We were on the road for 134 days and drove 17,607 kms through 8 countries and 15 national parks
The three of us first met in Tanzania in 2007, when Colin was running a safari lodge, I was managing the Serengeti Cheetah Project and Andromeda was still a spotter car for the BBC. Over the following years we went on a number of safaris together in East Africa and loved life on the road, but when COVID happened we decided to resettle in Glasgow, taking with us a dream to explore further south.
Last year we decided to fullfil that wish to coddiwomple across southern Africa, using it also as a fact-finding mission which might benefit our tour operating business, Intent on Safari.
In all, we were on the road for 134 days and drove 17,607 kilometres through eight countries. Our passion for wildlife and conservation meant we spent time in 15 national parks, including big-name parks like South Luangwa, Etosha and Mana Pools as well as less-known secrets such as Liwonde, Majete and Matusadona.
We loved every minute, to the point that we will certainly go again one day. And to anyone undecided about the idea, we say: pack a bag and go for it!
This trip taught us to celebrate that we all want different things in life — if we all enjoyed the same things, imagine how crowded and competitive life would be. Being the safari-goers that we are, we cherished time in the bush by ourselves — we would be more than happy to sacrifice sightings of loads of wildlife for the exclusivity of having no other people around.
It should be noted that timing had a large influence on our experience. Our opinions are of course based on a small window of time, and we are by no means ‘experts’ on southern Africa. The time of year we visited each country also mattered — had we gone to Malawi first and ended in a rainy Zambia, our account might read differently.
Our impressions were further moulded by the people we met along the way. Our stay in Lusaka, for example, had us cross paths with lots of expats who were optimistic about Zambia, their work and the future, so it's no surprise that our experience was very positive. In Zimbabwe and Malawi, we got chatting to locals who had faced hard times, were worried about their futures and, in some cases, had given up hoping for change. This undoubtedly influenced our feelings.
*Coddiwomple {verb}: to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination {Urban dictionary}
The travel experience
What we learned about life on the road
BORDER CROSSINGS AND OFFICIALDOM
Colin was born in Kenya and has lived in East Africa most of his life. His instinctive thought when we arrived at a border was terror! Having said that, only one border crossing truly tested our patience and this was partly because we arrived later than is ideal, at around 11am. What followed was a combination of a three-hour lunch break, only one man on duty, one computer in the office (system down), a gazillion touts, a random fistfight between two drunks in the customs office and potentially being part of a money exchange scam. (Thankfully the latter was not the case.)
Of the nine border crossings we did, this scenario was the exception not the rule.
We learned that no two borders are the same — it can take six hours or six minutes. In Botswana it went so fast we were convinced we had missed a step or two! Officials can ask to see all your paperwork, or you can slide through without even having had your passport stamped.
Our tips? Get there early — we got to most around 7am. Being patient, kind and flexible really helps; being frustrated and grumpy will get you nowhere. One of us always stayed with the car, even if this meant baking in the sweltering heat. And be wary of touts. Our plan was to send them all off, and then use the last man standing, offering him a
