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Published: August 9th 2008
Chobe NP, Botswana
Elephants on the islands of the Chobe RiverWow!!! I've covered a lot of ground since my last entry. I joined an overland tour in Livingstone and over the past couple of weeks we have driven through Botswana and into Namibia. After leaving Livingstone, Zambia we crossed back into Botswana and headed for Chobe National Park for a game drive and a cruise. Botswana has so many elephants, thanks to their anti-poaching laws, that they are now culling them, so in Chobe I saw lots of elephants and giraffes as well. Seeing them on the islands in the river was especially nice. From Chobe we headed to Maun, our jumping off point for the Okavango Delta (I believe the largest inland delta in the world). Even though it is the dry season in southern Africa, the delta is currently in flood. The water comes from Angola and invades the Khalahari Desert and is very cold. We made our way into the delta in mokoras (dug out canoes) with polers at the back propelling us. At our camp we had an elephant that liked to have his meals fairly close to us and had us sticking to one half of camp at one point! The delta was a chance to
Chobe NP, Botswana
Getting mooned by the baboons get out and stretch the legs going on guided bush walks getting acquainted with all the animal tracks and feces...For instance elephants pooh a lot, hyenas pooh is white from all the bones they eat, zebra pooh looks like a horses and giraffes have large droppings!!! We saw some elephants, zebra, giraffes and baboons while on foot, walking around definitely gives you a sense of vulnerability that you don't get in a vehicle. We also got to take some dips in the delta (burrrrr) try our hand at poling the mokoras (very difficult, I tended to go in a lot of circles) and we were taken on a sunset cruise to see the hippos, even though I was in a canoe again at least this time I had someone experienced at the helm (unlike the canoe trip down the Zambezi where I was directing). Back in Maun I took a scenic flight over the delta and got to see in on a whole different scale, also saw a lot of animals on the flight as we stayed at around 300ft. The next day we left Botwana for Namibia and with it left the foot and mouth checkpoints to sterilize your
Okavango Delta, Botswana
My tent and the elephant footwear.
Our first stop in Namibia was Etosha National Park. This park was amazing, some of the new animals I saw were the oryx and black rhinos (at night). I also saw giraffes taking drinks (something to see) and quite a few lions. Etosha is really amazing you drive from waterhole to waterhole seeing animals and passing beautiful pans. The campgrounds have wateringholes that they light up and you can watch for animals, on the second night we watched about 20 elephants (including quite a few really little ones) file in for a drink, they were so close that you could smell them!!! From Etosha we drove west into the Namib desert and reached the Atlantic ocean. Our first stop was the Cape Cross seal colony a very loud and smelly experience. The past 2 nights have been spent in Swakopmund where I have sandboarded (poorly, the sand doesn't hurt as much but is harder to turn in) and quad biked through the dunes (excellent fun). I was going to tandem skydive but have decided to go with my original plan and do that when I make my way back to New Zealand, I just wasn't ready to jump
Okavango Delta, Botswana
Cruising at sunset in the Mokoras in the hippo pool out of a perfectly good plane :o)
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Katie
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I love it!
Oh my GOD!!! I love your photos...they look like they belong in National Geographic! You look so happy in the pictures and that makes me happy for you! Keep kicking ass over there! Can't wait to see you in a month or so....