Blogs from Ghanzi, Ghanzi District, Botswana, Africa

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Africa » Botswana » Ghanzi District » Ghanzi July 28th 2014

So I finally made it back to Africa. Botswana was the home of my best friend Ralph back when I was only 15. We used to play cards in the street (which was usually empty) until Ralph was struck by a 1948 Studebaker, which ran over his leg. The air here is warm and dry with a fresh smell of manure waking you up fresh in the morning. I am looking forward to basking in the hot sun and eating loads of sweet nectar. The city has changed rattled with businesses, Looks like there is money to be made here. I think I will try to find work. Im Hungry for many things. I might find a hostel I can crawl into and melt into the soggy bed. Ahh everything is just fine!... read more

Africa » Botswana » Ghanzi District » Ghanzi April 30th 2014

Botswana - diamonds, desert and bush Using public transport to the Namibian/Botswanan border, I wasn't expecting to see nothing on the Bots side - no taxis, no people, no nothing. It was at the immigration office that John and I met a lovely South African woman, a bush pilot in Maun, who offered us a lift to our accommodation in Ghanzi. This town itself lies in the vast Kalahari Desert where the San Bushmen have been residing for many years. If our luck couldn't have got any better, Michelle's 4 x 4 had a mattress in the back of the vehicle which we had to lie in - result. After sleeping for most of the journey, we arrived at Ghanzi Trailblazers, our campsite for 2 nights. The camp was beautiful, offering camping, bushmen huts and wonderful ... read more
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Africa » Botswana » Ghanzi District » Ghanzi September 27th 2012

Ghanzi and the Kalahari Desert – 27 & 28 August We arrived in Ghanzi at 1.00pm ish to a nice, local village-like camp, near the San Bushmen village, 10 kms outside the town. To see another special features of our trip – and fulfilling another one of my childhood dream – seeing the Kalahari Bushmen who had a ‘clicking’ language (their tongue clicks as they talk), which I learned about in grade 7 and in history in 2nd year high school. We set up our tents on the sand. The upgrade opportunity was a round thatched roof hut with no windows but 1 door. However, on walking around the camp, I came across some very new single room with on suite buildings – but we kept with our tent option. There was a camp kitchen which ... read more
Kalahari San Bushmen Botswana (13)
Kalahari San Bushmen Botswana (26)
Kalahari San Bushmen Botswana (38)

Africa » Botswana » Ghanzi District » Ghanzi August 29th 2012

Today we crossed the border into Botswana. There isn't really much to tell about today unfortunately. There wasn't much on the road worth noting today. I decided not to do any of the organised activities since they didn't really take my fancy (it was a bushman's talk and a tribal dance). Many people took the option to upgrade today into either huts or chalets. I didn't upgrade, however Riccardo did upgrade and he was nice enough to let me use his shower, complete with a tree growing through the roof. The rest of the evening was spent having a couple of quiet drinks with the others that didnt do the activities and helping out with dinner.... read more

Africa » Botswana » Ghanzi District » Ghanzi February 12th 2012

Today we saw our first ELEPHANT. In Ontario, we worry mostly about deer crossing the road while you are driving. (I know my Dad hit a cow in the Florida keys once....??????) Here in Africa,, the worries are a tad bigger! As we were driving along the road, there he was- our first elephant! There are no fences and the elephants roam free- actually- we did see one fence- which the elephant calmly stepped over....... There is nothing quite so intimidating as looking at an elephant close up- beside you or even beside your vehicle! They are BIG BIG BIG!!! This area of Botswana has the highest population of elephants in Africa- approximately 120,000. We stayed at a place called Elephant Sands- aptly named! This was another bush camp type resort, with the power shutting down ... read more
Swimming Croc
Moving Croc
The photographer

Africa » Botswana » Ghanzi District » Ghanzi February 8th 2012

Just so you check, this blog site is having technical difficulties with sending out email notifications of new entries. So you might want to check previous entries, in case there is one there that you missed hearing about! Our next adventure is a nights camping in the Okavango Delta. The tour we are on features three highlights- The Dunes, the Delta and Victoria Falls. The Delta is “ a labyrinth of lagoons, lakes and hidden channels covering an area of over 17,000 sq km and it is the largest inland delta in the world. Travel to the campsite is by local boats- called Mokoros. These boats are much like canoes, with a local guide- called a “poler”, as they use poles to push the mokoros through the shallow water. The trip takes about 1 ½ hours. ... read more
Mass confusion
The polers organizing themselves.
Yippee!  No squatting required!

Africa » Botswana » Ghanzi District » Ghanzi July 11th 2011

Next morning we were up early, had the included brekky and took a taxi to the Safari hotel where our tour was supposed to leave from. Once on the truck with 2 germans that were also waiting for the Nomad truck, we filled all the forms in and everyone introduced themselves. The truck had started in Cape Town and we were just along for the 8 days to Vic Falls. Unfortunately someone got their wires crossed and the truck then went to chameleon to pick us up!! So we wasted $60N to get to the safari!! Then we were told we couldn’t stop in Windhoek CBD to take out and exchange money, so we only had about $200 Namibian left. We were told we needed US dollars for the local payment but the guide said in ... read more
bushmen
ghanzi camp, bushmen houses
bushmen dancing

Africa » Botswana » Ghanzi District » Ghanzi May 21st 2011

This is the finishing blog of "chapter 1", with pics from Zambia to SA. ************************* Cycling was a most enlightening choice of transport for southern Africa - it is only on a bicycle that you get a true feeling of the incredibly vast expanses of land that make up the Kalahari, Namib, and South African cape. You ride for hours staring at this vastness, and see a familiar tree or hill, and the thought crosses your mind that you're going in circles or you've made a wrong turn; but there are no turns, it has been one straight road for days. When the shadows start getting long, you know you're still 110 km from the next town, so it's time to find a place to pitch your tent. Looking around, you see the definition of desolate; ... read more
Zambian sunsets
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Africa » Botswana » Ghanzi District » Ghanzi February 11th 2011

I spent the last 2 hours sitting around a fire starring at 1,000’s of stars. I have never in my entire life seen so many stars. It was dark outside and the sky twinkled. It was a nice night. Getting here is another story. We left Windhoek, Namibia around 9:30am. Our itinerary changed so we headed directly to the border crossing into Botswana. At 5pm, we finally arrived at the Trailblazers Bushman Hut Camp in Ghanzi. Both Linda and Coleman refused to stay here as it was basic (no doors on the bathrooms or showers – just a side door) and the huts themselves were, well… made of branches. Poor Locke had to drive them about 30 minutes each way to find them ‘acceptable’ accommodations. The people here are super friendly. They made Locke and me ... read more
Bushman Walk
Bushman Walk
Bushman Walk

Africa » Botswana » Ghanzi District » Ghanzi August 7th 2010

Early in the morning we packed everything we were going to need for the next 3 days into motorized flat bottomed bosts and set out into the Okavanga Delta to the transfer dock which takes about an hour. There we were divided into pairs and allocated a mokoro, which is a traditional dugout canoe, with a "poler", my boat buddie was Pablo and our poler is called shorty (for obvious reasons). The mokors are very unstable so we were required to keep very still, and as the delta has many crocs and hippos, we were both happy to comply, neither of us wanted to go for a swim. There were 22 of us so that required 11 mokoros + extra for all our equipment, one of the polers acted as lead guide. The ride is slow ... read more




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