Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

So just completed the bookings for our Botswana trip.

Myself in the Storm Trooper towing the xplorer and my folks in their prado.

I work in Otjiwarongo so will drive up from Cape Town alone in Feb with the rig and then the family fly up to meet me and off we go from Otjiwarongo in April. I will hopefully fit in a solo trip over van Zyls in between

Anyway. Otjiwarongo to Caprivi Ngepi Camp for 2 nights. Then to Chobe Safari Lodge Kasane for a night. Looking at it Ngoma border is best route? I was looking at sneaking a day trip to Victoria falls on the Zim side but time doesn't allow. We will do that as another trip at a later date.
Kasane to Savuti for 2 nights
Savuti to Dijara Camp for 2 nights
Maun Island Safari Lodge for 1 night.
Then the adventure begins. Maun to Kubu Island for 2 nights. This is where the question marks comes in and it revolves around fuel. Most direct is Maun Gweta Kubu and then retrace. Our next stop is Kumanga Camp. By the time we will get back to Maun we will have done close to 1000km without a fuel stop and towing the Xplorer I would need close to 300l if the going gets tough not counting excursions. So given that Gweta to Kubu would be risky in April we were thinking of going via Mata and taking the more reliable route to Kubu. Any wisdom on that front? That means that I would barely have to touch my jerry cans by refueling in Mata.
Then 2 nights in Kumanga Makgadigadi Pans.
After that it is basically long haul back to Windhoek via Ghanzi.

Looking at the roads I have calculated everything based on a worst case senario offroad of 2km/l.

So 135l under the floor and 60l in Jerry cans.

There is a garage at Gweta.

There is also a much better road from Kubu directly north to the tar road between Nata and Gweta. This road runs on top of a ridge almost all the way, and the only risk of getting stuck is between the vet fence and Kubu, whereas the direct route runs across pans for a large distance.

Peter Connan wrote:There is a garage at Gweta.

There is also a much better road from Kubu directly north to the tar road between Nata and Gweta. This road runs on top of a ridge almost all the way, and the only risk of getting stuck is between the vet fence and Kubu, whereas the direct route runs across pans for a large distance.

That is the route we plan to take. You turn off between 15km and 30km west of Nata. If so that is the recommended route I found as well.

Why Ngepi? one night less there will give you a day extra for Vic Falls.
[MAHANGU Lodge is 10 times better venue than Ngepi AND cost less, .. but just asking. I took Dwergie to Ngepi and she nearly divorced us :-) ]

I will take 80l in Jerry cans.

I used 4 Jerry cans of fuel from Maun - Moremi - Khwai - Savuti - Kasane . Took 6 for safety (Given that I did a lot of driving around in the parks including Moremi)

Groete

JJoubert wrote:I will take 80l in Jerry cans.

I used 4 Jerry cans of fuel from Maun - Moremi - Khwai - Savuti - Kasane . Took 6 for safety (Given that I did a lot of driving around in the parks including Moremi)

Groete

Were you towing?

Kagiso II wrote:Why Ngepi? one night less there will give you a day extra for Vic Falls.
[MAHANGU Lodge is 10 times better venue than Ngepi AND cost less, .. but just asking. I took Dwergie to Ngepi and she nearly divorced us :-) ]

There are several reasons... Otjiwarongo to Vic falls is a 2 day trip anyway. We will be camping and the folks in the lodge he needed somewhere with camping and rooms.

biggles wrote:

Kagiso II wrote:Why Ngepi? one night less there will give you a day extra for Vic Falls.
[MAHANGU Lodge is 10 times better venue than Ngepi AND cost less, .. but just asking. I took Dwergie to Ngepi and she nearly divorced us :-) ]

There are several reasons... Otjiwarongo to Vic falls is a 2 day trip anyway. We will be camping and the folks in the lodge he needed somewhere with camping and rooms.

I get that .. and that is exactly what Mahangu offers as well -- just in a different league in terms of quality. Again, just saying. Your trip. Your call.

http://www.info-namibia.com/accommodati ... fari-lodge

Kagiso II wrote:

biggles wrote:

Kagiso II wrote:Why Ngepi? one night less there will give you a day extra for Vic Falls.
[MAHANGU Lodge is 10 times better venue than Ngepi AND cost less, .. but just asking. I took Dwergie to Ngepi and she nearly divorced us :-) ]

There are several reasons... Otjiwarongo to Vic falls is a 2 day trip anyway. We will be camping and the folks in the lodge he needed somewhere with camping and rooms.

I get that .. and that is exactly what Mahangu offers as well -- just in a different league in terms of quality. Again, just saying. Your trip. Your call.

http://www.info-namibia.com/accommodati ... fari-lodge

Oh yes and one of the major reasons was we did not know about it when we made the booking I am checking with the missus to see if we have paid and confirmed yet.

biggles wrote:

JJoubert wrote:I will take 80l in Jerry cans.

I used 4 Jerry cans of fuel from Maun - Moremi - Khwai - Savuti - Kasane . Took 6 for safety (Given that I did a lot of driving around in the parks including Moremi)

Groete

Were you towing?

Not towing, but fully loaded. My Patrol was giving below 3km/l in the sand.

I must be honest I can't remember where the fuel gauge was when I arrived in Kasane.

The 6 Jerry was probably an overkill, but nothing worse than checking the fuel gauge the whole time.

Groete,