Check-Ins

Campsite has been taken over by the Mbotyi River Lodge. Grass is cut and sites are clean with electricity, light and water. Amenities are functional and clean. Would visit again. Restaurant at Lodge can be used. Lodge also has a bar and WiFi. Cost was R150 pppn. Can be noisy at night with neighbouring locals.

Dormimos una noche aquí, aunque llovía mucho la ruta para llegar es practicable en motorhome. Y aunque no estamos tan lejos de la ruta, no se escucha a penas los autos pasar.

Dormimos una noche al lado de este camino. No llegamos al fondo del todo porque la ruta se pone un poco fea con rocas y además habían varios perros (nosotros andamos con uno). Así que paramos un poco antes y pasamos una muy linda noche sin ningún ruido.

Zambia to Tanzania.

After reading previous enteries, I decided to get a fixer as it was already 2pm and we didn’t want to spend too long there. Process isn’t too complicated but I can see why without a fixer it can take long. Our fixer was Richard. Whatsapp No: +255 653 514 090. I found him to be decent & professional. Asked $20, agreed for $10. Stepwise
1. Get past the lorry queues, there is parking in front of one stop border post.
2. Get cpd stamped out in the yellow coloured room opp main building. zambia Officer will come & check chasis/reg no
3. As you enter main blgs, you show ur YF & Covid certi. Pay 30000 schilling for disinfection spray. I asked them to do outside only, they didn’t seem bothered.
4. You still have to apply for TIP even with cpd. They call it road tax $5/wk $25/month. You need copies of drivers license, car registration and passport. Richard filled the form, hotbit past the correct officers, he took some pics on his phone and sent them to the admin which I think expedited the process.
4. Tanzanian custom official came out to check the chasis no and inspect. Asked bags to be xrayed. I took a couple of bags to the machine but it’s out if order.
5. TIP costs 60000 for 1 month I asked Richard to pay.
6. Cpd was stamped as well.
7. All in all took 1.5 hrs.
8. Most atms have a flat charge of of around 5-7$ for withdrawal.
9. TIP/road fee doc is checked at exit gate.
10. Sims can be bought in stalls 200m from the gate. 2500 Schilling.

Richard came out with us to the market to help with simcards. Nice guy. Contact him if u need help.

we stayed here for two nights with our Sprinter. it will fit and a level spot is near the trampoline. warm shower beautifull views. we walked to the entrance of the Santa Ana trail in 20 minutes ( opposite Christal camp). no guide nescesary.

If you don’t care about sleep quality this is a great free camping spot. We thought it might not be so loud because it was Tuesday but there were several full moon raves that took place on the beach lasting until about 3 am. The loud music began at sunset.

There is a surf wave right out front that’s pretty fun. The beach is gorgeous white sand and the sunrise was beautiful. Garbage cans and port-a-potties available. Easy access from the highway on both directions, located in the arroyo between two resorts.

We had also checked out the playa palmilla but my MIL needed to sleep in a tent and it seemed like a place where you needed to be a bit more stealth. It might be a bit quieter over there but there is a restaurant and it’s easy access to the beach so it could also be loud

This is the ferry that takes you to the Punta Sur of the Lago desierto. Important: you can pay with pesos argentinos, dollars or euros - NO CARDS accepted.

The price is pesos argentinos (march/23) is:
20,000 pesos ARS.
50 USD
50 Euros

This includes a bike or a backpack.

Not easy to find a decent wild camp in the area. From main road, we followed a small dirt track leading to some corn field. We kept going for 500 m, until the track is crossing another one. We stopped for the night about 30 m before the junction. No village around but we saw some locals walking in the distance, all friendly. We saw one motocycle. No one came to see us. Very peaceful and fresh night (1600 m of elevation). Not sure big rigs can make it, track is narrow, but you can try.
Warning : About 15 kilometres after that point going south, the tar road is blocked and turns into a rough piste for 50 km, then tar road again. We did it just after heavy rain fall and didnt need 4x4 but you need decent clearance and time. Ioverlander didnt allow me to add a warning...

The road is blocked here. The deviation is a bad piste that will join main road again in Catata. But main road is still a bad dirt track until Cusse (-13.514317, 15.19481).
Its about 50 km of piste. Its very bumpy but not difficult. We did it just after heavy rain, we had no problem but you need good tires and decent clearance. We didnt need 4x4. If you have a little bit of love for your car, you wont go faster than 30 km/h average. Funny and beautiful section.

1500 per person. good hot shower but only working in the women's at the moment

Perfect night with four other vans and campers. Went inside in the morning for black coffee and they didnt charge me.

We were unsure about this place at the beginning, it’s decently busy and noisy. We spoke to the security guards and they seemed nice and said it was safe. We had dinner at the Sarita and parked just outside. It was a fine night and not noisy by 10pm. Good place if you run out of light and want to cross the border.

Spent one night here. There was only one place they offered us to park and we needed leveling blocks. Hard to imagine a rig larger than ours fitting (we have a Jeep Gladiator). Paid 38,400 for two adults, no charge for our son. Used the kitchen to wash dishes. Bathrooms were fairly clean (hard to keep the floors clean because it was raining). The shower we used was lukewarm, not hot, but we didn’t try the second shower. Caspian enjoyed the hammocks on the lawn. Lots of covered seating, though it was busy and most people were smoking. Free coffee in the morning. All in all, okay for a short stay. But without more room to spread out, I don’t think we’d stay longer.

Still as described. Friendly policeman allowed us to sleep in front of the fence and promised to watch over us overnight. You can probably use the sanitary facilities for 5 pesos (we didn't use them).

down the path on the northern part of the mirror you'll find a few decently large spaces for tents, but only a few that are garbage/toilet paper free. the clean places are actually pretty decent camp spots and as a happy surprise the ground/air here is minimally affected by the heavy most that was here during the day i slept here.

Bajada de playa, sombra. Pasamos dos días excelentes. Pueblo muy seguro, algo ventoso por las moches

Parqueadero amplio y seguro enseguida del parqueadero de la naval, centro historico de cartagena

Passamos uma noite no estacionamento do hotel, em frente a Ruta 9 e ao lado de um posto policial. A recepcionista do hotel foi muito simpática e prestativa. Um ótimo lugar para descansar e seguir viagem.

Went in at 5 am after the knock on the door by a cop at another location. He said that I could sleep a few hours there and that semi-trucks do it.

Nice design
Nice food ( fish - sea food ) and wine (white)
Good service
The cook knows his job which for a frenchman is particularly important. Medium high price for the tabla de mariscos with specific Patagonia’s centolla and different preparations culínaires -hot and cold-
Worth it. It was my birthday 🥳 on the road and we had a good meal !

Spigot is right in front, asked attendant to fill up and she confirmed it was potable. Filled up via our own hose.

We loved the museum and the Archeological site. Most signs are in English and Spanish in the museum. We would recommend at least an hour at the museum and 1.5 hours at the site. Tours leave the site every hour. Last tour start at 15h05.

Classic Cracker Barrel with RV spots where we parked when we arrived. Ended up moving when a semi parked right next to us and kept his engine running.

Other than that it was a quiet night, and luckily the train horns were far away and did not disturb our sleep.

Slept here for two nights in Austin without any issues in our very obvious Cruise America C25 RV.

Parking is only allowed on the riverside of the road and is free. There are signs posted when entering the road that says that the area is only allowed for loading and unloading, however some locals told us they were for the boat ramp area at the end of the road.

The road slants a little towards the river, but it didn't give us any issues. The area is quiet and feels safe. A few other people overnighted in their vehicles. The riverside path gets quite busy in the morning with runners, etc.

Dispersed camping below small lake housing area. Easy towing and finding a spot pulling a 19' camper.

Crossing from Argentine to Chili. In the building it was chaos, not clear what steps to take, which lines to go, or any info about the process. It’s mandatory to fill a form either digital or paper, but wifi was disfunctional and no pens were provided…
We followed advice from Ioverlanders and put “yes” to declare fruit/vegetables. It seemed they considered it a huge thing, and thoroughly searched our car and camper. Opened every little pocket, Demanded taking every bag out of the car and through scanners, rushing us and moving to next area, not giving us enough time to put stuff back. Everything became a huge mess. All was very unpleasant.
They took fruit vegetables (also avocado tomato etc) eggs. Our advice: better throw everything and put “no” on the form. It’s not worth it. And bring a pen.

before taking the road to the spot, go watch it by foot. The water destroyed it when we went there so we couldn't take it.

nice flat place. It offers a kind of protection if the wind comes from the north or west.

we did not stay - dump for construction and general rubbish. Also turning/end of line for buses

Great place! 1500 pesos per bag. We came in about 10 minutes before closing time at 8pm and we could leave a couple bags to pick up by 5pm next day.