We're almost done with the logistics, here is what we've got.
On the 11th July I am doing the Timbi presentation to a fairly big audience in Johannesburg, so will pack the Landy on the night of 10th July and leave White River at about 05:00 arriving in Joburg at 09:00. Most of the equipment is mine, so the Landy is going to be loaded to the gills and very heavy. After the presentation I will stay at a mates place, he will be joining us on the trip. We'll offload everything out of the Landy that evening.
On Friday morning 12th some of the gang arrive on flights from Cape Town and Durban with the remaining people living in Joburg. I will go and pick up the guys from OR Tambo airport and we'll all meet at my mates place (Andries) to get sorted. Some of the guys still need to buy some equipment so we will do a quick shop at Outdoor Warehouse. Back at Andries' place we will lay everything out in his driveway and start the exercise of packing.
Vehicles:
The trip necessitates 4X4's with low range, of the diesel variety, able to carry or haul a load with enough combined space for 10 big lads. So we have settled on the Landy (of course), a Toyota Fortunner (The Tuna - belonging to Ryan) and a short wheel base Mitsubishi Pagero (the Appliance- belonging to Andries). The Landy will be loaded with most of it's share on the roof rack and in the load bay and will carry 4 people. The Tuna will be towing an offroad trailer and also carrying 4 people and the Appliance will pull a trailer with 2 people. Each vehicle has a fridge/Freezer and must carry sufficient water and fuel. In addition to the above, the Landy will be carrying all required recovery equipment & tools and the other vehicles will carry their own basic spares. We have radios in each vehicle to communicate whilst driving and we will have a Satphone in the Landy. There is also a power inverter in the Landy to convert 12 volt power to 220 volts to charge camera batteries, laptops etc.
Food
For the duration of the trip we will take turns in pairs to cook so Andries has been put in charge of collecting menus & lists of ingredients from the people. He will then draw up a shopping list and buy all the dry groceries a few days in advance. We have placed our order for fresh meat and fresh vegetables (yuk) with Sandy's Butchery in Palapye (Botswana) which we will pick up on the way through.
Finances & regulations
All accommodation has been booked and paid for and each member has deposited R2000 into one savings account where we can draw money from ATM's in Botswana for things like fuel, refreshments etc. Everyone's passports are in order and all that's left to do is the usual border formalities at Martin's Drift.
Equipment
This trip consists of 2 very different destinations with different equipment requirements. In the
CKGR we have our vehicles with us and can therefore afford to do it in style. Fresh meat, fresh veggies(did I say yuk before) ice cold beer, wine, whisky, brandy and the required mixes. We are staying in two different camps and ease of moving camp is a requirement. For this reason we are taking along 4 large (3 man) tents, camping chairs, tables, 300 litres of water for washing dishes and the odd shower as well as 150 litres of drinking water. In addition each vehicle needs to have enough fuel to do the required mileage in soft sand, so they will be thirsty. The Landy can carry 200 litres, so no problem there. We will also carry our own fire wood which we will buy at Khama Rhino Sanctuary at Pula17.00 per bag. The necessary pots and pans, utensils, braai grids etc are also taken care of. Each person takes care of his own sleeping bag, air mattress and personal stuff.
The Delta is a different kettle of fish. No fridges, so no fresh food except for the first night, no beers, only whisky, brandy and that sort of stuff and some wine which we can cool in the waters of the Delta. If the people need mixes other than water, it will have to be of the packaged powder variety mixed with Delta water. Space is the problem here. Everything is transported in the Mokoro's which are wobbly and don't carry much. So for the Delta it is 10 x one man tents (they pack small) sleeping bags a small kit bag with the minimum of clothing each and as little cooking equipment as we can get away with. Oh ja, and a spade
OK, so back to the beginning. We lay everything out on Andries' driveway and start dumping duplicate items and checking that we have the necessities. Nice to haves will be dependent on space at the end of the packing process. Once the stuff is sorted, it will be proportioned out per vehicle and then the packing starts. We need to pack in reverse order of usage so that we don't have to offload everything every time we stop. Obviously people will be excited and I'm sure a few beers will be enjoyed during the day. We are having an early braai at Andries' place and then everyone goes to their respective overnight accommodation (which are close to one another) to try and get some sleep.
Andries and I will leave his place at 03:30 on Saturday 13th July and drive to Ryan's place then we drive to all the other places and finally leave the last place in Fourways at 04:00. The first day is a 600 kilometer day and we'll be driving fairly slowly because of the load each vehicle will be hauling. We hope to make the border by 10:00. Once through the border, we press on for Palapye where Mike from Sandy's butchery will have our meat order vacuum packed and chilled as well as the yuk stuff we asked him to get for us. Then it's on to Khama Rhino Sanctuary which is just passed Serowe. We should get there around 15:00. At Khama we will be sleeping in Chalets, so no need to worry about setting and breaking camp for the next day.
So those are the plans and logistics, the rest of the story will unfold as we go along. 28 days until I leave home.