Botswana

The Southern Africa part of our tour looks like it will be a bit more relaxed than the East Africa part.  Our departure time from Victoria Falls was 8:00am with only a 4 hour drive to our destination - Kasane. We did have a border crossing from Zimbabwe to Botswana but fortunately it was far quicker leaving Zimbabwe than getting in.  No paperwork, a quick look at the passports, stamp and we were done in 5 minutes. Entry to Botswana was also simple with no visa required. Before I move on from Zimbabwe though I forgot to mention dinner. Most restaurants in Victoria Falls seemed to offer various game meats - buffalo, warthog, zebra, giraffe, bushbuck, kudu and others.  I was interested in some and ended up getting a taggliatelli with impala mince. The girls both had vegetarian crepes. The mince was interesting but if you hadn’t have told me it wasn’t beef I wouldn’t have known. It was a little different but not much.

Kasane is next to Chobe National Park and we were taken into the park for a three hour game drive. We saw the usual animals, including a herd of around 100 elephants.  Many of the people on this part of the tour started their adventures in Victoria Falls, so it was cool listening to their reactions to the various animals. We did see more lions with a few Cubs that were very cute.  At the end of the game drive they dropped us off at a boat for a 3 hour river cruise as the park is bordered by a river and has several small islands. On this cruise we saw elephants on the islands and then watched as a couple swam in front of our boat to get back to the mainland.  They used their trunk as a snorkel when the water was deep, but mostly were able to walk. We also saw a giraffe walk towards the river and waited to see if it would have a drink. Eventually it did, splaying it's front legs to get low enough. Looked very awkward, but it worked. On the way back we stopped to watch the sunset, which of course was beautiful.  The time really flies when we are doing these game viewings with 3 hours in the car followed by 3 hours on the boat going very quickly. Didn’t hurt that we could take drinks and snacks on the boat.

Next day was a 7:30 start but still only about a 4 hour drive, heading to Nata.  Once there we had the option of going on a bird watching drive, though the three of us didn’t feel like paying $30 to look at birds.  Those who did go enjoyed it and saw some flamingos, but Lauren and I in particular were more interested in the footy. After setting up the tent we were able to listen to the third quarter of the Richmond Hawthorn game via the AFL app.  Unfortunately we then had to go back for lunch, but were happy with what we heard. After lunch we went for a swim in the pool before playing a few card games with others from the truck. Nice and relaxing.

Our third day on the move was another short day bringing us to Maun, the gateway to the Okavango Delta.  An option here was to do a flight over the Delta and we all opted for that. It was 45mins and cheaper than the helicopter flight had been.  The flight was in a small 6 seater (including the pilot) and was really good. We could see lots of elephants and buffalos, but more importantly we saw 6 rhinoceros, completing the Big Five.  The pilot circled around giving us a second look as well. As 10 of us from the truck chose this excursion there were two planes and at one point the other caught and passed us, quite close by.  The pilots seemed to be having fun and even more so when our pilot dropped us to about 500feet above the Delta. It was quite exciting flying that low.

We left our truck in Maun and went into the Delta for two nights arriving by mokoro. A mokoro is a small boat pushed along by a person with a pole.  They used to be carved from trees but are now made from fibreglass as a conservation effort. The trip was very peaceful as we glided along through reeds and sometimes in clear water.  I say serene but this is where a close friend of one of Tracy’s brothers was attacked by a crocodile. Whilst he survived he has life long injuries to one arm. His wife was also badly infected by cuts from the reeds when she jumped in to save him.  Lauren was a bit concerned going in but seemed to warm to the trip as we went. A good thing really as it took 2 ½ hours to get to our camp. The camp consisted of tents, a bush toilet and bush shower and was set on the side of one of the deltas.

After settling in we went for a bush walk and saw a few animals but it was fairly quiet - and the elephants etc we did see were a fair way off.  Not to worry as the guide still spoke of the plants and the different types of poo on the ground. Dinner was a pretty nice beef stir fry but then early to bed because we had a 6:00am start the next day for a short mokoro ride to a different island.  We then had a choice of a 4 hour or 5 hour walk and we all chose the 5 hour. We went hunting and eventually found a large herd of zebras, a dozen elephants, some wilderbeest, quite a few antelope and a few giraffes. These animals were all fairly close, but we didn’t see many more - an occasional warthog but nothing close.  We aren’t sure if it was the lack of animals or not but we ended up back at the mokoro after 3 ½ hours. Back to camp for brunch then most of us played cards for a couple of hours before about 8 of us (including Tracy, Lauren and I) had mokoro polling lessons. It was similar to stand up paddle boarding and we spent about 20 minutes or so pushing ourselves around a small bay with nobody falling in - quite an accomplishment.

In the evening we had a short mokoro ride mostly to watch the sunset, though we did go via an elephant skeleton. It was a skull plus various bones scattered over a large area. I picked up the thigh bone and it felt like it weighed about 30kilos.

For our last day in the Delta we were told to wake at 5:30 so we could have a cooked breakfast and be ready to leave at 6:45. Well Africa time kicked in and though we all woke at the correct time, breakfast wasn't even served until 6:45. We eventually got away at 7:30, which the guides didn’t seem too concerned about, arriving back at our truck 'Cash’ around 10:00. We arrived at our next destination, Ghanzi, at 4:30 where Tracy and I got an upgrade from our tent to a room. A couple who were doing accommodation left the tour a day early so their room was available and already paid for. The room is simple and has a toilet and shower in an outside covered area. We had an option of going for a walk with the local San people and the three of us all went. None of them spoke English so an interpreter came along. It was really interesting listening to them talk as they make a 'clicking’ noise as part of their language. We were given a seed that we were told would help us make the clicking sound when we talked. We put it under our tongue and after about 1 minute it 'exploded’ much like popcorn popping. Of course when it exploded it clicked quite loudly giving us a bit of a fright. The San people and the guide found it very amusing. They talked about differernt roots used in medicine and what they can fix such as constipation, upset stomach and infertility to name a few. Though they couldn't speak English they liked to act out what they were talking about which was quite amusing. The guide pointed out a hole in the ground shaped like a smile. We all stood looking at it and as he walked off (no doubt smiling to himself) he told us it was a scorpion hole. He was having a great time. The walk lasted about an hour and was pretty interesting, certainly better than the Maasai village we went to a few weeks ago. The San people returned at 8:00pm and performed some dances for us as well.  Some were medicinal 'witch doctor’ type dances and some were for amusement. The dances were very energetic with lots of foot stomping.

Botswana appears to be more affluent than the previous countries - with the possible exception of Zambia. There are no villages to speak of and we are seeing European cars for the first time - VW, Mercedes, BMW. These are imported from Britain apparently. With wealth comes material items though and we are seeing more roadside rubbish than other countries too.