Botswana

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We travelled on our overland truck from Zambia to Botswana. The border took ages - again! We went to a place called Kasane in the Chobe National Park. After we had set up our tents and had lunch we went on a river cruise on the Chobe river. It was awesome! We saw elephants, hippos, crocodiles, buffalos, waterbucks and lots of birds. And we saw a fabulous sunset. The next morning we had to be up mega early - 5am - to leave for a game drive at 5.45am. We were hoping to see lions but sadly not! :( We did see giraffes, hippos, warthogs and thousands of impalas! And it was freezing!!! After that we hit the road again and were off to our next campsite in the National park called Planet Bao Bab. It was surrounded by Bao Bab trees which have really funny shaped trunks. The campsite was really nice with a groovy bar all decked out in zebra skin. We all ate at the bar and I had beef curry! It was good! Apparently Botswana is famous for it's beef.
The next morning, it was an early start again as we travelled to Maun. We stocked up on snacks and alcohol as we were going bush camping on the Okovango Delta. Bush camping literally meant no toilet or shower for two days and being in the middle of nowhere! :/ We got there on a speed boat and then mokoras which are wooden canoes. A group of locals called the polers took us to our island on the delta in the mokoras. The journey took 3 hours and when we arrived there was an elephant right in the middle of the place we were going to camp!! :/ Thankfully we didn't see them that close again, but the place was full of elephant poop! The bush camp was actually pretty cool. We drank beer and sat around the campfire. We even swam in the delta and had a go at poling the mokoras ourselves! That was hilarious! We also went on a game walk, but sadly the only animals we saw were zebras and elephants and they were really far away! :( On our last night the people sang us local songs and we did our best to entertain them to with our version of 'In the delta the mighty delta' to the tune of 'In the jungle'! I think they were definitely the most tuneful!
The next day it was back to mainland on the mokora and jumped into the showers and washed clothes. Then a few of us went on a flight over the delta. It was spectacular from the air and we even spotted a few elephants and hippos. The campsite had a pool so we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon by the pool with a cool beer.
Our last day in Botswana was spent in Ghanzi. We were now in the desert and it was hot! We arrived at the campsite and pitched our tents before going on a bush walk with the local tribe called the Bushmen. They showed us different medicinal roots and gave us a seed which popped in our mouths. They also showed us how to light a fire. After that we had some spare time so a few of us jumped in the back of a jeep and headed to a quarry for a swim. Was amazing! Freezing but really cool. That evening we watched the Bushmen dance and some of the boys even joined in with the Baboon dance! It was hillarious! One of them even split his trousers! Then we sat round the campfire and drank beer and enjoyed our last night in Botswana. Next stop - Namibia!

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