rockdassie

I saw this trip report on a 4x4 forum - has anyone alse had a bad experience at Ihaha? I was really looking forward to staying there but now I'm a bit worried.

"On awaking we were informed by other campers that people camped two sites away from us had been robbed during the night. It transpired that theft is an ongoing problem at Ihaha campsite, with Namibians coming across the river and stealing from campsites. This apparently usually happens during the day, when people are out on game drives, and had apparently never before happened at night. The campers were sleeping in a rooftop tent, and the thieves broke into their vehicle and stole all their valuables and passports. Upon waking up they were threatened with their lives, should they try and intervene..."

amolkarnik

I have camped here and didnt get robbed, but I can see how this works. The campsite is along a river and the pitches are quite spread out (which incidentally is the very appeal of teh campsite) and separated from Namibia only by the river which runs quite low in the dry season. The BDF guys are constantly patrolling the border, but its a long and I suspect, fairly porous border.

As long as you keep all important possessions with you, you should be fine. I think its highly unlikely that you could come to any physical harm.

If your 4*4 comes with some sort of LED lamp, you might want to leave it on. You could also consider sharing a campsite at bedtime with another vehicle. Safety in numbers.

rockdassie

I got my Parks booking for Ihaha today in an official-looking brown envelope with 'On Botswana Government Service' in huge letters across it - the postman was most impressed! Very excited about the trip so nothing's going to put me off now! I guess it's just a case of 'forewarned is forearmed' so at last we'll know to be wary, and take the advice to stay near other campers and lock everything up. I know this is worst-case scenario but if anything happens I've got a wind-up torch which has an alarm on it - do you all think other campers would be furious if we used it or pleased to be woken up and warned about intruders??? (tongue firmly in cheeck for this question)

amolkarnik

When are you visiting Ihaha?

We were there in mid-July 06 and this was after Botswana got higher than usual rains. Inspite of this, there was a steady stream of elephants coming down to the river to drink all night, walking quie close to the campsite. IIRC, there wasnt a 30-minute window when we didnt hear trumpeting, so I am a bit surprised that anyone (thieves) would want to take risks walking about at night with large breeding herds of ellies around.

rockdassie

I just read about this incident on a 4x4 forum, and it seems they were there mid-Sept. We're going end August and by all accounts it's quite busy in the camps then anyway so between the campers and the ellies I think we'll be OK! Only problem now is waiting until August ...