CAPRIVI TRIP REPORT

The Hero’s Day long weekend on 26 August 2005 provided us with a precious few days to pack our BMW’s (a R80GS, R100GS & R1150GS) and to escape to the Caprivi Region in Namibia.  This was going to be a camping trip without a backup vehicle meaning that we had to carry all our equipment and luggage on the BMW’s.  A few modifications were made to the BMW’s by Okkie (our technical guy) in order to ensure that the BMW’s were ready and equipped to carry the load.  Several late nights of planning, preparation and packing were spent in the final days prior to our departure on the morning of 25 August 2005.      

While the rest of Tsumeb prepared to go to work on the last working day before to the long weekend, we fired up our BMW’s and greeted our families and our biker friend Pieter (who couldn’t join us on this trip due to unforeseen circumstances).  As we rolled out of town with our BMW’s looking as if we were leaving for a Trans Continental journey we were greeted by several envious individuals.  The open road beckoned and we were eager to let the BMW’s loose and take us away on a few days of tranquillity in the Caprivi.

The everyday stress and worries were starting to subside as the white lines on the road disappeared under our front wheels.  We were cruising at a comfortable speed and enjoying life as it is suppose to be, on the open road and in touch with the beauty of Namibia on your BMW.  Very soon hunger got the better of us and we decided to pull over at Roy’s Rest Camp for a hearty Namibian breakfast.

“Pulling over for breakfast at Roy’s Rest Camp”

After a rejuvenating breakfast we took on the last stretch to Rundu where we would we spending the night at Kaisosi River Lodge en route to the Caprivi.  A giant tree 40 kilometres before Rundu provided us with the ideal location to pull over and refuel the R80GS from our specially fitted jerry cans.

Refuelling the R80GS under a giant tree”

We arrived at Kaisosi River Lodge at around 14h30 and had a few ice cold draughts while enjoying the tranquillity of the Kavango River before we made camp at the excellent camping facilities available at Kaisosi River Lodge. By 19h00 we were ready for dinner and we headed for the restaurant adjacent to the Kavango River.  We were just about to order when our friend Pieter surprised us by walking into the restaurant, he just could not resist the temptation to join us on the trip and decided in the course of the morning to get into his Land Cruiser and chase after us.  Needless to say we had a most enjoyable evening and retired to bed rather late.

“Camping at Kaisosi River Lodge”

By sunrise we were enjoying our first coffee while breaking up camp.  After a scrumptious breakfast prepared by our host Herman, we departed for the Andara Mission watermill (one of the “places of interest” on our map of Namibia).  We arrived at the watermill by noon by which time the early summer heat and warm riding gear allowed for frustration to creep in.  To make matters worse we still had to walk quite a distance before we could actually see the watermill.  To our disappointment the watermill was in such a state of neglect that we could barely see it between the overgrown bushes.  Eager to reach our final destination we mounted our BMW’s and headed for Ngepi Camp at the brink of the Caprivi Strip were we would be spending the next 2 nights.  Our right turn at Divundu for the last 25 kilometres to Ngepi Camp afforded us the amazing opportunity of riding parallel with the river, witnessing the mighty Okavango River in its full glory.  The many cosy little traditional villages on the banks of the river created a sense of paradise.  Soon after we passed the Popa Falls we left the tar road for a decent gravel road where after a few kilometres a white “makorro” (hollowed trees used as canoes by the locals) signalled the turn-off to Ngepi Camp.  The access road to Ngepi Camp proved to be our biggest challenge of the day, a narrow 4 kilometre winding road with many patches of thick sand.  We negotiated the thick sand with much effort but after reaching the halfway mark to Ngepi Camp Philip decided to pull over and deflated our tyres in order to reduce the risk of falling in the thick with the heavily loaded bikes.  Deflating the tyres turned out to be a brilliant decision by Philip since we encountered even thicker sand the closer we got to Ngepi Camp.  We reached Ngepi Camp without anyone taking a tumble and enjoyed a well deserved beer before we made camp. 

Ngepi Camp seemed like a paradise island locked away from the rest of the world with its lush trees and massive palm trees sheltering it away from our normal everyday existence.  With “the world’s first croc & hippo diving cage”, “a view with a toilet”, “the king’s thrown” and many other interesting ablution facilities Ngepi Camp is definitely something extraordinary.  

“Bikes in paradise – Ngepi Camp”

After taking a plunge in “the world’s first croc & hippo diving cage” we headed back to our camp and lit a fire to enjoy a pleasant evening under the African sky in the company of good old friends.  The next morning we were up by sunrise to prepare for an excursion to the nearby Mahango Game Reserve.  The Mahango Game Reserve is one of the few game reserves where you are allowed to leave your vehicle which provided us with the ideal opportunity to prepare a nice “skottelskaar” breakfast at one of the picnic spots overlooking the Okavango River.  We saw plenty of game but by noon it was getting very hot and we decided to return to our camp where we enjoyed a few cold ones at the bar before we went on a sunset boat cruise.  Our guide navigated the boat successfully through several hippos while introducing us to a wide variety of bird species.  Back at the camp it was getting time for dinner and Pieter prepared one of his specialities, leg of lamb in a black pot. 

We had 500 kilometres to travel back home and had to be up at 05h00 the next morning in order to leave by sunrise.  It was a great reward for getting up early when the scarlet red sun appeared from the waters of the Okavango as we were departing.  We were making up good time and pulled over for breakfast at the Omashare River Lodge in Rundu.  We completed the final 300 kilometres from Rundu to Tsumeb in good time and without any incident and arrived safely back home in Tsumeb by 14h00.  The BMW lifestyle leaving us with yet another memorable and rewarding experience.