Note: The internet is struggling here, so text only for now, I’ll upload photos when I can.
The Ferry Crossing
Our next stop was Livingstone, Zambia, via the Kazungula border crossing, where you have to cross the Zambezi river by ferry, which seemed like it would be fun. It proved to be so, and also a bit chaotic and more of what an “African” border crossing might be imagined.
Immediately upon arriving in the Botswana border area “agents” begin to constantly pester you that they’ll handle your paperwork on your behalf, allegedly to speed your crossing of the border. No doubt this is true for most of them, but of course a few might have less honest intentions.
The first border official we talked to told us sternly to ignore “all those guys” and to not let anyone do our paperwork for you. The Botswana side of things was done pretty quickly, maybe 20 minutes, and is now mostly electronic, where I gather in the past it was not.
Then it’s on to the ferry zone. The whole site is a maze of construction, as a large contractor is building a bridge across to Zambia, which in a year or few will render the ferry operation obsolete. Though this is no doubt good for Zambia and Botswana we are glad to make the crossing by ferry to experience a little bit of authentic border crossing mayhem.
The ferry zone has no officials, no signs and no directions. Just drive past all the large cargo trucks and make your way to the front, we were the only private vehicle in sight. Then wait. The single Botswana ferry that was on this side appeared to be broken down, there was a team of mechanics working on it. The other ferries, all Zambian, were on the other side. While waiting we turned off the engine and rolled down the windows, but were promptly mobbed by guys telling us who to buy insurance from, who to change money with, to help with the paperwork. One guy just said “Roll up your window if you don’t want all these guys.” So we did, which worked.
When the ferry arrives, after unloading the ferry crew directed us aboard first, but we had to creep up as close as possible to the vehicles coming off so some of the other box trucks didn’t cut the line and get in ahead of us. The ferry can take maybe one or two large trucks and three smaller vehicles. We were placed all the way on one side, inches from the rail, with a large truck just inches to our other side. Again we were mobbed with “helpers” telling us the procedure. We paid our 200 pula for the ferry ticket and by the time that was done we were on the other side.
On the crossing Jenny saw one of the ferry crew scooping up buckets of water from the river and throwing the water directly on the engine, presumably to cool it down? Pretty awesome, my only regret is that it was over so fast it was hard to take it all in.
Offloading is a scene as well. The ferry has ramps for vehicles to drive off, but on the Zambian side it can’t quite make it to dry land, so all the vehicles have to drive through about 18 inches of water, for about a car length. None of the walk on passengers want to get wet, so they just jump on the bumpers or running boards of the vehicles driving off, including ours.
We parked on the other side up near the exit gate and started on a myriad of paperwork, forms, permits, tolls and fees. The whole operation seems pretty inefficient, as there is about 7 pieces of paperwork you need, all from different officers, all in different buildings, all out of order, paid in different currencies. Council tax, road tax, 3rd party insurance, CIP, customs, immigration, VISA, Interpol police check. Some electronic, some done by hand, some with huge ledgers, which I like because you can see all the people that came before you and wonder at their stories.
With patience and a lot of questions we were through, 2 ½ hours from arriving on the Botswana side and being able to leave the Zambian side, so not too bad really. Every officer we talked to was courteous, professional and several counseled us not to trust the “agents” offering us to help.
With that done we were in a new country, and we drove off towards Livingstone, a little over an hour away. We were excited to meet up with our friend and visit Victoria Falls.
Logistical Notes:
If you’re interested in COMESA insurance for countries you’re traveling to beyond Zambia then you must buy 3rd party insurance from a company that will also sell COMESA. You cannot get 3rd party from one and COMESA from another. We used Nico Insurance (update: I now would recommend this company, you can purchase it ahead of time online). More on this in the next post.
For detailed instructions on the Kazungula border post check out this forum post, you can’t get more detailed than this! Very helpful. http://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/showthread.php/248063-Botswana-Zambia-Kazungula-border-advice
Note that we did not need to get 3rd party insurance on step 3, as indicated in instructions above, we did it last. This might alleviate some concerns about leaving the border area without all the paperwork done.
