Oppipanne trip report August 2024

[Bugger]

My oppie panne trip report



I went to Botswana oppiepanne music festival


End of trip report

[HenriSteyn]

My oppie panne trip report



I went to Botswana oppiepanne music festival


End of trip report

Took me a long time to read this. Please edit it

[Mad Manny]

No photo?

[Bugger]

Hehehe

So I'll put something together and post
Was a awesome trip

Meeting point was the N1 Petroport leaving 5am Wednesday 7 August

Myself and Renay in the Touareg and XT140
Tony and Zane Fortuner and Conqueror
Henry and Susan Cruiser VX 200 and Echo
Leslie and Madelein Hilux and ComanderX
Kobus and Judy Land Cruiser and Rental
Mike and natashe Navara and Rental
Justin and Jacky GWM and Rental

And a group of Donovans mates

Off they go
And away

We did a hastily speed but eventually when Leslie nearly rolled his Bos WA
We re packed moved weight to the front
And took it Rustig

Every one wanted to go stockpoort but I organized some simcards from kwanokeng in advanced
So half group went to Stock port as the usual Truck story scared them off

I have never had serious issues with Martinsdrift even with All the trucks



So not to long the Stockpoort bunch turned around at Stockpoort as 3000 Oppiepanne people wanted to go through Stockpoort.

We had a laugh

Got our simcards and off we went

Stopped Palapye to Stock up
And booked in to Kharma Rhino Sanctuary for the night

Next Morning we eventually left for Khubu island around 11am
Don't ask
........

Had a nice trip to Khubu and set up camp same camp spot
Manny,Andreaz and Me Camped 2 years ago.

My 12V supply out the treg blew the fuse so my trailer batteries were dead
Had fault find and fix
Idled the treg to charge to battery in trailer with the Victron DC t DC

Had some very rude gentleman came and threw his toys out the cot as the treg was idling 6:30pm


Apologized but he was just a Ass H lol

Unfortunately for him the other Youngsters had a Kenmekaar aand that went on till ......


Got up early
Ready to go

Again 10am we said not waiting anymore

The youngsters only started with Breakfast

We set off
Treg and Xt140 first vehicle in convoy
And we decided tracks for Africa track through the pans to Oppiepanne Direction NATA'

well I got Stuck and shouted on radio to stop convoy

We really got the Touareg out Quick
And took the route on the outer edges of the panns

We followed a guy that drove down from. The Oppiepanne to Khubu island for a picnic

It was still a nail biting drive
Very very soft sand and lots of dust

So lots of places very slow going

Got to Oppiepanne

Set up camp as far as possible from the main tent

But that still did not help for the dust

It went into places I never thought I had

Day 1 at Oppiepanne fees.........

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[Bugger]

Some pics Kharma and Khubu

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[Bugger]

So when I got bogged down on the pan just outside Khubu island
I had a set of Rubber pads you strap on (No Manny)
To your tyre for traction and Leslie had a set
So strapped them on call 4 and with Maxtrax got going and drove out
One of them the strapped came loose and removed itself from te tyre

I walked the tracks I just drove out
But it is just Gone
Even the other guys walked the spoor
With no luck
It obviously buried itself in the soft pan out of sight

On the one picture you can see it I strapped it on the rear spare wheel

[Bugger]

So I found the problem that my 2 X DC 2 DC chargers did not work
1 charger for 65L sno fridge in the Touareg and othe 1 in the trailer charging the Trailer Lifepo4 battery

The 30A fuse was a bit small then I replaced it with a 100A

So having no power I used my newly installed 2x160W solar panels sliding under my Roofrack
And my 2x150W fold up panels

It looked like ESKOM by our camp site as not only me but
Tony and Mike and Kobus had charging issues

Nothing a few solar panels did not sort

So Saturday night I parked close to the ablution showers to watch the show.

And found my Touareg had a color change to gray
From the Panne dust

This dust was just insane

.

[Bugger]

[BushWacker]

Bugger ... I bought these 2 strap-on blocks
... are they similar to yours ?
Im going to get/steal some of those rubber blocks
that the wheel balancing guys use
on their lifts ... and make some more !

... but how many per wheel are needed ?
... assuming I dont lose them like a ...

[Bugger]

So the Sunday morning we arranged to leave 6am that we could be hopefully on the road before most leaving the Panne Fees. Thete was a two spoor road in and out .

We also said goodbye to some of our group and welcomed some new members of our group who I have never met before.

Barry and Erica from Slaapstad
Laura from Pretoria
And another couple who only stayed with us till Kasane


So this was now the Extended part of the trip I organized and planned

Kasane 2 nights
Victoria falls 3 nights
Sinamatella 1 night
Motopos Bulawayo 1 night
Francistown 1 night
Home


I said we leave 6am
And we had respectfully leave on time
It was a nice drive out but very dusty at places
Thank goodness we left early
We filled up fuel in Nata and turned our Vehicles North towards Chobe


Advantage of leaving early we weren't in any Rush

Stopped past for the obligatory beer at Elephant Sands.
My word did that place change in 10 years from my last visit.

After a very lekker op.die Eerste 1 we hit the Road again and did a fuel stop again in Pandamatenga.
And just outside of Town we stopped for lunch at Touch of Africa safari lodge.
Had a very amazing triple decker toasted cheese and again die eerste 1.

Arrived in Kasane stopped for Ice and found a few warthogs in town

Headed out to Toro Lodge and set up camp.

And we organized car wash as I wanted to get that Khubu island mud of my treg as quick as possible.



..

[Bugger]

Bugger ... I bought these 2 strap-on blocks
... are they similar to yours ?
Im going to get/steal some of those rubber blocks
that the wheel balancing guys use
on their lifts ... and make some more !

... but how many per wheel are needed ?

Yes those with the yellow straps with Velcro to secure the strap with is better than the buckle type I bought.My ones I bought for not even more than R250
But the yellow strap ones Leslie had stayed on my front wheels

Well I recon if you have 2 sets it is more than enough
1 per wheel

[LX]

Awesome time you had there my good Sir. Interesting read. Well done. Looking forward to towing my home made T there one of the good days.

[Mad Manny]

Awesome time you had there my good Sir. Interesting read. Well done. Looking forward to towing my home made T there one of the good days.

Your twins will be teenagers by the time you finish that trailer....

[AndreasR]

I’m beginning to wonder if Bugger ever got home!!

[Mad Manny]

I'm beginning to wonder about two things lately:
Whether, to a woman, if a trip report is like parallel parking - something they can't do...?
If to an Afrikaner, a trip report is like Forward Planning - something they can't do...?