Our longest daily drive yet - 800+km

We had a relatively strict schedule ahead of us. We were to meet the relocation driver of our truck in Katima Mulilo, the easternmost town of Namibia, on Saturday around noon. Today was Friday and we still had over 1000km to go. We had to move a solid distance in order to make it for our meeting point in time.

To do that we had to cross through the Caprivi Strip, a thin strip of national park that bordered Angola in the North and Botswana in the South. When we left the farm in the morning, we took the conscious decision to take the shorter but more direct route through various dirt and gravel roads, instead of opting for tar roads going through towns. It was a great drive and we spotted all kinds of great animals along the way. However, it also meant that we were avoiding civilization.

At some point we reached a random police checkpoint and asked where the closest gas station was, as we were running quite low on diesel considering the remoteness of our location. The answer: 130km down the road in Rundu. Our displayed range for the remaining diesel in the truck: 131km 😂 I decided that I was up for the challenge 😎 This gave me a good opportunity to put my European gas saving driving tips to the test.

It was quite a struggle against the automatic transmission that never wanted to shift up when I wanted it to and instead preferred to redline during acceleration. But I got a hang of it eventually, and even though the manufacturer states a use of 12L/100km, I managed to get us down to an average of 10.1L/100km across the entire trip. Because of this, we reached the next gas station with 40km left of our calculated range.

In the middle part of our journey we passed along a lenghty straight road that had a lot of villages spread around it. Most were consisting of little plots that were fenced in with wooden fencing, with sheet metal shacks build on the plot. The further we got, the more moist the ground, and the sheet metal started to gradually disappear and give way to clay huts.

In the latter part of the journey we crossed through the Caprivi strip, which had been hyped up to us by a friend who said its an amazing spot to pass through. Well, I didn't find it super exciting. It was a straight road, no stopping allowed, and all we saw was a single lonely elephant.

For our last night in the camper, I had looked at a riverside camping spot right at the end of the Caprivi strip. It was our last night in nature, and it seemed like we would actually arrive around 30min before sunset. The road, or rather track to the campground, was extremely challenging to drive, after 100m down the track we already had to engage 4WD. It was extremely muddy, the puddles were very deep, and in general the track was quite overgrown. We were doubtful if we would actually find this campsite at the end of the track.

Lo and behold, way after the road had stopped on our GPS, we actually did stumble across the promised campsite. However, it turned out that there were in some sort of wet season hibernation mode. No internet access, no running water, no food, no nothing. Since we had hoped for a nice dinner for our last night, we asked for a recommendation of a nearby campsite or lodge that also offered some sort of food. We were sent to another spot around 30min away. We would arrive just after sunset.

No time to lose, and off we went. This time Anne was driving back the challenging track - she also wanted to have fun ☺️ At the road I took over again and sped away according to the directions we were given. Tough luck... We could not find the spot we were given. The GPS was showing roads where there were no roads, the locals had no idea what we talking about, and darkness had fallen. Very quickly it became pitch black.

We backtracked to the closest village and stopped in the gas station to ask for a spot where we could camp tonight. They recommended a guest house further down the road. We arrived there, and were offered to camp in the parking lot since neither of us had imagined staying in an ugly parking lot next to a pile of gravel on the last night of our nature camping experience, we decided something drastic. By now in complete darkness, we would go back the challenging track and go to a campground there. Either the same one we had rejected previously, or another one we saw a sign for at a fork in the road, and which seemed a bit closer if our maps were anything to go by.

So, back on the track, floodlights on, four wheel drive, making our way forwards. We found the camp we were aiming for, and while the lights were on, it appeared deserted. We backtracked a little bit and took another side track, and were suddenly in the middle of the staff camp, where we also found the receptionist. They were quoting us a very high price, which not only was the most expensive campsite price we had been quoted for across the entire country, but we had also almost run out of cash. It was our last day and we didn't plan on taking cash across the border. We told him our budget, and after a lot of back and forth they finally agreed to let us stay at the price we offered.

To be fair, there wasn't much else they could have done. We were in the middle of elephant and hippo territory, in the middle of the night. It was dangerous to drive now. When we got to the campsite, exhausted after over nine hours of driving, we were delighted to see that it was the most comfortable campsite we had stayed at throughout the trip. We had a large lapa (reed roof structure) that housed our kitchen and power plugs, and a private jungle shower and toilet.

We had some porridge for dinner, seeing how here they also didn't have any food on offer here, but made the most of what we had left. Wow, what an eventful day.Læs mere