My birthday in Botswana

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A birthday to remember

We're writing this retrospectively now! Over a month has passed since I celebrated my 31st birthday in Botswana.

After going on our fantastic safari to Savuti, we came back to Maun to spend a couple of days with Mr James Gifford. It was great to see Giff in his element out in Botswana and we got to meet lots of the expat community.

We also managed to go on a mokoro trip in the Eastern delta which isn't supposed to be as wildlife rich as other parts of the delta, but we still managed to see elephants and hippos. Give you are in this tiny canoe, about 1 inch out of the water, a bunch of hippos scrambling off the bank to protect their young was a little un-nerving. We also did a bush walk with the guide, who helpfully had no gun for protection. As you can imagine Lynne was especialy pleased by this!

After Maun, we headed around the west of the delta to visit the Tsodilo hills and celebrate my birthday at the Sepopa Swamp Stop! The Tsodilo hills are a world hertiage site, but not many people must make the journey up here, as we were the only visitors all day. The hills were home to the San people and the main attraction is 3000 year old rock paintings. They are still amazingly preserved and include painting of whales and penguins, which shows how far the San must have travelled!

The swamp stop was the nearest place to stay that we knew had satellite TV to watch the Champions League final. Lynne predicted Ronaldo would miss a penno, but it was a great way to celebrate the night before my birthday with a footy match and a few drinks.

The next day, Lynne had decorated our luxurious tent with balloons before I woke up. It was a great surprise! Given the quality of shopping in Botswana, Lynne also managed to surpass herself by buying a car magazine, a travel mag and lots of jelly sweets for me!

For the rest of the day, we headed over the border into Namibia and stopped at a small town called

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