The Elephant Highway, a name that promises ‘big’ things. We will depart Vic Falls and spin onto the border town of Kazungula. From here we cross the Zambezi River on a very funky ferry and enter Botswana.

Since independence from the British in 1966 when Botswana was one of the most impoverished countries it has become a true African success story both economically and politically. Coincidentally it’s world renowned diamond industry flourished after the departure of the British.

It is the land of the extraordinary inland Okavango Delta, the Makgadikgadi Pans and it’s now famous TV meercats, the Kalahari Desert and it’s ‘Bushmen’ with their unique language of clicks and the home of Precious Ramostwe the central character in the novels of Alexander McCall Smith’s The No1 Ladies Detective Agency Series.

Our first campsite will be at the small town of Kasane on the banks of the Chobe River where river cruises coast up and down, past herds of elephant, hippo, crocodiles and other wildlife.

The next week provides us with some of the longest and flattest cycling days on the ‘Tour’ including six centuries ( 100 miles ) in seven days of riding. Fortunately for us it will be through one of the most impressive wildlife habitats on the planet and one we are more than a little keen to experience. With a population of in excess of 110,000 elephants roaming the Kalahari and Chobe National Parks we are hoping to have to give way to the occasional family unit crossing our path.

We camp in the Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve and also have a rest day in northern Botswana’s largest town of Maun, gateway to the spectacular Okavango Delta region.

The cycling continues along the Trans-Kalahari Highway and through a few more sandy dots on the map and on into Namibia, a country whose stunning arid landscapes are one of the world’s best kept visual secrets.

We arrive at Windhoek the modern, cosmopolitan Namibian capital in the centre of the country. A blend of southern African and German cultures offering great restaurants and  hopefully lots of chilled German beer where we will catch our breath before tacking the final section of the ‘Tour’ through the Namib Desert and on into South Africa.