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Kasane to The Elephant Camp! (171km)

Botswana


Day 93 - Apr 15 - Stage 64


Saturday: It was a relatively long cycle, our first on the flat & straight Botswana roads. The start of what is locally known as the "Elephant Highway".


After a very subdued breakfast, we left a very muddy Camp site and proceeded to backtrack until we reached the turn-off for Nata and Francistown.

Passed at least another 2km of parked trucks on the Botswana side trying to get into Zambia, spoke to three different truck drivers, all three said they had already been waiting two weeks to clear the Border!  Still can't figure out why?...  The new bridge should definitely speed things up.

After approx. 40km I cycled on ahead of Judith who was fighting the headwind.  At the 58km  mark I came across a large group of Riders who had crashed, while riding together in a sort of peloton. Some were quite shaken but fortunately there were no major injuries.

I joined up with Philip (who had earlier crashed into Kyle), and rode with him. When we arrived at lunch, which was at the 75km mark, it was quite crowded, which was a first for me.

Judith arrived with the Sweep Rider and after having lunch, helped pack up the lunch stop, and together with four other riders rode the  Lunch Truck to camp. Their number would increase by a further 2 riders who were picked up at the Coke Stop.  I continued on with Philip, and we had coke and ice-cream at the one and only coke Stop... at 106km into the day's ride.

We saw two Giraffe and two Elephants on the day's ride.  The second Elephant was right close to Camp at the finish.  Our camp was a Bush Camp in the middle of nowhere, totally dry, no beers or cold drinks available (beers will only available at tomorrow's Camp in Nata)

We had the Unofficial Presentations, Chef Errol received the Yellow Jersey which he really deserves, it's not an easy task keeping over 50 people fed and ensuring they are happy at the same time!

Due to the headwind, today's ride was not an easy one, so we were off to bed early.

Cheers,
Mike T





Riders having a subdued Breakfast before leaving Muddy Camp

Be on the lookout for Elephants!
Peloton regrouping after having a little wheel touching incident
Lunch time was an uncharacteristically busy affair

Peter and Deborah have managed to get fixing punctures down to a fine art
The sun begins to set in the Botswana Bushveld


Relaxing after a hard days cycling waiting for briefing and supper


Twilight approaches at Road Camp
Errol received the Yellow Jersey from Erin and Andje


Philip enjoying the evenings meal after a tough day on the bike










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