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Published: August 26th 2007
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safari
the entire trip On our travel back to South Africa we did not have so many opportunities to blog. I am sending this from the comfort of our home on Oude Wellington.
Thanks to all our friends around the world from Australia to Germany, Denmark, Canada and Africa for your support and encouragment.
It was a fantastic safari for all senses. Here is the report of our last days in the bush and beyond.
Die Muehe alles zu uebersetzen ins Deutsche war sicher nicht einfach fuer unsere Deutschen Freunde, zumal Schreibfehler und Umgangssprachliche Ausdruecke die Sache noch erschwerte. Meinen herzlichen Dank dafuer !! Rolf and Vanessa 😊
07.08.07
The travel via the famous great eastern road through Zambia is long and partly riddled with potholes, but all together not a challenge after what we have been driving in recent weeks. We arrived in good time at the Eureka campsite in Lusaka and learnt, that the friendly barman Eric (he kept us updated by cell phone with the latest development in the World Cup soccer match last time we were there) is off to meet his girlfriend in the United States of America. The memory of great cheeseburgers did not
quite match the reality this time around, must have been the hunger the last time, as one says “hunger is the best cook”. But don’t get me wrong, it was still good. Bad health luck is with me as now I am hopping around on one leg as I have sprayed my right ankle.
08.08.07
Another day of long distance driving brought us back to Livingstone. Our auxiliary tanks hold enough diesel for the entire crossing of Zambia as fuel is almost twice as expensive as in all neighbouring countries.
We chose Maramba lodge directly at the Zambezi again. They allow us to use the previous campsite in front of the reception, which makes it exclusive for us and everything is only meters away. Two large yellow back baboons and a cute dog are regular visitors (the dog especially after a few pieces of pork rind came his way). During the night a few bush babies got a taste of our bits of Amarula left in the glasses on the table. The next morning the glasses were very clean.
09.08.07
We met a curio dealer from Zimbabwe and heard his upbeat account of Zim’s problems and
how they get by. It always astonishes us how little anger and frustration is vented. The whole thing is dealt with like a disease or a bad rash.
10.08.07
In the news we read that there is poisonous toothpaste on sale. Sure as hell, we accidentally had bought the very same; recognizable by odd best before dates (ours read 32.04.09).
But no one seems to care; the shelves are still filled with the fake Colgate as we later noticed in Kasane.
11.08.07
Shopping and stayed at Toro lodge campsite,
12.08.07
Arriving at Chobe is like coming home. It is still one of the most magic places to see and experience wildlife. The vast numbers of elephants and other big game is hard to miss. The river’s gentle flow and deep blue contrasting with the lush green and the lighter blue of the sky is just too beautiful. Casually large herds of 150 elephants came grazing near Ihaha, our campsite. Much of improvement has been done on the campsites since last year. The showers have warm water again and there is even loo paper every day provided. The staff is busy and more clients orientated then before. We
were positively impressed.
13.08.07
Second day.
14.08.07
All day game driving in Chobe is always exiting. We saw a large variety of buck, a leopard kill another leopard posing for us, an elephant and a buffalo carcass also apparently killed by a leopard. Crocodiles, hypos and a large number of birds. At the moment the park is not too busy and we had no problem being given a campsite. Some small flying bugs kept pestering us until sunset though, but after the red golden sun had set and our fire was burning it was Chobe magic and this time without any disturbing generators or noisy neighbours.
15.08.07 - 16.08.07
After a slow lazy game drive we had lunch at the Chobe river lodge still inside the park and continued to Toro lodge after trying a number of other places along the way. But all were fully booked or hellish expensive. We took a chalet instead of camping as we wanted to spoil ourselves a bit.
17.08.07
Early we sadly left the area of Chobe and drove further south to the bird sanctuary near Nata. Unfortunately there is very little to see at this
time of the year.It is too dry and one cannot drive closely enough to the millions of flamingos which are only a pink stripe in the distance. The salt pans are very dusty and treacherous to get stuck. We had to leave the windows closed at all times because the wind suddenly turns and blows your own dust trail into ones face. After checking out the campsite for future visits (very nice indeed) we decided to cover some distance on our still long way to the Cape and head for Francistown where we stayed in town at the diggers Inn with room service and all. Again, most places are fully booked and we get the impression that Botswana is going places. Business is obviously doing well and modern glass palaces and office buildings are popping up like mushrooms in the bigger cities.
18.08.07
En-route to Gaborone we kept on hiding our meat from the veterinary control points, which are numerous; two before Nata, one after and later another one 20 Km before Serule None confiscated and we happily arrived in Gaborone. Once again we are impressed with the building boom in town and the spick and spank infrastructure. Very
little litter and a relaxed atmosphere. We went for pizzas at Primi Piati which we found easily by the very perfect description of a petrol attendant we asked in town. Only after spelling the word “primi” his face lit up and he knew exactly where it is, some 8Km away with many turns and branching off. Well, try that in Cape Town. We finally ended up at Mokolodi game reserve, just a few Km from Gaborone. Again we spoil ourselves to a chalet and are sitting on the cute stoop in the middle of the bush listening to the birds and animals. For a small game park the animal residency is impressive. It is the perfect let go of of the wilderness and coming back to the busy Cape.
19.08.07
Just a one night stop over at Kimberly Hors shoe. Reading the Sunday times put us in touch again with what is happening in South Africa after months of absence of news and information. Don't we have a happening Health minister?
20.08.07 - 21.08.07
Our last two days we spend at the Caedon Spa to rejuvenate, and to spoil ourselves after three months of camping and driving. What a pleasure!
23.08.07
The end of our epic safari to Kenya and back. We drove 18645 Km and went through some 1900 Liter of diesel. We have seen Lion-leopard-hyena kills, saw tens of thousand of plains animals and stayed in some of the most beautiful and famous game parks in Africa. It was an amazing journey and we will never forget the smells, beauty and adventure ever.
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