Ingrid and Julie flew home on Saturday after a days rest at Vic falls and a very exciting few weeks. Jim and John spent the day giving their aircraft some TLC and preparing to set off again. The girls have now been replaced by brand new jerry cans! After a stunning flight over the falls the boys flew a short leg of some 90 miles on to Kalomo in Zambia. They employed a local as a security guard to look after the planes.

A delayed start this morning due to bad weather, but left Botswana late am for short flight to Zambia. For once no headwind so more relaxed flight to Livingston, then Maramba. Victoria Falls tomorrow. (via Keith) #97

Two good days in Okavanga and another very slow flight at 10 thousand feet to reach Kasane. An evening river cruise through Chobe National Park and saw plenty of wildlife. Hope to fly to Victoria Falls tomorrow. (via Keith) #96

Permissions now fixed so airborne again for long, slow flight to Maun. 12 mph groundspeed at first. We had to fly at 9500 ft for three hours to make progress. We are now only two days flying away from Okavango delta. (via Keith) Comment by jim (2003-11-10 15:34:29) it would be a nightmare to drive anyway mate…..hard enough to fly..we do miss you though!! and not just for the charcoal grey suzuki….

When we came to take off this morning we were prohibited from doing so due to a permission problem. A frustrating morning spent talking to authorities and Overflight has hopefully resolved the issue, and we hope to be airborne again tomorrow. Everyone helpful and friendly about it all though. (via Keith) #94

Today we enjoyed a pleasant flight into Ghanzi, Botswana. Customs proved to be less hassle than we expected and Botswana seems full of smiling faces so far. However we spent 1 hour in the bank trying to change travellers cheques. (via Keith) Comment by Michael_Sheehan (2003-11-06 23:17:13) Hi Jysky, As soon as I saw the Finnish I knew this had to be you. How do you fancy doing this trip? You are probably flying in the snow by now.

Smooth flight c/w tailwind until last 20 minutes, then headwind and very rough. Windy when we landed at Gobabis. Nobody about. Eventually Jim and Ingrid taxied three miles to town with wing off, causing much amusement. When we got there we were looked after really well. Hopefully ready for border crossing into Botswana tomorrow. (via Keith) #92

A relaxed flight to Bittervaste today, apart from the climb over 7000ft mountains. Turned out to be gliding centre of international repute. Lovely spot, strong wind in the afternoon again, but incredibly hot and dry. Comment by Jysky_Viitasaari (2003-11-06 19:02:41) Good luck to journey! Wild plan, right attitude you have already, I wish a big sack of good luck to your attempt. It is not heavy to carry, if you do not need it!

Had a great day off today although still up at 5am!! Enjoyed a ground based trip to Sossusvlei, largest sand-dunes in the world. Truly awesome and harder work hiking up a dune than flying over!! Hoped to take a local flight this evening but as usual the wind was blowing strongly from about 2pm through until dark. Back to the flying again tomorrow with a 2.5hr leg planned at first light.

Sorry we’ve been out of contact for a couple of days guys but communications have got more difficult and we’ve been hard at it travelling.Friday 31 Oct Hondeklipbaai - Viooldrift. Not a big flying day 2.5hrs only but not short on excitement!! In order to clear immigration into Namibia we landed on the road at the SA border doging road signs. We then walked to SA immigration to get exit stamps and then hiked the kilometre through no mans land to get our entry stamp to Namibia.