Blogs from North-West, Botswana, Africa - page 11

Botswana… As a lover of all things African wildlife I have heard stories and wanted to visit Northern Botswana for years… Northern Botswana did not disappoint and delivered a very “basic” safari/camping experience. The country of Botswana manages tourism tightly and has pushed prices up, to limit the volume of tourists… this means more money for them, and more pristine habitat for animals and humans alike. While this approach helps keep the numbers low, it makes it harder for those on a budget so for this go round we joined a group of 9 others for a camping safari. The campsites were ultra basic, basically a designated spot in the woods with no running water or facilities of any type and we would pitch tents, cook over an open campfire and provide free fertilizer to the ... read more

NOG EEN STUKJE DOOR BOTSWANA VIA DE MAGKADINOGWAT PANS EN MAUN - OKAVANGO DELTA... read more

Survived 1000km round trip to the panhandle of the Okavango Delta. We saw elephants and a wild ostrich pair on the way up there. The panhandle is the neck of the Okavango and from there it stretches out into the web that is the delta. Our accommodation was on a houseboat for the first three nights which we shared with four middle aged Americans. We moored upstream in the middle of the river with reeds 3m high all round; hippo grass and papyrus. We were taken upstream in a small boat about 4pm for a few hours. We saw hippos in small families with just snouts ears and eyes above water. There were thousands of birds. We feasted on the visual feast of bee eaters, kingfishers and water eagles. The water is so clear and clean ... read more

Well we managed to get to Cambridge from Moscow uneventfully although the last leg from Dusseldorf to Stansted was in an Air Berlin propellar plane which the pilot threw on the runway at Stanstead. Cambridge was fantastic. We visited James' 97 yr old mum who was just like him - independent obsessive kind and tuned in to everything happening. James organized for us to visit Newmarket Equine Hospital - a £10m facility with Arab sponsorship with every kind of machine money can buy including Catscans and MRI. We could not take pictures. I will try and load current pictures when I get to Ireland in 2 weeks.The flight to Joburg was uneventful. We got two seats each so slept a little on the 10hr flight. It was flying Air Botswana to Maun on the Okavango Delta ... read more

Africa is vast with many national parks and game reserves located in remote wilderness areas. Often as with Botswana, the only way to reach them is with a small aircraft. Typically, aircraft are not airliners. They are relatively small and therefore always have strict luggage and weight restrictions. A variety of safety issues also dictate teh luggage restrictions; from the small baggage stowage bays, lenght of runways to fuel limitiations, etc. Your safety in the air always comes first so beware, pilots will simply not fly when teh plane is overweight!! Here are some valuable guidelines when flying to a safari destination in Africa: * Maximum luggage weight is 20kg's per person including carry-on luggage if more than one bag and camera equipment. * Check the baggage dimentions permitted by each airline. Airlines vary, however the ... read more