Then finally our adventure could start.
The beginning however was a bit chaotic. The Bush Pilots Airbase is situated very close to Krüger Mpumalanga International Airport and to the National Park. We had to be careful not to fly into the airports controlled airspace and also wanted to stay outside the national park, which resulted in a bit of a zig-zag before we found the right route. The air traffic controller at one point even asked: 'do you have a map onboard?'.
After the start difficulties everything went fine. We flew over Blyde canyon and followed the Drakensberg mountains on the north-side. It was very hazy.
First stop was Pietersburg, where we had to land to do the out-going customs from South Africa. To our confusion the controller was referring to a airport named 'Pologwane' all the time. Klaus was trying to make clear that we wanted to go to Pietersburg International Airport, and they still kept on talking about this 'Pologwane'. Asking directly, we finally discovered that they had renamed the city and hence the name of the airport. Unfortunately the Aviation Directory guys haven't made notice of this suttle change yet.
It did not take as long time as we had dreaded to get fuel, pay the landing fees and clear customs. After the long immigration processing time we had experienced at Johannesburg, we had put some extra time aside for this in our flight plan.
Crossing the border to Botswana
(to the left of the river)
After lunch, we headed towards Botswana over the TAVLA border point. The visibility had become much better, and it was a very beautiful trip. Very remote, red sand and dry trees everywhere, a little village or just some huts once in a while. The whole area is about 4500 feet above sea level and very flat with some huge rock formations looking out here and there. It looks as though it once was a mountain area, and somebody tried to fill it with red sand, but ran out of sand before all the peaks were covered.
First stop in Botswana had to be at an airport where we could do customs and immigration. This was done in Selibe Phikwe where we were met by some friendly customs officers. We got our visa in 5 minutes. Paying landig fee took us a little longer since they also wanted to charge us a so-called 'enroute fee'. We had never anywhere been asked to pay such kind of fee, so first we thought that they were trying to trick us. After a little research we found out that this fee is indeed to be payed in Botswana.
Sunset at Grundy's
We filed a new flight plan for the days last leg, and off we went towards Grundy's. Approaching Grundy's, the Francistown approach were allready familiar with our plans, so we did not have to explain anything - just report when you have Grundy's in sight they said.
Dave and Jenny are the owners of Grundy's, a guest lodge with its own tarred airstrip. Here we had arrange to meet up with Fred and several other pilots from South Africa, who were on a weekend get-away. Fred had contacted us through a news group where we had been requesting advise and experience about flying in Southern Afica.
Grundy's is a very nice lodge. In fact so nice that we became a little concerned about the price; From Fred's e-mail I could only remember that he had written that the price was 300 per person per night. I believed it was Pula but was in doubt because many prices in Botswana are given in USD. But no, it was Pula.
It was a nice evening. Dave picked us up at the airstrip, and after having settled in and gotten aquainted with the others, we all went for a late evening game drive at the farm (it is a huge farm with lot of game). We came to see our very first game on our first night out: impalas.
When we got back, a great dinner was served in the garden.
/Linda