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The Caprivi was our last jaunt in Namibia. It is a narrow
corridor which runs between Zambia in the North and Botswana
in the South. The area has incredible potential for agriculture
(many major rivers flow through the area) and export industry
(from Caprivi there are border crossings to Zambia, Botswana
and Zambia). Unfortunately though, the entire area is very
underdeveloped. We didn't see any organised commercial farming,
little to no industry, and living standards had changed to
mud and thatched huts.
Over the last few years there have been spates of separatist
outbreaks, which may account for some of the underdevelopment.
The Caprivians consider themselves different and apart from
the rest of Namibians. Also, the president of Namibia is an
Ovambo, the major tribe in Northern Namibia. So, most of the
development in Namibia is - strangely enough - occurring in
the North.
Our first day into the Caprivi we drove the single longest
distance in one day - a staggering 508km. The landscape changes
dramatically. Tsumeb consisted of scrub/savanna type country
with scattered trees. The Caprivi was almost tropical (even
in the dry season, in the middle of a drought) with large
green trees everywhere. There were an abundance of African
and Rhodesian teak trees which are apparently harvested on
a sustainable basis for furniture wood. The Caprivi is a farmers
dream come true, and totally underutilized.
All along the roads going through the Caprivi were billboards
extolling virtuous passing drivers to report bush fires. All
through the Caprivi there was evidence of bush fires. One
such fire came uncomfortably close to Nyathi. She had to tuck
her tail in and scoot as fast as she could out of there. At
a police checkpoint we dutifully reported the fires. A blank
look. "Is anyone going to check the fires out?".
"I don't know, maybe...". Another lesson in the
difference between intent and implementation.
The first night we spent at the Poppa Falls campsite. Poppa
Falls is on the Kavango River, which has the clearest water
of any African river either of us have seen. The campsite
was great, but the presence of guards armed with automatic
weapons was alittle unnerving.
The next day we drove through the fire damaged Caprivi Game
Park to a little community run campsite called Kubunyana (meaning
little hippo). This was probably the best campsite we had
stayed in to date. In contrast to the security and guards
at Poppa Falls, here we were once again in splendid isolation.
All the money from the campsite go to the local community
who - from what we could gather - seem to spend it on big
parties. Interesting.
The next morning we drove to Katima Mulilo where we intended
to cross over into Zambia. Fortunately we ran into a local
character who new the area. His advice was that the road on
the Zambian side was absolutely terrible and we'd be better
to go down into Botswana then up into Zambia at Kasangula.
Fortunately, our mode of travel allows for last minute changes
of plans. So instead of entering Zambia that day, we ended
up staying at a dodgy campsite in Kasane - Botswana. The campsite
was a favorite with the overlanders - we've made mental notes
to avoid all places habitually inhabited by the Overlanders.
Picture 4 trucks each with 20 passengers - all looking for
a party but sticking very much to their little group. Doesn't
make for a good nights sleep. Fortunately the overlanders
follow a very narrow route up and down from Capetown to Nairobi,
so we should be able to avoid them most of the way.
At 2pm in this dodgy Botswanan campsite (to any other travelers
- make a mental note to avoid Thebe Campsite in Kasane) with
the music from the bar still blaring, Rob managed to come
down with a severe of food poisoning. He managed to evict
- in all manners available to man - every morsel of food ingested
in the past week, in a 2 hour period (Thanks you Sandy Gush
for our extensive medical aid kit). Fun and games...
The next morning we gratefully left the campsite and took
the ferry across the river into Zambia.
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