Border Crossings
Border crossings have not been as bad as perhaps we feared. Bureaucratic, slow, illogical yes at times, but difficult or officious no.
Namibia to Botswana – pretty organised, pretty clear exit and entry processes
Botswana to Zimbabwe – chaos. Short queue but didn’t move quickly. No signs to give you a clue what to do. The exit gate pass consisted of a torn off scrap of paper with an official stamp on it. Without that you wouldn’t get through the gate. Entry procedure require one US dollar payment and four separate Zimbabwean whatever payments at different places. To get Zim dollars we walked through a door which gave to access to the back of the immigration officials’ desks (so why were they behind glass screens?), out another door on the other side to a bureau de Change. Then you walked back again all unaccompanied! The queue behind us was much longer when we had finished that it had been in front of us when we started. They wanted us to wash our hands – why? The guy manning the entry gate asked us if we had anything to drink. We didn’t know what he was after, but a polite No and we were through.
Zimbabwe to Zambia – Either side of the bridge over the Zambezi at Vic Falls. All pretty organised and not too stressful, but a bit slow. Everything is hand written and the guy on the other side of the glass kept looking at his pen like he had never seen one before. We think he was letting the ink on each letter dry before writing the next one.
Zambia to Tanzania – we arrived here thinking we were going to cross direct to Malawi. We had driven for hours on perfect tar with no traffic. Got to NNNNNN and pandemonium. Cars lorries, potholes, people mopeds, shops, stalls everything milling about. Being static obviously means you are target for hawkers etc. We immediately had a crowd of men offering to help us through the border. We allowed ourselves to get into conversation and of course we were hooked then. Probably just as well as it turned out. Firstly, he persuaded us to go into Tanzania not Malawi (yes three countries meet at one point with some kind of three way border arrangement) so as to enjoy a good tar road to lake Malawi as opposed to an awful sand road over the mountains (this proved good advice). Then he said we had to photocopy various documents. He took them to a little shop with a photocopier, Col followed (and was concerned that they were also scanning as well as copying our details), then to the exit which had no signs to say what the building was or what we had to do , but Mr Fixer did it for us. Then to immigration, a shiny new building with aircon and officials behind glass screens. Mr Fixer had become a team by now. One guarding the car, one a money exchanger and one a hanger-on-er. Personal stuff was easy, but the car docs took forever. Mr Money Exchanger (a mini version of Mr T) took what we had left in Zam dollars for Tanzanian shillings to exchange them. Then more photocopying needed. So Col and all but the car minder walked straight through the border gate to a little shop on the other side of the border. Copies got and same concerns felt! Then a long wait. Then we had to pay 95US$ to permit the car. Mr Fixer, Mr T and the hanger-on-er then left for the border gate again. At this stage they had our car docs, papers, 95US$ and our Zam dollars. OK this is the sting! They were quick and as they got through the gate Col lost the ones with our stuff. Mr Hanger-on-er came in useful and knew where to look. A different little shop with a steel grill front and some kind of online banking/payment facility behind. The other two were there and Col watched them pay our 95US$ and Mr Fixer showed us the electronic receipt on his mobile phone. Back to immigration. More waiting. Printer broken so a delay printing our papers. Once we did get them, Mr Fixer wanted about £10 worth of Tanzanian Shillings. He took us into the Chief of Police’s office. Mr Fixer gave the Chief his phone with the Shillings behind it. Chief gave him his phone back without the Shillings behind it! Chief wrote our details in his book! And we were good to go. Mr Car minder had by now applied stickers to the car. Red reflectors on the back, white on the front and a 80kph roundel. Mr Fixer escorted us through the gate. We were into another chaotic African town and it was now dark! The whole team gathered round the passenger door. Mr Car Minder demanded paying for his stickers so we gave him a few Tan Shillings. Mr Fixer knew a hotel. He jumped in, directed us there, checked us in, showed us our room. At this point we still didn’t have our docs. He was still holding them! “So how much do we owe you for your services?” Turned out to be about £30 which actually was well worth it. We made it clear it was all we were paying and if any of the rest of the team needed paying he should do it. The Zam Dollars converted to Tan Shillings by Mr T had gone towards some of the local currency payments we had to make. A poor rate as we found out after, but better than having Zam Dollars to play Monopoly with back home. Mr Fixer left, all parties happy. We went down to get food and Mr Car Minder was there demanding more money for his stickers. We wouldn’t say he was demanding with menaces because he was only about 5 feet tall, but he kept saying he was our agent and needed paying, so Col just repeatedly shouted over him saying “We will not pay you any more” until he walked of disgruntled. We would never have figured out the payment system, photocopying or bribe, let alone have found a hotel with secure parking in the pitch black with cars, bikes, tuk-tuks and everything buzzing about us. See photos for the bizarre décor of our room though!!
Tanzania to Malawi – A mini version of the Zam/Tan border town with the same throng of fixers. This time we declined and all was fine. Exit was easy. The official took the Tanzanian Temp Import Permit (TIP) for the car, stamped our passports and that was it. Entry wasn’t too bad. Bit slow, needed US$ and Malawian Kwatchas but there was a cash point in a logical place and a payment desk right next to the immigration desks.
Malawi to Mozambique – All the books said Moz was the hardest country in lots of respects. In truth this border was the easiest yet. It had signs telling what each building was for, none of it took too long. I’m sure Bea’s Portuguese hello and broad smile helped on several occasions on the Moz side. One young guy had helped us with a few bits and asked for “a drink” so he got a few Moz Meticais. But that was it. Just Moz to Swaziland and then through to South Africa and we are done with borders
Mozambique to Swaziland - Amazing, no queue, sign posts, not that interested in the car. Had to declare 7 cans of Manica and 1 bottle of wine and he looked in one fridge. all done in 20 mins - wow.
Swaziland to South Africa - procedures very simple, all very organised and relaxed, but with a small queue it took about 40mins.