Julie flies us home !

Day 17 was a very busy day we had to fly in from our lodge in the delta, because we were the first to the delta we were last out.

Another flight in a small light aircraft, no problem becoming quite a regular flyer now, soon we should be able to book our seats a month in advance and use the executive lounge.

We leave the airport parking at 11.00 we have to get to the Botswana / Namibia border by 6.00pm it was a distance of some 400 km. Not a lot in a modern day car but in a 1958 1600cc Porsche in 30+ degrees it was a long way. We made it along with all the other crews to find that the man who stamps the custom forms had taken the day off (it was Sunday) The office phoned him and he kindly came in along with his very young son to calm the chaos.

Through the border we all go and onto our nights stop at Popa Falls.

We really enjoyed Botswana, its a prosperous country proud of its roots. All the people we met were happy with genuine smiles and welcomes. The president does however bear a striking resemblance to Lionel Richie, its probably why the National Anthem is ‘Hello is it me your looking for” :)

From the border we have to drive 25 km to our lodge on the bank of the Okavango River. Great place but a bit overwhelmed as the rally road show hit them.

We are treated to a river boat cruise were we see Hippo and Crocodiles followed by a cheese and wine sundowner party in the middle of the river by the Popa Falls, all a bit surreal and very wonderful.

A very busy day with transportation by boat, air and road. Bed at 9.30.

Molly is still going well even on slightly iffy petrol. All the other crews are still running and having a brilliant time.

The roads are good but very flat and a bit too straight for my liking, but you can’t have everything.

Tomorrow is a very long driving day and a trial section thrown in for good measure.

Bye bye Zimbabwe hello Botswana

Day 13 and 14
This rally is quite amazing. We have seen some fanatic sights along with some terrible poverty.
We did not think much of Zimbabwe, the country appears to be very poor. There are a lot of burnt out houses, terrible roads and the people seem to be very subdued. The main form of employment appears to be traffic police.
Having been done for speeding in South Africa we were very careful not to be "done" in Zimbabwe.
As it happens we were one of the very few cars not to be pulled over for one reason or another,
all those stopped were fined for various reasons ranging from speeding to not having a white reflector fitted to the car. The amounts ranged from $5 to $30, some crews even managed to get stopped 3 times.
We left Zimbabwe this morning and entered Botswana, what a difference a border makes.
The roads are great, it's clean, and the people are happy and smiling, even the police are giving us friendly waves.
All the cars are going well. The competition has now been calculated on the overall times. We are in 13th place, mainly due to our slow time on the last stage. We are only 5 minutes off the lead so all is not lost and our actual rivals are well within reach. We will never catch some of the 5 litre monsters :)
We do have a little competition going on as to which car can go the furthest without the mechanics looking or working on it. We think there are 3 of us still in the running. Let the best Porsche win :)

Yesterday we were at Victoria Falls, and for the first time ever we flew in a helicopter. It took us up and over the falls, absolutely breathtaking. Might have to get one and avoid the London traffic :)
We are now at Nata Lodge in Botwana, a fanatic place but because we are in the middle of nowhere the internet is very limited. Sorry for the very short post.
Tomorrow we fly to the Okavango Delta in a small light aircraft another first. Not sure there will be any internet for a couple of days.
Here are some photos of our fantastic adventure. If you have never been to Africa you are missing a whole new world. Better still get yourself a classic car and really have some fun. We simply cannot recommend this enough.

Blog posts are like buses, nothing for ages then 3 at once

day 8 We have a day off, and go hunting The Big 5

We have arrived at Sabi Sands and are staying in the most stunning thatched lodge. Its about the size of a 3 bed semi with a 2,000,000 hectare garden.

2,000,000 hectares is the size of the game reserve here and to put that into perspective thats about the size of Wales.

We have 3 safari drives out into the wilds with our expert guide Mac and highly talented tracker Colbert.

These guys really know what they are doing and within 10 minutes we are right beside the most beautiful leopard basking in the sunshine.

All visitors to a game reserve want to see the Big 5. 

Big 5 means the animals that are the most dangerous animals for a hunter to track and kill on foot. They are elephant, leopard, lion, buffalo and rhino.

Mac is keen that we should try and track and see as many of the Big 5 as we can. The only shooting we’ll be doing is with our ‘box brownies’ 

It is quite normal for visitors to see one or two but we have obviously arrived at a good time.

Over the next couple of days we get up close (to damn close if you ask me) to leopard, lion, lioness, elephant complete with 3 baby elephants, rhino, and buffalo.Thats all of the big 5.

We have seen India elephants before but nothing can prepare you for driving round a corner and coming face to knee cap with a huge African bull elephant.They are very scary and not to be messed with.

We also get very close to hyena, hippo, giraffe, zebra, springbok,dwarf mongoose, and the sight that got all the rangers most excited, a pack of wild dogs.

The day is rounded off with a fantastic outdoor dinner, think Michel Roux in deepest Africa and you get the idea. The staff also put on a traditional dance show, which we all join in with. I excel at my famous day dancing routine.

Note to self, must come again.

Getting ready for the Classic Safari Challenge or is it Survival Challenge?

David, Julie and Molly are off on another adventure.
Next Monday we fly to Cape Town, South Africa, and meet up with Molly, our 356A Porsche. It will be good to be reunited. We have only seen her for a few days since we left her in Cape Horn, South America, and the few days we did see her she got a bit over excited and dropped oil all over the drive :)
Gantspeed had a word told her to grow up and behave. Which she did. I thought it was a bit harsh to then put her in a big black box for 4 weeks and send her away. Just hope she does not throw a paddy when we meet up.
This adventure is called the Classic Safari Challenge. It is run by The Endurance Rally Association (ERA) and is approx. 8000 km over 26 days, taking in a huge amount of Southern Africa.
There are 28 competitors. These are broken down into classes with ages ranging from 1928 up to 2010. These are the car ages ( I think).
Some of the competitors we have rallied with before and we are looking forward to meeting up with them again.
We are about to start packing for the trip.
We have compiled a bit of a packing list. Clothes, shoes, anti everything sprays. Then I decided to  do a bit of research on this Internety thing to check what else we may need.
I am not terribly sure that it was such a good idea. While I was searching for 'rally drivers survival techniques' I came across an article about something called the rule of 3. It goes a bit like this,

The Rule of Threes
The rule of threes is only approximate (and can change a bit under certain particular conditions), but it will give you a good general idea of what is important. In its most basic form, which covers most circumstances, it goes like this:

1. You can survive for three hours without enough warmth.
2. You can survive for three days without water.
3. You can survive for three weeks without food.
4. Sometimes people add a few more "threes" to the list, here is an extended version
5. You can survive for three seconds without blood.
6. You can survive for three minutes without air.
7. You can survive for three months without human company.

Another rule sometimes added to the front of the list is "You can survive for three seconds without thinking", meaning that it only takes three seconds (or less) to do something dumb enough that it could kill you, if you are not thinking straight.
All very useful, but it excludes the real essentials of  lasting 30 seconds without checking your Facebook status, checking the football scores and checking to see if you have won £3000 on your
accident claim you never knew you had.
Oh yes!  and checking that you have anti charging angry animal spray.