25th Oct.
Its 6 am while I sit in a cool breeze whirling around the riverside camp at Martins or Marty's drift on the Botswana side of the border with SA along the Limpopo river.
Was up early with some tummy pain, something which I have been rid of for a good while since arriving at Nkhata Bay back in Malawi.
Had two beef meals yesterday and loads to drink, mostly water, cold drinks and a couple of cans of bitter lemon which I mixed with Black Label larger. Very nice.
The chef has turned up and seeing him with a cup of coffee, and noting my hopeful expression has landed me with a cup as well.  The camp here last night was quiet with just two others. Norbert a German travelling in a well kitted Land Rover sporting a fridge freezer and a folding roof tent. He lives not far from the farm in Magalies, and is travelling on business.

Norman with his heavy KTM

Martins Drift pitch, Botswana SA border.

Then Norman, also a German from Munich who has ridden up from Capetown on his heavily kitted KTM990 which he had shipped to Capetown and he intends riding all the way back to Germany.
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Sunday 30th Nov 2014
So that you know, I have already been 3 nights back in Gauteng. Two nights on the farm in Magalies and last night at Boud's house not far from 4 ways in Jhb's northern suburbs.

My reading spot at the farm in Magalies, my SA home.

 

It is Sunday the 30th of Nov. My goal was to reach here by the beginning of December which was becoming harder for cycling by the day. However, the speed at which I crossed both Zambia and especially Botswana, helped me to hop ahead of schedule.
From Livingstone Zambia to the border with  Botswana the journey is around 60kms. I rode about halfway and the rest on a bus. So crossed ferry near 3pm after changing my last Kwacha for just a few Pula. There were some antelope and a gathering of warthogs, the first I'd seen on my journey so far.  They were about 100m from the road overlooked by the Botswana  immigration office.  Folks tell me that this is a particularly wild corner of Botswana with big cats and elephants roaming wherever they please. Not the ideal cycling roads especially during the nights.
A bus was waiting alongside a tea room and I soon found it to be an overnight one to Francistown well to the south. 112 Pula bought me my seat and carriage for the cycle. The driver and his lady helper were enthusiastic about my mode of transport but also insisted that the route was unsuitable for cycling because of both elephants and lions roaming freely. Many of these they said could often be seen in the buses' headlights as it travelled through the African darkness.This I was keen to see and pleased with the front seat allocated to me for this very purpose. Hats off to the driver who has to be super vigilant without exceeding 70kph peering ahead for any sudden large lumps leaping into the road ahead of the bright headlights. The grass and bush is cleared either side of the road by approximately 10 to 15m to help this what must be stressful driving even during the day, let alone at night.
The night's journey was not without incident. First we came across what appeared to be a recently smashed pickup whose roof was caved in. Most likely it had turned over perhaps while trying to avoid hitting a large animal, most likely an elephant. We stopped, backed up and peered at this wreck for some moments, before driving off again when no human movement could be seen. A driver and passenger may well have been in the crushed cab but if so, neither were able to holler or signal for help.
Some while later, the left front windscreen shattered to a very loud bang. The drivers window was happily still in one piece and he thought the culprit had been an owl. More like a flying ostrich from the loud impact and bulbous impression made in the glass, which eventually fell from its frame completely. I moved back a row to shelter behind my seat in what was thereafter a very windy and chilly journey. For the first time, I hauled out my rain jacket and draped it over my shoulders for warmth against the rushing cool breeze. Kept thinking about the next owl that would fly directly into the bus so tried to keep a low profile, not easy with my 6 foot 3 frame. The driver thought my query about this rather funny while he slowed quickly for a lingering elephant, revving his engine to encourage this  beast off the road. Hats off to him though, I would not like his job responsible for up to 60 passengers along this unpredictable, nightly passage from 2100hrs to 0500hrs, our scheduled arrival time in Francis town. We stopped for a stretch a couple of times during the night and attempted to prop up the bendy window with a broom, but it soon dropped to the floor again leaving just the broom to fend off the next meaty missile. Happily avoided, we arrived at about 0540 hrs after what must be around 500 to 600 kms.
I cycled around the town in search of a good map. The photo I had of my Botswana map came from our home atlas and was wanting for detail. The tourist info store came up trumps, for I was given a good tourist map, the only one so far as I had been managing with my phone's photos of maps seen along the way.
Had a cooked breakfast and chat with a white Botswanan businessman who had travelled as he often did from his home town the capital city in the south.
Botswana quite large but having just 2 million people has its fair share of long distances between settlements which are few because of the lack if water. The road I travelled down the eastern side, is surrounded by thick bush which grows and manages to flourish from the salty ground water. Around 50 kms ti the west, the Kalahari dessert prevails so the bush must by then be scrub and tumble weeds leading eventually to the red sand dunes of the Namib. So the eastern side of Botswana has thick bush thriving in water that is not suitable for humans, though the wild animals abound.
From Francistown, I cycled south and gladly came across the occasional settlement for a good drink to cool down. People told me the next stretch would be sparse, so I tried hiking a lift only to come across the Willie and an employee. Willie had been the gentleman who I had joined for breakfast earlier.  Reckon I rode around 50kms before Willie lifted me and my bike for another 150kms to the junction for Martins Drift, one of the northern border posts with SA.
Willied had said that the distance from there was about 60kms. But after a very hot 50kms again, I discovered at a disease control barrier, where there was no food to be had, that there was at least 80kms to go. I was hungry and although carrying enough water, another long, hot, barren stretch would have exhausted me. Waving down a luxurious lorry had me well on my way again. Later when he dropped me near the border, I was able to get a nice meal of pap, beef and cabbage from the road side canteens. While I ate gratefully, a lady handed me an ice cold bottle of water without charge. A really nice gesture for a very hot and tired traveller.
So Botswana was crossed in record time. Just approximately 26 hours at a cost of 112 Pula or about £10 placed me at the Limpopo camp whose entrance is just behind the filling station just before the border bridge. The camping fee is steep compared with others at 85 Pula and there are chalets as well as pre pitched riverside tents where I spent the night in my own tent before crossing the following morning. Hippos can be heard tramping at snorting about on the other side of an electrified fence to discourage them from roaming the accommodation area, unlike the freedom they have in Zambia.
One more border to cross, this one being of most concern without a YF certificate. I had once again heard conflicting information about the need or not of this vaccination. Nerves jingled as I was asked to attend a recently set aside health department organised to try and deal with potential Ebola carriers. On the way, a big yellow sign declaring Zambia to be on the Yellow Fever list and stating clearly that a certificate is required. The Ebola questionnaire is dominant though and a no to all the questions, a smile to say so,and  not commenting on my earlier stomach pain produced a clearing stamp for the rest of the border procedures.  The official had a good gander at my passport and quizzed me about my journey all the way from Tanzania On A Bicycle!  As I had already been to see the health section, no further YF questions arose thank heavens and I was through.
More food, some Maheu and some bananas to go had me pedalling once again on an at first overcast morning.  Unlike Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia where there are numerous villages where food and often cold drinks along with well water can be found, Botswana and SA are more of a challenge. Farm and often game fencing makes any homestead unreachable.  Whereas there are villages scattered all over my routes through Tanzania, Malawi  and Zambia, there were hardly any which I noticed Botswana and in SA one can travel a long way with just a continuos fence for company and occasional locked gates. One such place on my second day through Botswana, I spotted an African with a hosepipe watering just 30m from the road but there was no way to reach him unless I climbed a barbed wire fence. About 1km further I came across a gate unlocked, so I entered and cycled back along a sand track. On enquiring, it turned out to be newly planted grass which was being watered via a tank not pumped from a nearby borehole, but using a pipe from a good distance away. I was able to cool off a bit, but had to crouch down very low as the pressure was little.

Shady trees are too good to bypass.  Banana snack and newly aquired icy water, with compliments of the game ranch folks and the Coca-Cola corp.

Then on my way from the SA border to Ellis Russ, I managed to enter the Matopi Lodge game farm where near its gate, I was able to replenish my water and give myself a good drenching, the only way to cool off. A kind African even swapped one of my warm 2 litre bottles with one from a very cold fridge. There, water is delivered in a wheeled tank, most likely towed by a tractor. I carry around 4.5 litres which on the whole has been adequate. Later I came across two Africans with a trailer full if water melons. A knife which they didn't have, I whipped from my pack and soon all three of us and others that came along gorged on this sweet beauty. Very large it was with plenty to go around and they insisted that I was not to pay for it perhaps after how thoroughly welcome this fruit appeared to the oddball cycle traveller.

This lady with my knife and very welcome gift of partaking in a large and very tasty thirst quenching water melon. I imagine that she had never seen a person consume so much of it in one go, yet still not finished, and shared around.

A whip around Ellis Russ when I finally made it there after a 120km slog made it one of the longer daily rides of this journey, revealed the increased cost of accommodation here in SA.  Best quotes were R200 for room some 12km before town and at least double that or significantly more anywhere in town.  Decided to wash at a garage, top up the water and a have a KFC dinner, the only establishment offering some salad with meals after which it was getting on for 9pm.  I had earlier spotted an open grassy expanse which were the grounds to the local NGK church. Quickly pitched my tent and was dozing in no time. Another white guy from Vereeniging introduced himself as another traveller by bus and spent the night under one building's porch 20m away.
Finally some rain before I arose in the morning.  The porch guy was on the lookout for welding or other construction work at a new power station being built. He and I had a good buffet breakfast together in a nearby hotel. I paid for us both as he was also hungry and the nights accommodation had been free.
I set off once again for the 130km slog to Thabazimbi. 20km into my journey,  a pick up  pulled over to handle a call which was once again, too much temptation. On announcing that he was heading to Jhb, my planned route via Ruatenburg quickly evaporated and approximately two hours later I was on the N14 juntion N1 leading towards Krugersdorp and the farm in Magalies. Another lift my same method saw me to Krugersdorp happily as there was a very strong headwind to struggle against. I rode out of Krugersdorp another 15kms and then managed to get a final lift ti Magalies town where I bought some food in the new supermarket then cycles the last 8km in the darkened starry, moonlit night. My Tennant Daan and his dogs where very surprised to see me. A long day, but a good distance covered , cutting my journey by at least 3 days.

Blue Gums, and Thorns obscuring half of the (in some parts) 100 year old farmhouse.

Daan on the farm.  Trotting after one of 20 unwilling Jersey's. They are not keen on being sprayed with the anti tick stuff.

Our farm Thula Nyoni. View from North West koppie Magaliesburg

Total mileage covered is approximately 3500 miles and I can only estimate the cycled miles to have been about 2000 of them altogether.  Its been a fine journey and an all round great experience. Thanks to the good people I have met along the way who have been interested, surprised, supportive, most friendly as well as hospitable. Many of them I will continue to be in touch and once this diary, I hope contains photos I have taken, I will provide a reminder and links to it again.
Thanks for your interest.
Simon.