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Saved: November 30th 2021
When we asked what time the bus passes Planet Baobab we got several different answers that amounted to 3 buses pass by anytime between 8 am and 4 pm. Alrighty then - very exact times to work with! We wanted a decent breakfast and didn't want to pack up in the dark so we left around 9:15 am and expected a long wait for the bus. We just reached the road when a gravel truck pulled up and told us the bus was about 10 minutes away. We couldn't believe our luck! Indeed, within 15 minutes the bus pulled up, we hopped on and headed off to Maun. It was a short trip and we had two young boys that were quite enamoured with us and sat with us the whole way. They didn't speak English and we don't speak Setswana, so there was no conversation, but lots of laughter and games. We weren't quick enough to snap a photo of these two little fellows, but they sure made the bus trip enjoyable.
Our accommodation choice was a hostel called the Old Bridge Backpackers that lies about 10 km outside of Maun. We headed for the minibus stand and had
The Old Bridge Backpackers
Barbet picking up scraps at the backpackers.to convince the driver to take us with our bags (he told us to take a taxi and we refused!) and luckily got a seat next to a fellow who was going close to the "Bridge" and showed us the shortcut to getting there. We are all about shortcuts when walking with our big bags! Not only was it a shortcut, but also a scenic walk too, that actually took us over the Old Bridge.
The backpackers is located right on the river in a beautiful setting. The crowd seemed a little older and quieter and the staff were incredibly friendly. We did have to take a minibus into town to do anything, such as get groceries or use the internet, but otherwise it was a lovely place to stay. The town of Maun is not much to speak of, it is incredibly busy for a small town and it has no real centre, but is a collection of small shops and 3 large malls scattered over a large area. For tourists it is the jumping off point for any kind of adventure into the Okavango Delta. The typical budget tour involves a Mokoro trip into the Delta. A
The Boro River
This angry hippo was blocking our passageway and our boat driver had to quickly manoeuver around him. Mokoro is a dug-out canoe that is propelled by a "poler", like the canals of Venice, minus the fancy outfits.
Through the Bridge we booked a 2 night Mokoro trip into the Okavango Delta. If you have ever seen a National Geographic program on the Delta, you definitely have an expectation of what the Delta is going to offer. We had heard from another traveller that the mokoro trip doesn't go in very far, so you don't see many animals. This helped to lower our expectations and although we were hoping to get enough of a group together (to lower the cost) for a motorboat trip (you get much further into the Delta), we ended up with a mokoro trip and enjoyed it immensely, even though it was not the trip of the National Geographic specials. We packed up our tent and small bags, gathered up our cooking box and food and set off. The first 45 minutes of the trip is a motorboat ride to where the mokoros are. This is an adventure too, particularly when a large male hippo popped his head out of the water, blocking our passageway. He was none to happy to see us.
The Okavango Delta
The trip begins! Laini lounges in the mokoro. He blocked the narrow passageway for a couple of minutes and then he ducked under the water and made straight for us! Although he was underwater, we could see the wake his bulk was making as he ran toward us. Our boat driver backed up, told us all to hang on tight and waited for the hippo to come further out into the larger pool that we were sitting in. When Mr. Angry Hippo got far enough away from the mouth of the passage our boat driver yelled "Hang On" one more time and gunned the boat to go around Mr. Angry. Our hearts were in our throats and we didn't let go of the sides of the boat for ages after our hippo encounter. The driver then told us that he has lost 2 boats to hippos over the years. He fondly refers to them as "Satan's Pigs". This was an experience far from our usual hippo sightings and definitely gave us a whole new respect for these large animals!
Once at the mokoro station, we transferred all our stuff into our mokoro and met our guide/poler, Kapinga. We set off in the mokoro and enjoyed the solitude
The Okavango Delta
Winding our way through the narrow passageways of the delta. and sights as we glided through the narrow arteries of the Delta. Although it is the rainy season right now in Northern Botswana, the Delta does not reach it's peak until June or July. The water is flowing from the highlands of Angola and takes 6 months to reach the southern most point of the Delta. We travelled about 2 hours up the Delta in the mokoro and found our campsite. When we booked, they told us we would be wilderness camping, the hole-in-the-ground toilet, cooking over the fire, the works. When we arrived, we found that indeed our small group was wilderness camping, because the other three nearby sites were occupied. So much for being waaaay out in the wilderness! We had to set up camp across the channel from the others and Kapinga had to take the machete to the area so we could set up our tents and dig a toilet. It is definitely a wilderness experience in that there are no fences here, we heard lions in the night and a crocodile that was splashing about in the pool that we swam in during the day time. We went on several walks with Kapinga, first one
The Okavango Delta
Leopard Tortoise. We came across this fellow on our first evening walk. in the evening and then two early morning walks. The first evening walk we came across our first wildlife next to another camp where we found a Mole Rat sitting on a pair of jeans that were left out to dry. They are small, grey, furry rats with a shock of white fur on their heads and the craziest teeth I have ever seen! Like a beaver, they have two large teeth in the upper jaw, but they also have two large teeth on their lower jaw as well. We couldn't get a photo of this crazy little creature, but we won't ever forget him! As we walked further we came across a Leopard Tortoise, which was another first for us. Later we spotted a lone male elephant eating and we managed to get quite close to him and observed him for some time.
Our walks were more about tracks and small creatures than large mammals. We saw lots of evidence of the aardvark and springhare, both nocturnal animals that dig for their food. We saw tracks of giraffe, zebra, buffalo, elephant, steenbok and other antelope. We did see Red Lechwe Antelope fleetingly and lots of bird life. Although
we did not see tons of animals, it was a great experience to be out walking in the wilderness with just the three of us. Kapinga has amazing eyes and can spot the smallest of bugs and an array of animals. He even spotted a baby leopard tortoise, we have no idea how he did this in the tall grass. He pointed out baboons that were playing in a group of palm trees and could name every bird we saw or heard. He told us that he used to work in the gold mines and when his health started to deteriorate he got out. Now he works as a poler/guide and he loves it. He is very good at it and we told him he made a good career move!
Overall, we enjoyed our Delta trip and would have liked to stay out longer except that we were out of food and the weather was turning really nasty with thunderstorms moving through with increasing intensity. We did put our tent to the test on our second day when a viscious storm passed through and threatened to take our tent north to Namibia! It was blasted with wind and rain,
The Okavango Delta
Sunrise over the Delta. yet our little tent survived. It was quite funny hanging on to the tent from the inside and listening to the gale blowing outside.
We spent an additional day back in Maun at the Bridge, getting laundry done and sorting ourselves out for our trip North. Instead of following the standard tourist route and heading south into Namibia and Windhoek, we decided to head north. There were several reasons behind this thinking, we just didn't research it thoroughly before setting out! Since turning down our overland tour, we decided we would head to Namibia and then join a tour. After researching tours in Namibia, we were startled at how expensive they were. Public transport in Namibia does not get you near any of the tourist sights that are must sees on any Namibia tour. We decided that we would head north into Namibia, find ourselves at Tsumeb and would book a short tour of Etosha National Park from here. In the meantime, we had heard that being the rainy season, it is not the best time of year to see Etosha. We decided to see for ourselves what the situation was like. When we left Maun, the owner of
The Okavango Delta
On our first morning walk we came across this buffalo skull. the Bridge told us we would not make it to the border in one day so she called a lodge on the way and told them we were coming. We headed off for Shakawe and hopped off the bus at Samuchima and started on the supposed 1 km walk to the Shakawe Fishing Lodge. The lodge is closer to 4 km off the main road (tromping along sand paths) and when we finally arrived, there was no one about. Finally a man came in and said he would find the boss. While he was gone we noticed the board that listed the prices and almost fell off our chairs! To camp was going to cost us 100 Pula each, which is roughly $17 each - definitely our most expensive campsite ever!! Dinner would have cost $25 each, luckily we had enough snacks and crackers with us to get us by. Good grief! For that price I told Peter we were taking the best site - right beside the river! Not that we had any competition for sites .... there was no one else around. After we set up our tent we went back to the bar for a beer and
The Okavango Delta
Kapinga opened the grass and showed us this tiny leopard tortoise. He was scared so his head and limbs were inside the shell. to pay for our exclusive camping site and ended up chatting to one of the young men working at the lodge. We learnt that the Okavango River here is approx. 10 km wide and reaches it's peak 3 months earlier than Maun. Just as we were saying good night, the young man said to us, "oh yeah, you may not want to venture too far from your tent at night as Bruno comes to feed every night." Bruno?? Who's Bruno? Oh Bruno is the resident hippo that wanders around each night in his search for food. YIKES! Needless to say I wasn't going to have anymore beer after hearing that! We did think that we heard Bruno in the night, but not too close to our tent and we did find his tracks by the river (near the "Beware of Crocodiles" sign) the next morning. I think I like the campsites with fences better!
We also found out that Shakawe was where the public transport ended. We would have to hitch hike to the border and then on the Namibian side we would have to hitch hike to the nearest town. Oops - sorry Mum, I know I promised
The Okavango Delta
These elephants (there were 5 in total) came out of the woods, crossed the river and then disappeared into the woods near our camp. we wouldn't hitch hike anymore! When we reached the road early the next day, the first vehicle to pass by picked us up and took us to the cross road for the border, still 10 km away. Once there, we thought it would be easy, but no vehicles were going in our direction. Luckily, a woman was bringing fuel to one of her workers trucks and told us she would have them take us to the border. She thought is was great to see some "crazy travellers" in Northern Botswana! We thought she was great for helping us get to the border! The border crossing was painless and on the Namibian side the officials told us to grab a seat and wait for a lift. At the quietest border we have ever crossed, we waited for 2 hours before a vehicle that could take us came along. This was the second vehicle to pass by. Not exactly a bustling border! There is a game park immediately after the border, so we got a small game drive before we reached our destination of Divindu, Namibia. We thought we might stay the night here, except that there is nothing in Divindu but
The Okavango Delta
A Turaco, called the Go-Away Bird, because his call sounds like he is saying "go away". a petrol station and a small supermarket. We were about to go into the supermarket and get some water and munchies when a lady asked around for help pushing her Land Rover as the battery went dead. Peter went to help while I watched the bags and afterwards she asked him where we were headed. We said "Rundu" and she said, you can come with me - just put your bags in the back. We could hardly believe our luck. Wendy, our angel, not only picked up us, but another traveller from Switzerland and two local men. She had set out on the 2 hour drive to Rundu on her own and wound up with 5 passengers. She also helped us sort out our travel for the next day, stopped off at the bank and dropped us right off at our accommodation. She truly was our angel!
In fact, the next morning we went back to the bank to change our Pula to Namibian Dollars and ran into Wendy again and she insisted on dropping us off at the taxi rank and making sure we were settled before she left. It turns out she will be working at a
The Okavango Delta
Dung Beetle doing what he does best, burrowing in elephant dung! lodge in South Africa near Cape Town, so we will be sure to stop by and say hello and thank her again for her kindness.
We stayed only one night in Rundu, and with Wendy's help we were settled into a minibus taxi that went straight to Tsumeb. We really liked Tsumeb as a town. One thing we have noticed about Namibia is that it is incredibly clean. The streets in the towns are all wide and orderly, must have something to do with the German colonization! Tsumeb is a very pretty town and we found the people to be very friendly. The backpackers had the best communal kitchen facilities we have ever seen and a comfy lounge with DSTV. Since there were very few people staying at the backpackers, we did take advantage of the lounge and TV a few times ...
After talking to the info centre, the backpacker staff and locals around town, we decided against an Etosha tour. Other travellers we talked to said they saw only antelope and if you see photos of Etosha at it's peak, you know that seeing a few antelope will be a disappointment. With that decision made, we
The Okavango Delta
Mopane Worm in a tree near our tent. stayed another day in Tsumeb just relaxing and enjoying the quiet of the town. We got an impromtu tour of the old mine shaft in town from a very friendly and informative security guard and we also spent a couple of hours chatting with two locals who own a coffee shop and found out that Francesca's sister lives in Calgary! How coincidental is that!!!
Next stop Windhoek!
Love,
Laini and Peter
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The Roberts' Family
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Bruno???
Hey there, glad "Bruno" the hungry hippo didn't pay you a visit! How did you get any sleep??? As usual, your blog and photos are wonderful! Laura, Dan, Dave and I spent many hours chatting about you two and your adventure....as previously noted, we enjoyed much wine...we raised our glasses in a toast to you and look forward to seeing you when you get home..... Thank you again, for bringing us along on your trip! Miss you lots! Keep travelling safe! Love, Pam and family