Namibia to Botswana along the Caprivi Strip: Look Out For Elephants (& Police Checks)

Departed Ngepi Camp at around 8am and headed along the Caprivi Strip back to Botswana. The drive the whole way to Botswana was along the one highway, on a road on very good condition. In comparison to Botswana, there is a concerted effort to fix up potholes on the road, and every 10km or so there is a bench and bin on the side of the road for you to pull over. We can only say good things about the quality of Namibian roads.

The highway went through a National Park, and there were several signs warning you about elephants, but no animals, except for cows and goats, were to be seen. There was a bit traffic, and quite a few tourists on the road. As we were passing by a small town however there was a small incident. In general a lot of the countries in southern Africa tend to have a lot of police roadblocks. I haven’t had many issues with these except a few times in Mozambique where I got asked for my passport. However because I’ve been using public transport I haven’t had to think much about them. My dad accidentally drove past one as we were on the Caprivi Strip however, and nearly got booked for ignoring a police order. To be fair there had been no one actually there until a guy came running out. The only reason he didn’t have to pay a fine though is because we didn’t have the $1000N/1000rand fine on us. The police officer let him go though when we showed that we only had about $100N on us (I was half expecting him to take the $100N but we got to keep it).

After that incident, we made one stop for fuel at a major town, and then another for a lunch break later on. By early afternoon we were pulling into the Namibian immigration.

Having done quite a few overland border crossings the past few months I like to think I know what we are doing, the car making things a bit more difficult but not hugely so. Stamping out of Namibia was easy enough, and we just managed to miss a large group of German tourists get off a big truck, before driving in the wrong direction to the gate out of Namibia. After a bit of difficulty at the gate, where we had to sign the car out of Namibia (my dad had no clue what was going on or what the lady was telling him), we got out of Namibia and drove over the bridge to Botswana. In Bots we had to pay 40pula ($5aud) to bring the car in, before throwing out all animal products from the car (this was only the milk my dad had however, hashtag vegan). As we left we had to disinfect our shoes, as well as the car tyres. You had to step into a small tray for a few seconds and then step out – my dad, despite all the police officers telling him not to, thought it meant dumping his shoes in the bucket next to it and giving them a good wash! It was both embarrassing and hilarious at the same time.

We got out of there quickly and soon enough we were driving through Chobe National Park to get to Kasane, where we are staying for the next two nights.