Botswana July 16, 2018

Getting our Safari vehicle checked out an loaded. This is a brand new Toyota Hilux with 16 km on the clock. Not available in the US but similar to the 4 Wheel Drive Toyota Tacoma but with a heavier suspension and a diesel engine. This vehicle was a trooper and put up with grinding through mile upon mile of deep sand, dirt and rough roads without a single problem. A great vehicle.

The vehicle is equipped with pull out drawers.

The left hand drawer has all the crockery, cutlery, pots and pans and a butane stove.

The right hand drawer has a cooler that will freeze everything to a solid block if you turn the control too cold.

This drawer includes all of your tools and a high lift jack in case you get stuck in the sand or mud.

There was also a an onboard water tank that held 40 liters of water with a tap at the rear bumper to get access to water.

Everything was well laid out and obviously the result of a lot of experience.

Everything looks good. Ready to roll.

Finally, after a battle to drop off the rental car as the Toyota with tents on the roof was too tall to get under the bridge to the rental return. So I had to get all the cars behind me to reverse to give me enough room to back up to turn into the short term parking. This was finally accomplished amid a cacophony of horn blowing but in the chaos I did not get a ticket from the ticket machine. Gerald backed up to see was going on, and then left to drop off the rental car forgetting it had all the groceries in the car. But, he finally showed up with a luggage cart pulled high with groceries.

However, with no ticket we couldn’t get out of the parking lot. So, once more we had to get the cars lined up behind us to back up to allow us to backup so that we could go to the parking office and get a ticket to get out.

A start to remember.

Finally we leave Johannesburg and Pretoria being and head for Groblersbrug and the Botswana border. A beautiful day for traveling.

Beautiful day with table top mountains against a blue sky.

In the middle of absolutely nowhere is the Biltong Castle.

The local game farmers have figured out they can get US and European hunters to come and shoot their game for a hefty fee and then they sell the meat as they always used to.

The game is processed into biltong and other cuts and sold here or sold in the super markets. Here you can get biltong from almost any type of game you choose

Fancy some crocodile steak, hippo meat or hippo sausages. Perhaps Kudu, Bushbuck or Cape Buffalo. It’s all here and for sale.

Arrived at Weltervreden guest house for the first night. A short drive from here to the Botswana border in the morning.

Gerald and I having a drink before dinner.

Our abode for the night.