A few notes - Trip to Botswana ,Namibia and RSA KTP

[Joao Felizardo]

Dear All

We have completed a trip from the 24th July to 16 the August 2025 from the  RSA to Botswana ,Namibia and the RSA Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park .

Herein a  brief summary of some notes and comments that we have considered important or highlights from the trip:

1-Kroonstad b and b - good with safe ample parking and accommodating for freezer needs.

2-Valwater  b and b -  functional and accommodating for our freezer needs ; town is run down with township engolfing it now but big stores available.

3- Botswana 

Francistown Woodlands cottage - still very good standard and maintenance visible ; accommodating 220 v for our freezer .

No meat checks at borders of any kind ; booms opened and attendants half a sleep or simply not on sight;

Fine of P1000 for partially crossed very faded continuous line on tar road ; two agents (male and female on cell phone calls and humhumming trying to' talk' ... told them to get the pos and get the docs filled!

Road from Francistown to Nata - very very very dangerous ; edges broken and horrendous pot holes with heavy trucks coming from opposite direction ; building a new road .

Elephant Sands - full of people; very functional accepted rands for payment of drinks ; people waiting for ellies to come to drink but we saw them from the access road ; WiFi at pub.

Seniaty camp - run down in places lack of maintenance; but very good game viewing  near the camp ( ellies ;hyena ; impala ; giraffe ; kudu .....; WiFi at pub.

Chobe river lodge - completely renovated ; expensive beer ,wifi at pub area.

4 -Namibia

Busy Katima Mulilo; good Shoprite store; good river side b and b ; very clean and accommodating.

Travel across Caprivi ( now Zambezi region) we could not avoid commenting on the cleanliness and orderly arrangements of the great majority of rural villages and generally of the lay bye spots along the road in clear contrast of the situation in SA eg  transkei.

Mukolo lodge- kwando  river :good accomodation ; excellent boat ride and guide  for fishing ,photography of game ,river and sunset ! Watch out for pub drink bill( which comes from a hand written book ) and price of bundles of wood !

Visit to Bwabwata NP - very good ; areas covered - fort dopies; nambwa  camp; long lagoon and horse shoe ( good photos of croc and general plains game)( fortunately no close encounters with ellies which facilitated this time the travelling and moving between the areas); very deep sand in areas ( used 1.6 bar on BFG's)

Shimeto lodge -Divundu -kavango river - great camp site ; very good and much improved lodge complex and accomodation ; good spacious  fishing boat and guide!; sobering moments on visit to ruins of batallian 32 quarters, pica pau/Breytenbach  villa and cemetery ( most crosses now destroyed or trumpled by the ellies).

Trip to Windhoek - long 916 Kms ;no problem at all with red line crossing for meat in freezer ( mostly precooked );dinner at Joe's beer house excellent ! Pub full of German tourists but French and Italian visitors nearby our table ; excellent service from the restaurant lady manager !

5-RSA

Trip to Mata Mata without issues but at border post with KTP SA side police official asking for dairy products red meat and wood ???!!! We patiently explained talked and moved to our camp site.

Mata Mata camp booked but not fully booked; shop and ablutions clean and very functional ; camp better organised with campsites numbered  ;great sightings of gemsbok ;Blues ; springbok and lion.

Tweerivirien camp - always busy and noisier ; excellent traditional food at restaurant 

Eg Kalahari meaty burger and monster  vetcook with mince ; good game viewing and highlight of the visit - male Kalahari adult lion .

Trip to the Karoo friends farm and back to the eastern Cape - good with no incidents other than the disgusting visuals of uncollected trash and rubbish of plastic , bottles , broken glass etc at the entrance of towns like steynsburg ; molteno and queenstown .

Total distance travelled 6642 Kms.

If anyone requires more detailed info in any way kindly contact me.

Thanks and regards .

Joao Felizardo 

Eastern Cape

[Nico Roets]

Nice!

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Regards,
Nico Roets.

[Uli]

Thanks for the report, Joao. Very helpful!

Uli

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[Manfred Bollner]

A few comments. Though SWAPO is still very questionable, at least they have not let the country go down like the ANC. A big factor is the private sector and the farmers, which are not so much harassed as in SA. One must hope, that is stays like this. And also one must hope for Botswana, which has a major government budget crisis, due to the diamond trade down 50%.

[Joao Felizardo]

Hi Manfred ! We had a very good holiday although we thought generally more expensive both botswana and Namibia;  but no problems whatsoever with borders and members of the public( but much longer wait at ngoma due to visas requirements for eg Germans and Dutch .) ;just the traffic cops in Botswana.... (like last year in pandamatenga ) and the road condition between franscistown and nata which is a major risk imo.

Rgds 

Joao

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[Manfred Bollner]

Hi Joao,

You mention the Botswana traffic cops. This is my concern. With the Gov tightening the belt, they might be even more encouraged to help themselves. In 30 years as an overseas tourist in southern Africa the only problems I had with cops were traffic cops in Botswana.