To reach the border of Botswana with Zambia we had to travel approximately 70kms due west on a beautiful straight tarred road.
Before leaving Durban for our holiday, our daughter and son-in-law who had already been to Zambia, did tell us that we HAD to have a pair of red triangles and lent us theirs to save us a purchase. OH DEAR, we forgot them at home and we learnt the lesson the hard way. Just 5 kms from the ferry to take us across the Zambezi River we were stopped by the Zambian Traffic Police.
“Hello Sir, let me see you ‘trungles’ please.”
“Sorry, what must I show you?”
”Your ‘trungles’, Sir.”
long pause and deep thought by Trevor:
(Of course he means our triangles)
“I forgot them in Durban”
“Then you have to pay US$38”
That was the sum total of the conversation. No argument or further indepth discussion!
When we got out of the car to pay this huge fine, we noticed that all the vehicles which passed by simply held their triangles out of the window and were waved on. We also saw that the policeman had a long list of requirements for every vehicle including a fire extinguisher, tool kit, working headlights etc – all listed with the relevant fine written next to it. I am sure that not all those other vehicles had all the listed items, just as we didn’t but the only thing they were interested in was the ‘trungles’. Having paid our fine we were allowed to continue to the border post. This reminded me of what I have said previously, “If you are going to drive in another country make sure that you know and obey all the road rules”. We can only be glad we had the cash on us. We also learnt that many Southern African countries like to charge and receive US Dollars so make sure that you have some on you whenever you travel in these areas.
We were able to go through the border post fairly easily and then joined the queue to get aboard the ferry. The ferry was a bit of a scary and frail looking ‘vehicle’ on to which we were directed. In addition to ourselves, there were at least 25 pedestrians. It was either be filled with fear and trepidation or take in the gorgeous scenery on each side of the Zambezi River. I chose the latter and really enjoyed the crossing. It was amazing to think that we were looking at 3 countries, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, at one time. Today there is a beautiful bridge across the Zambezi.
Our car going on to the ferry. Note all the pedestrians
About 10 minutes later we were in Botswana.
