that evening, 580 km and 3 border crossings, the last one being the ferry at Kasane. (The same ferry service where the truck fell off the ferry into the river about 3 weeks prior to our trip.)
We camped at The Waterfront in Livingstone for 3 nights. The adrenalin junkies amongst us rafted down the Zambezi, the most challenging one-day stretch of white-water rapids in the world. With the base of the awesome Victoria Falls as the starting point, we roller coastered over 23 rapids through the ancient Batoka Gorge. One of the guys with us decided that the rafting was not near enough excitement, he bungi jumped from the Victoria Falls Bridge suspended 150 meters above the Zambezi - the most spectacular bungi jump on earth. We also did a helicopter flip over the Falls, met the Mayor of Livingstone at the Ocean Basket, and thoroughly enjoyed the Zambian hospitality.






Day eight, after a leisurely start to the day, we crossed the border back into Botswana (via the ferry at Kasane again) and set up camp at Chobe Safari Lodge. After lunch we did the famous 'sundowner boat cruise' into the Chobe National Park. We saw an abundance of game - elephant, crocodile, various antelope and a myriad of birds, including the majestic Fish Eagle.





The following day, after an early breakfast we rode down to Nata, a small campsite on the edge of the Makgadikagidi pans. It was another extremely hot day but the swimming pool and the cold beers went down well. We watched the sunset and the moonrise on the saltpans, an awesome experience. The Makgadikagidi pans are the largest area of saltpans in the world covering some 37 000 sq km in overall extent. It is the last vestiges of Africa's largest inland sea and exudes an atmosphere of antiquity and mystery.


Our last night out was spent at Kwa-Nokeng, a camp at Martin's Drift, just inside Botswana.

The next morning it was a short haul back to Johannesburg, ending a truly memorable adventure.
Our trip was approximately 3 500 kms and 11 days long. We had eleven people, seven motorcycles - BMW R1100GS, BMW F650GS, BMW 1100RT, BMW 100RT, Triumph Tiger, Yamaha TDM 850 and a Honda 1500 Gold Wing with trailer - and a Honda CRV as a back-up vehicle.


The script on the shirt reads ?The Spirit of Real Freedom lies not in Where you go but How you Get there?.
There were four women on the trip, my wife riding her own bike, one woman riding pillion and the last two women driving the back-up vehicle. The woman that drove the Honda CRV has since bought her own BMW F650 GS, she will be attending the BMW Rider Academy at the end of November along with the other two women who were not riding on the tour. One of the women already has her own BMW F650GS but is still getting used to it. I think my wife was an inspiration to them - there were a few tears, a bit of swearing and a near divorce on the sand sections (maybe the off-road course at Country Trax will sort the lack of sand experience) but at the end of the day it was very obvious that riding your own bike is far better than riding pillion. Next year we will need somebody to run vehicle back up for us, as our current back-up drivers will all be riding their own motorcycles.

We camped in our own tents throughout the tour as fixed accommodation in Botswana is very expensive; camping also enhances the 'African Experience'. Generally the people we met were friendly, helpful and pro motorcyclists. Bikes are quite unusual outside S.A. The locals we met were curious and overawed to see the bikes especially the Gold Wing with the trailer, and some people were amazed and quite excited (especially the ladies working at the border posts) to meet a woman who rode her own bike. Petrol is cheaper than S.A., unleaded petrol was available everywhere except at Kongola in Namibia.

The border crossings were no hassle except for SkilpadsHek near Lobatse - the South African border police held us up for over an hour in the blazing heat while they checked all the bike's paperwork (engine and VIN numbers) against the national computer records and the actual bikes. It was the day for motorcycles' because our support vehicle went through in two minutes without so much as a license disk check. In retrospect I guess it was okay as they were only doing their jobs and one day it may be my bike that has been stolen that they find during a routine check.
The total cost of the tour was approximately R5, 500.00 per person including all the activities, accommodation, food and petrol - not bad for an 11-day adventure. Some of the activities are fairly expensive such as the white water rafting but well worth the money.