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Crossing into Botswana the typical long straight African roads continued. Despite entering the Kalahari Desert the landscape was much greener and supports a thriving beef industry. All along the Botswanan roads lined many cattle, horses, donkeys and goats - all of which have right of way when it comes to crossing the road!!
Botswana is a rich country on the African continent due to its natural resources. It gained independence from England in 1976 and the following year it discovered diamonds. Today the Government have contracted De Beers to mine these. Botswana also has uranium resources and is also an important income stream for this country. A country that has the Zebra as its national animal to represent the harmony between black and white.
Experiencing the survival skills of the San / Bushmen gave an insight to how they survived in the desert through their many medicines, hunting and fire making skills. The San people have suffered a turbulent past. Originally removed from the more lush pastures in the north, these people had to retreat into the Kalahari area to get away from the Bantu tribe who wanted the area for cattle grazing. In more recent times the Botswanan
Government have shifted these people into more modern settlements. Although water and other amenities are provided, the Government have failed to provide the education and job opportunities that these people need now that they are no longer living in their natural environment.
Our visit to the Okavango Delta, the world's largest inland delta, was amazing. Access to our campsite was by a traditional mokoro (dugout canoe). Each mokoro carried two passengers and had an individual poler to navigate. Weaving through the long reeds the mokoro made its path deeper through the delta. Covered by all sorts of insects we made our way to a Hippo Pool. Once we had been spotted, they did not look impressed. They are responsible for a large number of deaths due to their aggressive nature and we had to retreat rapidly when one surfaced probably no more than 20m from our mokoro! But the thrill was brilliant and definitely a highlight on the trip so far.
At our basic campsite deep in the Delta (with no showers, running water and a dig out bush toilet) we mixed with the local polers. We enjoyed a game walk where we got really close to zebras
Hippos in the "Hippo Pool" in the Okavango Delta
These made an attack so we had to retreat quickly!and antelopes as well as some wild birds. We had been hopeful of finding an elephant but despite finding plenty of dung we couldn't get a sight of any. But we need not have worried as on the drive to the next camp site we came across a herd of 21 elephants drinking at a waterhole alongside the Botswana highway which really was a spectacular sight.
Our week concluded in Kasane where we visited the beautiful Chobe National Park. Here we went on a game cruise and an early morning game drive where we were treated to plenty of wildlife including elephants and hippos in the river as well as crocodiles, baboons, antelopes and warthogs. We were also in for a treat as we saw our 4th of the Big 5 - Buffalo! Seeing one on his own drinking from the river was special but it was dwarfed when we came across a herd of about two hundred during our morning game drive. Our game drive concluded in a speed drive through the park as a sighting of a lone leopard was reported. Despite the best efforts of our driver we didn't manage to see it unfortunately, so our
Close up of the Hippo
Not impressed with us entering their area search for the last of the Big 5 continues.
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