Botswana

---

Finally, back to a brief internet stop.

The Bushmen
From our last stop we travelled into the interior, beyond the last roads, to visit the bushmen. WE arrived at dusk, set up our camp, and arranged for them to come back later to do their traditional dances for us. It was truly a very traditional type of event around the fire, with the medicine man calling the shots, the ladies doing the singin and dancing, and the men acting out various scenes. Then, in the morning, we met them again and they gave us demonstrations and a tour of how they live, hunt, trap, and scavenge for food. Unfortunately, a lot of it is just a tourist thing, and I'm not sure they live every day like tyhat anymore.

Then, we travelled to the Kvango River, where a boat needed to take us in to our lodge. Everything is so flooded because they have had the highest rainy season in 50 years. Since our campsites were under water, they put us up in nice rooms. While two boats took the group on a bit of a cruise, including stopping for photos on the Angola side of the river (no passport stamp, though), a third took our baggage over to the lodge, in 2 trips. On the second trip, with 2 of our leaders aboard, the boat swamped, and half a dozen people's luggage was completely soaked, but all was recovered. Some electronic equipment was wrecked, though. Fortunately, for me, my stuff was in the first load.

Okavango Delta
The next day we left a little later than otherwise planned, to give people a chance to dry some things out. As a result of this and several other delays, we didn't make it all the way to our intended stop on the Okavango Delta in Botswana. The last part of that trip would have been by Mokoro (dug-out canoe) to an island, and the polers wouldn't do it after dark. So we stopped and bush-camped, before heading out there the next morning. We did change our itinerary a bit, and stayed there 2 nights, anyway. We did a major "bush walk" one day and spotted some game, including a hippo. All in all, it was a very relaxing time.

Then, yesterday, Easter Sunday, we drove all day to Chobe National Park, crossing back into Namibia first, then back into Botswana towards the end of the day. As we drove the last 50 km. to our destination, we saw lots of elephants, and stopped for some great photos. This is a beautiful resort (but we are camping), so last night we had a buffet dinner instead of doing our own cooking. This morning we went out for a 3-hr. game drive, where we saw buffalo, lions, hippos, impala and warthogs. So now we have seen four of the big five.

Tomorrow, we cross into Zimbabwe, and on to Victoria Falls.

When I get back home, I will edit these blogs and, hopefully, add a bunch of photos.

---

Photos

Face to face with Wildebeest
No security of the truck here

Curious hippos check out the elephant
Chobe National Park

Sunset cruise to Angola
just before the baggage went for a swim