Getting our camper

Our city trip turned out to be longer than originally planned, so we pushed the camper pick-up by an hour, which presented no problem to the agency, but did mean that we were steadily running out of daylight. Driving anywhere in Africa is strongly discouraged after sunset, as the roads become quite dangerous with lots of animals or even people on the roads. It's also much more difficult to spot the potholes that are known as "car killers", either by blowing up your tires or even breaking an axle.

The camper was dropped off at the office, which was a nice surprise as it saved me the trip to the agency. The truck came fully equipped for off-road camping adventures. I got the rundown and was stunned at how comprehensive the gear list was. From well sorted kitchen equipment (with wine opener and vegetable peeler!) and two gas stoves, to comfortable chairs and a table, we also had two spare tires, air pressure gauges and even a mobile air compressor. A first aid kit was also supplied.

We would be spending the next eight days sleeping in a rooftop tent of our camper, which was my first encounter with foldable rooftop tents. I can now confidently say that I really like them!

Once the handover was completed, we packed some food from a nearby bistro to be ready to eat while underway, and hit the road. A four hour journey laid ahead of us.Read more