My car drives up the ramp with a clank and a young attendant directs me to a parking spot. Minutes later, the ferry’s diesel engines roar with extra oomph and we pull away from the bank. Soon we’re taking a diagonal course across the Okavango River. It’s a wide expanse of water – no wonder the locals here in Mohembo and nearby Shakawe talk about going “overseas” when you take the ferry from the western side to the eastern side.
The eastern side is very different to the western side. From Mohembo, the Okavango floodplain widens, forming the so-called Okavango Panhandle, which eventually spreads out into the vast Okavango Delta from Seronga southwards.
There’s a tar road on the western side of the Panhandle (albeit a decrepit one), but the eastern side has always been geographically cut off from major infrastructure. The people who live in the small villages on that side have struggled to access schools, shops and better-equipped medical facilities that a town like Shakawe on the western side offers.
Sitting on the stoep at Jumbo Junction gives you a beautiful view over this ephemeral waterway…
For a long time, you could only cross the river by boat, or on the government ferry, which often broke down. In 2022, that all changed – a road bridge was finally completed across the Okavango here at Mohembo. (Toast travelled there in May; the bridge was opened to traffic on 24 June. – Ed.)
As the ferry chugs across the water, covering the 750m downriver journey to the other side, I get out of my car to admire the 1,2km-long bridge. This type of structure is called a cable-stayed bridge and the pylons that hold up the cables look like elephant tusks. It’s quite beautiful, even if the massive structure looks out of place in this rural landscape.
The ferry starts to slow down
