Day 153… Tuesday 22nd August
Two border crossings today. Set off for the Namibian/Botswana boarder crossing which has been in sight for the last 2 days opposite the river where our campsite was. There was only one immigration officer on duty dealing with everyone leaving and entering Namibia. Long queues were building up on both sides but luckily we were close to the front for those leaving Namibia. The entry/exit form for Namibia has got easier to fill in as this is the 4th form completed. Drove over a bridge into Botswana and had to dip our car and our feet into a solution to prevent foot and mouth disease. No visa needed for Botswana, just a passport stamp, carnet signed at customs and car registered in the country. Drove through Chobe national park and a couple of security check point gates with no problems. No animals to be seen in this part near the border road. A couple of hours drive through Botswana, arrived at the Botswana/Zambia border. A one-stop border crossing in a large new building. Reasonably clear signage and straight forward. Had a temperature check in a separate ‘heath’ building. Purchased third party insurance in another building to cover Greta for Zambia. Cash only but there was an ATM directly outside to get local currency out (Zambian Kwacha). The yellow card insurance to cover Greta for this eastern region (Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya) can only be purchased at the Livingstone office. Cash was also needed to pay the road tax toll ($20 US dollars which is also an acceptable currency here). Had an Interpol check in a separate building. The immigration officer advised us to go straight to the front of the road tax queue. There was a long queue of aggrieved lorry drivers as card payments were temporary suspended and only cash was acceptable adding to the problem There were loud grumbles as we were served straight away. A quiet 1 hour drive to Livingstone. A couple of slow moving lorries but no other traffic. Stayed at the Waterfront Lodge for a couple of days in a fixed tent in the garden. Beautiful views of the Zambezi river and sunset. Met up with a fellow traveller Ron Dicksen from Canada. Dicksen is spelt differently and no relation although he does have Scottish heritage like me. Ron had travelled down the west of coast Africa on his motorbike taking a similar route about 3 weeks behind and we shared our crazy adventures over a few beers. Such a nice chap with a very impressive beard!
Allen’s perspective…
I was expecting the Interpol check following comments from other people on iOverlander and thought it may involve a short wait whilst they check the database to see if we are criminals or if the car is stolen. Well… when we entered into the room there were two chaps looking very bored playing on their phones. One jumped up and took our carnet, folded over the relevant page, stamped and signed it and passed it back. Hooray, we passed Interpol!
Such a joke!