Blogs from Maun, North-West, Botswana, Africa - page 4

Geo: -19.9964, 23.4168We were up before sunrise the next day for our short but early flight to Maun. Although it was an international flight we were a little surprised to find ourselves on a sixteen seater twin propeller plane with the co pilot handing our meal to us as we boarded up the stairs. Obviously no cocktails would be served on this flight! The advantage was however that we flew at a lower altitude and could easily see the ground below and watch as the landscape changed from desert to delta. The town of Maun was about the same size as Mareeba. Mostly consisting of shops, banks, travel agents and a handful of restaurants. With the odd donkey and chicken wandering around it appeared a lot less westernised than any of the towns in Namibia. Once ... read more

Day 22 (Tuesday, 12-May-09, JRJ) Up at 8am, had breakfast and packed away our stuff, ready to go to back to Benji and found out that what we thought were hungry hippos outside our tent turned out to be hungry cows munching on the grass. Left camp at 9:45 after another logistical fiasco. 4X4 broke down on the way back to village, which put us behind schedule by another 30 mins. Once our stuff was all loaded onto the truck and we set off, we got stuck in the sand, which took 15 mins to get free. Got to Maun about 3pm, in plenty of time for our scenic flight over the Delta. After we paid by credit card for our flights at the Delta Air office, we realised, after talking to others, that it would ... read more

Words cannot begin to describe how unbelievably incredible our experience was in the Okovango Delta. We have just got off the plane (a half an hour flight over the glorious delta) and are sitting in a small internet cafe. I have to start off by saying that it has absolutely been the highlight of our trip so far. The flight over to the Kwara airstrip was a one in a lifetime experience. From the air i saw elephants, giraffe, Wildebeast, Ostrich and countless birds. Once landed we were met by Hobbs, one of the friendly guides from Little Kwara, and he drove us to the camp. The camp was truly stunning, overlooking a beautiful wide plain and waterhole and set in and amongst the trees. I was lost for words - this may sound a little ... read more

We had a really long drive day after our night in Thebe Safari Camp, 12 hours in all. I woke up with my knee still being very sore and painful to put any weight on for too long and my infected mossie bite looking very badly infected again. My infection is on my foot on my other leg. My foot is now very red and has swollen to twice its usual size. The pressure I can feel in it is just amazing, and painful. It feels like it could explode. So now I can hardly walk at all and I can't put weight comfortably on either leg - this is getting beyond a joke now. I spent most of the day in the truck lying across three seats with my legs and feet up. Then after ... read more

Just a quick update to say that we are now in Botswana. We are preparing for a camping trip into the Okavango Delta. I am really looking forward to sleeping among the animals! Yesterday was our last day in Namibia, the highlight of which was meeting a tribe of Bushmen. They were so incredibly friendly! I should go before the tour bus leaves without me, but again I hope everything is going well at home. Thanks for all the messages!... read more