Livingstone to Katima Mulilo – Saturday, September 1st

I had been well forewarned that this was going to be a rough ride and, even though the distance was a short enough two hundred and thirty kilometres, it lived up to it’s reputation.

Leaving Livingstone I just said to my self that it was probably, or at least hopefully, going to be the last of the really rough roads. The end of today would take me into Namibia which has a reputation for being a bit more sophisticated in that department.

The first forty five minutes or so until the turn off for the Kazungula ferry into Botswana was fine. But soon afterwards potholes started to appear until they became so regular that it felt like I was riding through a giant pinball machine.

These would go on for ages until the road just disappeared into total dirt.

I don’t want to bore you with technical detail but it’s worth mentioning that this bike has various riding modes which are easy to switch between. The normal mode is obviously ROAD but whenever I hit rough or particularly soft sandy surface I switch over to ENDURO mode. This enhances the machine for off-road riding by allowing for some slip at the rear wheel thereby allowing the bike to drift slightly. The ABS tuning also adjusts although insofar as possible I try not to touch the brakes in these conditions. My preference is to let the throttle and gentle gear dropping control the pace. So anyway you get a lot more traction riding in this mode and thank you Mr. BMW for that one. I suspect that it has saved my bacon on several occasions.

It took about three hours to do one hundred kilometres before the road improved and I was at last able to enjoy the scenery.

I guess that being so close to the Zambezi makes this land more fertile than in other areas, in relative terms that is.

Soon I would be crossing this magnificent river by traversing a bridge that was built about fifteen years ago and which sweeps you up to the Namibian border post on the southern side.

Looking west up the river made me wonder exactly how further back is the source. It flows east from this point the whole way to the Indian Ocean.

So on to the last but one border crossing of this journey and once again it had all the hurly burly goings on that every other one had. I did get chatting with an interesting truck driver who was driving a load of copper from northern Zambia to the Namibian port of Walvis Bay. He was a pleasant chap and I sensed that he had been stuck at the border for some time and was happy to talk with anyone.

As I was leaving I did get called back by an irate army woman for not signing out of the controlled area. When she saw the photo of Kaylee on the tank she chastised me for only having one grandchild because she had ten. I congratulated her, signed her book and rode on into Katima Mulilo which was only a few minutes up the road.

After getting some Namibian dollars at the atm I checked in to the lodge where I was staying for the night and was mindful that I had a five hundred kilometre run the next day.

The evening finished off with this magnificent sunset over the Zambezi, and it is a memory that will stay etched on my mind long into the future…..