In which it gets very hot and we reach the Zambezi River.
Today was probably the least interesting day of riding of the tour. It was another relocation section, crossing back into Namibia shortly after departing the lodge. The crossing was pretty smooth although there is a LOT of paperwork still used here in Africa. We have to fill in forms that are so tiny your writing becomes illegible. I’m 100% certain these forms are never used again.
The riding was once more just long straight sections of road. We are all looking out for loose stock – there’s less of it here in Namibia but there are still a lot of cows and goats. A few sections were potholed, but the roads continue to be mostly good.
The highlight of the day was just after crossing over into Namibia. You enter into a huge wildlife reserve and our guide, Mike, had said “OK – be careful as there could be wildlife on the roads. You absolutely can get stopped by elephants crossing”. No more than 500m later, we had to stop for a herd of elephants crossing the road. He couldn’t have set it up better.
The biggest issue for today was the heat. Depending on whose thermometer you believe, it was somewhere between 40º and 42ºC. The air is just a blast furnace and it’s more comfortable to ride with your visor closed than open. I think I drank about 2L of water+powerade and it probably wasn’t enough. We were also wetting down our neck buffs at each stop to try and stay cool.
Our lodge tonight is on the banks of the Zambezi River and across the water is Zambia. You won’t swim there though…
Tomorrow is our last riding day and it’s a short one – a little over 100 kms. We can’t take the bikes into Zimbabwe so we drop them with Pierre and the trailers and have a transfer for the final leg.
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