Day 07: Zeldas Guest Farm (Namibia) – CKGR Xade (Botswana)

Wow, that night was chilly. The positive side is, we are awake early.

The border to Botswana (Mamuno Border Post) is well organized, a preliminary health check (Counter No. 1) and then the containers for immigration and customs of Namibia, Botswana immigration and customs and last but not least insurance (valid until the end of the year), tax (valid for one year), road tax (single transit). The later all for 470 Pula, around 32 euros.

We don't see any of the much-vaunted food controls. So we could have taken fresh vegetables and fruit with us.

We can't change money here (we get Pula a few kilometers further away at the ATM, which is on iOverlander) and there are no SIM card providers either. For that we have to accept the small detour to Ganzhi. We also use the stop to fill up the tank again. From Ganzhi we drive back a bit and then onto the track to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (Xade Gate). It felt like we hadn't been on a track for a long time. And certainly not deep sand. It's a bit tough to drive and pushes the fuel consumption up to 20 liters.

The CKGR greets us in a friendly manner. We see: three elephants, oryxes, wild beasts, springboks, their little companions, the klipspringers, kudus, a jackal. And we actually make it to the camp just in time. Nevertheless: the reception is deserted and there are no signposts for camping sites. So we ask the football players, get an explanation, each of us understand something different :-). Therefore we have to ask again and are kindly accompanied to a place outside the gate (Xade C01) – it's actually like wild camping, no facilities.

It's getting dark quickly and so the we get food according to the emergency plan: two Japanese noodle soups with Windhoek Zero beer, a few biscuits with tea.

We are curious to see if and what sneaks past here during the night – the elephant droppings are at least not far away…