Three border crossings, 1 for 3 so far
We’ve now completed three driving border crossings: South Africa to Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe back to South Africa, and South Africa to Botswana. The first two were not-so-good. The final was a breeze.
Welcome to Zimbabwe Sign
Our original plan to get from Pafuri / Return Africa was to take the Pafuri border gate exit directly into Mozambique, drive down river a ways, then ford the Limpopo. Alas the Limpopo is running deep and swift for the first time in many many years (for this time of year) so fording wouldn’t be an option. Our second option was to take a ferry further down river, but inconclusive communication with the dude that runs that private ferry gave us enough doubt that we fell back to the “safe” option at Beitbridge.
The good news: this gave us a very good re-supply and re-fuel location in Musina SA. The bad news: this is an extremely busy crossing as it is directly on the Harare to Johannesburg route.
I’m mostly responsible for our first big mistake. As we approached the border from the SA side, there was a massive lorry turning wide past us, blocking our way into the normal vehicle routing. Heavy traffic all around us. It was hard to determine where we go, but the answer is usually to the left (we drive on the left side of the road) and as the nav of the lead vehicle I pointed Karen that way. This lead us to a typical large parking area for lorries, possibly waiting to clear customs. As we were conducting our u-turn, a helpful gentleman with his lorry told us we could just go out this convenient side exit towards the bridge.
By doing so we missed the main SA exit border station, and thereby missed getting our exit stamp on our passport. On arrival at the Zimbabwe side, we parked and entered the in-processing station where we’d have to process our two vehicles (and by 3rd party insurance) as well as clear passport control. Right away we were stymied: no exit stamp means no entry. In addition, we had a tout glom onto us right away, claiming “official status” but in fact his badge just showed him as a long-range taxi driver.
Walking across the Beitbridge bridge over Limpopo
The agent advised us that the best way forward would be to walk back across the Limpopo bridge, get through exit control, then return to resume the process in Zim. That we did, and the process on the SA side took over an hour. There was a shift change in process, which apparently means they shut down processing completely for about 30 minutes. The line was long when we got there, and much longer by the time it started moving again.
After clearing we returned across the bridge to resume our entry process. Maybe the tout was helpful? We’ll never know but he got a small tip out of the process. All-in it probably cost each group member about $60-75 for the entry process, and about 3 hours of time.
Waiting for vehicles to be cleared for re-entry to South Africa
Returning across the border after Gonarezhou we were determined to do things proper-like and we mostly did on the Zimbabwe side. The signage isn’t ideal in terms of guiding us through the steps, but after a short quizzical period when our vehicle license numbers weren’t showing up on the board we realized we missed two early steps and after getting those done we drove across the same bridge we had already crossed three times (once driving, twice walking).
The South Africa entry side was going to be a brutally long wait. Two or three busloads of mostly (we think) Zimbabwean nationals had just unloaded and there were maybe 200 people ahead of in line in a small courtyard area with serpentine lines. The sun was beating down hard.
Another tout approached us: he could help us jump the line for $140. Out of the group I was the most steadfastly against it, not so much because I didn’t think it would work but because 1) The ethics of it concerned me and 2) I’ve seen this sort of routine before and felt this would be the first of several required exchanges of cash. We were going to stick together as a group so it was all of us or nobody.
A German couple in front of us in line took his offer, and he escorted them inside the building and bypassing every other person waiting in the courtyard. I could see the looks of longing and despair in our group: this might be a 6 hour process. The line wasn’t moving at all. They would empty the queue inside the building, then let just enough people in to create a new queue inside. I caved and said that I would go along with the group if we all decide to pay the guy off and jump the queue. Some faux negotiation (faux because he got the original offer in the end) proceeded then we were escorted into the building. The folks outside, especially those near the door, were none too happy. I still feel a bit sick about the whole thing. We guess he pays off the contracted security guards that man the entry door to the building, and the official staff turn a blind eye. Or the staff boss is on the payroll too. This crossing took about 2 hours.
I should mention that everybody we encountered was friendly and helpful. We never felt at risk through any of these challenges. And we still can’t believe the amount of goods (and sheer size of the goods) being carried from SA to Zim across the bridge on peoples’ heads.
Re-routing sign to Platjan Border
Our re-entry to SA was for just one night before we had to cross again to visit the Tuli Block at the far southeastern corner of Botswana. This is remote country, and the designated crossing was more remote than we even imagined. The final 10-15k was all off-road on washboard dirt and gravel road, and 100% of the driving after crossing was the same.
Bridge over Limpopo at Platjan border
The border crossing itself was a magical experience with friendly folks on both sides, eager to process our paperwork and move us along. The border was a mini oasis along the Limpopo with nice toilets. And banded mongoose! This crossing took us about 45 minutes.
We are in Botswana right now in the final leg of the journey for four of us. More on our outdoor adventures coming soon.
