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23rd april - 9th may

Overlanding across Afica in our Land Rover Defender: Botswana

Andy Lees
2006-05-16 15:19:02

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in the mud and vultures squabbled over what the lions had left behind. claire was unnerved about the steep ascent back out of the riverbed; she wanted to get out and walk whilst i drove. but when she remembered the predators, she decided to stay in the vehicle, under strict instructions not to scream, or yell unhelpful advice. we went straight up, first time. the power of the land rover should never have been doubted. we headed back through the deep sand as the sun set, our camp fire was already built, we wanted it lit before the skies went black.
lekhubu island - 6th may
we left early. our destination was lekhubu island and we didn't know how easy or difficult the journey would be. we had to cross ntwetwe salt pan to reach the island and if the pans are even slightly wet then you are advised not to attempt any of the roads. we had experienced only dry weather in botswana but we had heard of rains in the area where we were heading. we had been approached one night in a campsite in maun by some overlanders who were also heading to the island and were looking for information on the conditions of the roads. we couldn't help but we were reassured that other people were considering the journey.

we left khumaga and headed west across the park leaving the woodland and scrub behind us. we passed through rolling yellow grassland, hiding oryx and greater kudu. thick palm tree groves marked the eastern boundary of the park where we headed north to gweta. we had gps co-ordinates to guide us from gweta to kubu but that didn't stop us from losing ourselves trying to find our way out of the town itself. the route could only be determined by searching for the tracks of vehicles that had gone before us, they wound their way in all directions around the young trees, the track only as wide as the landrover and not even that at times.

we passed through an isolated village before reaching the pan. we were in luck, it was bone dry - there was no ...