Day 12

---

Today's trip Its a pretty straight road to Rundu, first half gravel then tarmac. We'd been given the warning that we had to conserve fuel carefully or we would not make it t the next gas station. As usual, I took in approximately half of the briefing information (the half about conserving fuel) and forgot the rest.

And so as we progressed along the route, I used the BMW's trip computer to monitor our range. Even two up and heavy, the range was more than enough to get us to the end of the route we were on. I therefore applied some throttle and took full enjoyment from riding the dirt track. As we neared the end of the stage, I noted triumphantly that I had over 50Km range left. A couple of other bikes were already at the shop that marked the end of the route, Charley being one of them. As I looked round in vain for the petrol pumps, Charley mentioned to one of the others that it was just over 120Km from here to the gas station. Ahh. That must have been in the part of the briefing I had forgotten.

A guava juice and some biltong later, we head off down the road - fully expecting to run out of gas, which of course we did, but not until 85Km had passed. Seems that the big BMW has a reserve of around 30Km available, even when showing empty / zero range. Charley catches up with us and siphons fuel from his bike to ours (he has a larger tank). All part of the service, he proclaims cheerily. We set off again, the tank still showing zero range, but we nurse it to the chaos at Rundu's first gas station. Seems like everyone fuels up here, regardless of whether they are heading out of or into town. Men with whips control proceedings to a tolerable degree, the odd swing at some eager local seemingly enough to maintain order. Then its the short hop to the N'kwazi River Lodge near Kayengona.

We elect to take the "soft" route (i.e. for softees) since it "hard" route has several extra km of soft sand to negotiate. As it turns out, the "hard" route has been newly graded and the two options are equally hard/soft. Its still a tricky last 2Km to the lodge, but we all arrive safely without mishap.

A quick lunch of fried toasties (not great), an hours' R&R and then off we go on two canoes lashed together in support of a wooden "deck" upon which an assortment of outdoor chairs are arranged. Somehow an outboard motor is attached at the back, but most importantly there is a cool box of drinks to be imbibed en voyage. We are off on a luxury river cruise on the famous Okavango river.

Locals gather at various spots along the bankside, getting their daily ablutions done, vying with cattle for the best spots to enter the river. Two young topless women wade midstream with nets, attempting to catch supper if not an admiring glance or two. I'm pretty confident they got both. We spot crocodiles hanging out for adventurous souls to wander by, but are told that the river is too shallow here to support the really dangerous ones. Hmmm...

On a whim, we form a raiding party and invade Angola. It happens to be on the opposite bank, so its not too far really. The locals offer no resistance, intimidated as they are by our shorts and Charley and Andy's Deus Ex Machina T-Shirts. We espy the new school that the Chinese are building to ingratiate themselves with the poor of Angola, now largely complete, but decide not to claim it for the free world. A couple of photos to mark the historic event and its back on the "gin palace" for more Savannah Dry.

If there is one thing about Africa that makes you put away the sarcasm, the gentle teasing of TIA ("This Is Africa", the catch-all phrase that explains why there is no hot water, or the gas station has no petrol, or your much loved Margherita is made with Rose's Lime cordial), for me it has to be the sunsets. We may have started that cruise in an jovial, indulgent mood but by the time we got back we had witnessed some of the most wonderful images of sunset that most of us had ever seen.

It truly makes you look at this continent in a new way, evoking all kinds of primordial images and self-reflection that gets you thinking differently about the people that live here, and that have lived here in this way for so long. Differences seem trivial, our common traits more obvious than ever. Its obviously a hard life, devoid of so many of the things that we on our trip take for granted, but there is clearly a shared joy in simple existence and human interaction, especially at the end of a day well spent.

---