Gael back in Africa.

[Drumacoon Lad.]

These 2 oxen are yoked, perhaps being taken to plow. Behind, is a team of 4 oxen, also yoked. Clearly church has finished and there's work to be done.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

A big part of today was travelling through a national park. There were signs warning of what animals may cross the road. I'd seen elephant and antelope signs before but never this one, warning of cats. Now it doesn't look the most frightening cat in the world, but they do have frightening cats here and I was on my guard. In fact some of the stopping places were blocked off and there were no-stopping signs. This sign did indicate you could stop, but for me, it was a brief one and then away.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

Signs are all right but I kept looking for something more substantial, then I came across this, elephant dung, and not that old. No sign of the owner but he'd been here in the last day or so.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

One animal I did see, was this tortoise, crossing the road. I looped back and parked to shield him with the bike, till he successfully made it across.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

I was amused, that in the national park, close to the cat warning signs, the grass next to the road was a couple of meters high. I suppose it gives the predators a bit of an edge. My favourite road position in this area was right down the middle, and full throttle.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

I'm in Katima Mulilo about 75km from the Botswana border hoping to get a PCR test tomorrow and go to the border. If its delayed I may stay another night.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

Firstly a correction! I've been informed that the cat sign, is in fact the sign for Wild Dogs. So I didn't need to worry, at least not about cats!

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

Secondly, I'm still in Katima Mulilo. Not surprisingly, there are delays in getting the PCR results, despite being swabbed at 07:00. I've decided to wait here, instead of rushing to the border this evening.

The negative PCR result came through at 16:30, too late to get through the Botswana border in comfort, so glad I opted to stay. I'll now go to the border in the morning.

To pass the time since 7, I first had a long breakfast, watching the lady below set up her sweet and cigarette stall. She spent ages sweeping the sand around her table, before settling behind her stall.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

After breakfast, I went up to the Marriot Hotel which overlooks the Zambezi river. First I just sat in the garden, before the security guard suggested I should go to reception. I ordered a can of coke and resumed my seat.

There were some birds around but spotted this noisy fellow in one of the trees.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

Later this quiet fellow appeared and just as quickly disappeared.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

The one that got away, without a photo, was the otter I saw, twice appear briefly above surface of the Zambizi. Thanks to the Marriot for providing such a pleasant place to spend a couple of hours.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

Poor WiFi here, so brief summary. I'm in Kasane, Botswana. Will be here for a few days. Got some bike issues, but safely at an excellent B&B. Parts on their way from Gaborone. Have seen elephants, warthogs, a sleeping hippo, and a wonderful sunset over the Chobe river today. It's not been dull. More when WiFi improves.

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[Jockser]

Beautiful pictures
Hope the bike problems aren't major

 

[Drumacoon Lad.]

Beautiful pictures
Hope the bike problems aren't major

Thanks Jockser. The bike problems are a shredded tube. I'm waiting for a heavy duty one to arrive in the morning and then we should be good to go. More later with a fuller update...

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

Well a calmer day today. Yesterday I got through the border easily and on into Botswana. Soon after the border the road enters a national park. There were loads of elephant droppings on the road but no sight of an elephant. I continued at a moderate pace, keeping an eye out, but no sightings. Coming into Kasane I found the Old House B&B and parked up. I've stayed here a few times before. I noticed droppings in the carpark and asked if they'd had an elephant visiting, the answer was no, but a hippo. That morning they found a hippo in the carpark who left peacefully.

Because of that incident they later advised me to move the bike inside the security gate in case it came back. When I went to move it, I noticed the puncture. I got my electric pump out to inflate the tyre to take it to a tyre fitter but it would not inflate. (I've thought about the sequence of events again and I believe I may have moved the bike a little to get access to the tyre valve. It may be this is when the tube damage occurred.) In desperation I tried the inflation foam but that seeped out between tyre and rim. The tube was clearly in a bad state. I can only assume that either in maneuvering the bike to park, or moving it to get at the valve, the tube got damadged. The wheel is still on the bike so we'll know more tomorrow when the tubes arrive. Clearly I'm regretting not having a spare tube but I will have, from tomorrow.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

The search then started for a tube. One of the wildlife rangers based here, took me for a tour of motor parts shops and tyre suppliers. No one had a tube. In parallel the owner of the old house was contacting the 8 bikers in the Kasane area, to see if one of them had a spare and I was waiting for news. I had to assume the answer would be no, so what options did I have.

My first thought was Tommy in Windhoek but that was in Namibia and maybe not easy to ship across the border. The next option was Francistown, 500km away. Kasane is remote. No bike shop in Francistown but I knew there was one in Gaborone, the capital. I'd been in touch with a French guy who bought a bike like mine and he'd bought it in Gabarone.

With a search on Google maps, I found the Yamaha dealer. As I didn't have a local SIM yet, the B&B called them and I spoke to the guy, Nick, the parts manager. I summarised my position and he explained he would be able to ship the heavy duty tubes overnight by courior, once he had proof of payment, but the courior had left for the day, so it would leave tomorrow. With some help from the locals I managed to get the payment to him by this morning and he confirmed it had arrived and the courior picked up the tubes and hopefully they are on their way.

In addition one of the local bikers is a mechanic and although I have the tyre leavers etc, he will help me fit the tube.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

OK, not many pictures you say, well the bike tube issue wasn't very photogenic.

I mentioned various animals that can be seen here and this is the warning sign, on entering garden which leads down to the Chobe river. Clearly their hippos around and last time, while here with Simon and Kit, we saw a croc swimming by in the river.

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[Deise]

shredded tube

Inconvenient but mechanical would possibly be worse. Enjoying trip and photos

 

[Drumacoon Lad.]

The view of the Chobe river from the bottom of the garden, with Namibia on the other side. This was the view for the sunset yesterday.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

While buying some bottled water I saw an aisle of large flower bags and it reminded me I'm not in a UK supermarket. Talking to the owner, who moved here in the 1970s, Kasane did not then have a shop. He had to drive to Francistown in a 4X4 to stock up.

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