TOYOTA CONNECT F
ive couples jumped into their Toyotas and headed out to the wilds of Botswana for a 21-day off-road adventure. Nothing out of the ordinary there –
until you talk to Brian Mallinson and discover that, at a ripe 70 years old, he was the second-youngest of the party. “We were 10 people, or five couples,
across five vehicles,” he says. “There was my wife Judy and I in our 2009 Toyota Prado, along with our friends Dennis and Hilary Haarhoff, Michael and Dianne Hofmeyr, Duncan and Clare Miller, and Bill and Liz Mansvelt.” This past April, they all hopped into their vehicles – two Toyota Prados, a Toyota Fortuner and two rented off-roaders – and set out to celebrate a half-century of friendship… and Dennis’s 80th
birthday. “We five couples have been friends for
50 years, since the wives were in college together,” says Brian. “The youngest of us is 70-and-a-half years old and there we were, embarking on a 21-day trip, with most of us being first-time off-road campers.” Sure, it sounds like a crazy idea. But – as the friends all found – crazy ideas are the key ingredient in an unforgettable adventure.
INTO THE WILD “Initially we’d discussed going to
Namibia, but some of us had been there before, so we decided on Botswana,” says Brian. “As it turned out, Dennis had been to Botswana about 20 times and knows it well, so he volunteered to organise the trip – and he did. He arranged where we were going, what we were doing, the reservations and everything.”
The three-week itinerary took in the
best of Botswana’s wild frontier, from Khama Rhino Sanctuary in the south through the commercial hub of Maun and into the Moremi Reserve. There the party stayed at Camp Xakanaxa (pronounced “Ka-ka-na-ka”) on the banks of the Khwai River, where the unique lagoon location offers a year- round Okavango Delta land and water experience. From Khwai they moved to Savute, in
a remote corner of Chobe National Park, and then north to the Linyati swampland on the Namibian border. They then spent three nights at Ihaha Camp on the banks of the Chobe River, where on entering the reserve they had the best game viewing day of the whole trip. Closing the loop, the party turned south to Baines’ Baobabs, a cluster of ancient baobab trees in the Nxai Pan National Park where they celebrated Dennis’s 80th
.
ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS “The game wasn’t as plentiful as I’d
envisaged,” says Brian. “I’d been to Botswana before, so I expected to see herds of zebra, buffalo, etc. But we didn’t. There’s been a huge amount of water in the delta area, so the bush is really high. The animals don’t have have to come down to where the water is, so they just roam around anywhere.” But that’s not to say the party didn’t
see animals at all. “We had the most wonderful sighting of about 1 000 buffalo,” Brian recalls. “We also saw herds of elephants and many sable antelope. In Savuti we had a great sighting of a giant eagle owl, perched in the tree right above our tent. That was beautiful!” Then there was the game they didn’t see… but still encountered. “One of the
things you’re told at Linyati is to go to bed at night and not leave your tent. There are a lot of wild animals around and none of the camps are fenced off at all. One night a lion came through our camp and though we didn’t see it, we did see its spoor down at the water’s edge.”
THE ROAD HOME Like any travelling party, Brian and his
companions found that the journey was just as memorable as the destinations. So while he can tell you all about the camp at Baines’ Baobabs, for example, he can also give you a thorough description of, say, the road from Khwai to Savuti (“very, very sandy, with a lot of gullies…”) or the tracks around Linyati (“one of the worst roads in Botswana!”). Generally, he says, the roads in the country were sandy, with regular water crossings. “We didn’t have any problems with the vehicles at all,” he says. “They were really fantastic. You just needed to know how to drive through the sand – and that’s something you learn very quickly!” Using two-way radios, common
sense and a sense of humour born of a lifetime of friendships, the travellers comfortably and happily completed their journey. And if you think they’re ready for retirement, you’re much mistaken. “We’re planning to do it again,” says Brian. “Next time we’ll either go to Namibia or to South Liwanga in Zambia. “Before we left on this trip, people
said: ‘What do you think you’re doing? You’re not spring chickens any more!’ But age doesn’t matter. If you’ve got reliable vehicles and you drive them properly, you can get through anything.”
10 FOR THE ROAD
A GROUP OF TOYOTA DRIVERS DISCOVERED THAT, WHEN IT COMES TO OFF-ROAD ADVENTURE, YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO START – AND ALWAYS TOO YOUNG TO RETIRE
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WORDS: MARK VAN DIJK. IMAGES: SUPPLIED
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