JHB to Mana Pools

[CarlCruise]

Hi everyone

We are heading from JHB to Mana Pools and hope to find some route advice. We will be leaving on Thursday afternoon and sleep in SA, and then drive further on Friday morning meaning we will have to navigate border posts on a Friday and a public holiday…

We don’t mind driving through Botswana if it will be better. Can anyone please assist us with best routes, driving times, where we will have to spend a night and so on.

We have mapped out too many options and cannot decide which will be best. We don’t have a lot of Zim experience.

The direct route through Beitbridge is one option, but the above mentioned circumstances and road works have us thinking twice.
Other possibilities can be to enter Botswana at Stockpoort, then use either Pandamatenga or Plumtree (maybe rather Mphoengs than plumtree), and then drive south of lake kariba, or north through Zambia and back into Zim?

Any advice will be appreciated!

Thanks!

[rehcram]

I am also interested in views - there and back.

For what it is worth we will stay at Zvakanaka on night of 14th (Wednesday) with the aim of being at Beit Bridge by 06:00 on Thursday morning. Hopefully early enough for a smooth passage before spending Thursday night in Harare and heading to Mana on Friday morning.

Coming back we are toying with trying to get across to Ramokgwebana in 1 day (via Plumtree) and then into SA via Groblersbrug the next morning. Try to avoid Beit Bridge mid morning on a Saturday.

Any advice please?

[FransBR]

We drove to Lusaka last week , on our way to
Mana Pools. Left JHB at 12 noon, crossed into Botswana at Groblerbrug at 5pm, slept over at Kwa Nokeng.

Left Kwa Nokeng at 6am , went through Kazungula at 4pm , slept over at Vic Falls Waterfront in Livingstone. Up to this point, no traffic , no hassle.

Left Livingstone at 6am and the fan was hit.....trucks , trucks and trucks....as far as you can see....3 x K20 toll roads....and more trucks. Got stuck at Kafue town roadblock for 30 min....arrived in Lusaka 3 pm.

We still have to clear Chirundu , but we are re-routing through Zim and Plumtree for the route back

[CrossingZimbabwe]

Good afternoon,

If you decide to travel through Beitbridge, attached please find a process flow document that can assist you with the procedures, etc...

[rehcram]

By way of update on this, we crossed Beit Bridge going north on a Wednesday morning (c. 06:00) and came back south on a Saturday (c. 12:30). Both crossings we very smooth and hassle free (less than an hour coming south on the Saturday). One tip I do have is to ignore the touts on the SA side and head straight to the main arrivals hall if you have SA passports - touts very keen to direct you to the huts outside and their big queues

[muriel83]

Hi all,
Thanks to the forumites for the valuable infos in the numerous threads.

We (my husband and I) are heading to Mana Polls from 11 October to 11 November 2024. We currently plan the route and wish to try a different way and avoid Beitbridge.
Here are our plans from SA :
- Day 1 : Kempton Park to Evangelina Game Lodge
- Day 2 : Evangelina Game Lodge > Pont Drift Border Post (ZA/Bots) > Mabolwe Border Post (Bots/Zim) to Bulawayo
- Day 3 : Bulawayo to Chinhoyi
- Day 4 : Chinhoyi to Mana

T4A travel time :
Evangelina Game Lodge to Pont Drift Border Post (ZA/Bots) : 30mn
Pont Drift Border Post to Mabolwe Border Post (Bots/Zim) : 2 hours
Mabolwe BP to Bulawayo : 3h
We plan 7 hours with the borders crossing formalities

Bulawayo to Chinhoyi : 5 hours
Are the travel times seems right?
Any recommendations for the route between Pont Drift and Mabolwe?

Please, Can anyone assist with helpful tips. Thank you

[darraaz]

Hi all,
Thanks to the forumites for the valuable infos in the numerous threads.

We (my husband and I) are heading to Mana Polls from 11 October to 11 November 2024. We currently plan the route and wish to try a different way and avoid Beitbridge.
Here are our plans from SA :
- Day 1 : Kempton Park to Evangelina Game Lodge
- Day 2 : Evangelina Game Lodge > Pont Drift Border Post (ZA/Bots) > Mabolwe Border Post (Bots/Zim) to Bulawayo
- Day 3 : Bulawayo to Chinhoyi
- Day 4 : Chinhoyi to Mana

T4A travel time :
Evangelina Game Lodge to Pont Drift Border Post (ZA/Bots) : 30mn
Pont Drift Border Post to Mabolwe Border Post (Bots/Zim) : 2 hours
Mabolwe BP to Bulawayo : 3h
We plan 7 hours with the borders crossing formalities

Bulawayo to Chinhoyi : 5 hours
Are the travel times seems right?
Any recommendations for the route between Pont Drift and Mabolwe?

Please, Can anyone assist with helpful tips. Thank you

4 days to get to Mana Pools from Jhb? Wow!! We will be travelling via B/B as we have previously done on a few visits, with one overnight stop, I guess you going for a month so extra 2 days on the road is Ohk 😅