We had some latitude this day to drive and explore on our own - with the proviso that we arrived in Main Camp at the other, eastern, end of Hwange NP around 2pm to gather the group together again. We had a rough map of the tracks which intersected and criss-crossed everywhere. At times we were sure we knew exactly where we were - at others we were "temporarily unsure of our position". Still we knew we had to end up somewhere with a signpost at some stage, so wand...

Leaving Elephant Sands we hit the highway. A bitumen road it might be but the wildlife along the road was amazing. Elephants roam free in Botswana - there are no fences - and they line the road feeding, often small groups of males. We turned off the highway onto a dirt road again which took us to a small town called Pandamatenga, a little outpost with about 6 large Bars and not much else apart from this little-used border crossing. We checked out of Botswana i...

Unfortunately we had to change plans for the next day. We were to head south again into the salt pans again but a combination of factors prevented this. Mike and Linda had oil-seal problems and headed to Maun to get it fixed but the group was to carry on with our guide Dave. So, also leaving Chris until we see him again when we re-enter Botswana, we were to head straight for the town of Nata to refuel and buy a few supplies. On the way we detoured to the Baines' ...

We continued driving north (me in the safari truck again) leaving the Central Kalahari National Park. We hit the bitumen and headed into a small town called Rakops to refuel. We spotted a bakery and made a detour to buy freshly baked loaves, a wonderful change from the now very stale and crumbly bread we had purchased in Windhoek. Back on the tar for a short time then a turnoff down a dirt road led to a small river and a car ferry. The ferry would have fitted ...

A short trip down the bitumen with Chris leading and we turned off onto the dirt. At first the road was wide and quite smooth. Eventually it became sandier and sandier and the car laboured and strained through deeply rutted soft sand. With our tyre pressures down, no-one had any problems and fortunately no-one was embarrassingly bogged and had to be pulled out. We crossed the Great Kalahari Desert National Park, still ploughing through the sand for many kilome...