Blogs from Okavango Delta, North-West, Botswana, Africa - page 8

After leaving the tallest dunes in the world in Namibia we headed through to the Etosha Pan for some game drives and then it was off to Botswana. First we were off to the Okavango Delta for some bush camping near a beautiful swimming hole to doze off to sleep to the sound of roaring lions, mokoro rides (they are Botswanian canoes which are pushed along by poles in a gondala style) and for game walks. I was well impressed with the game drives but they are nothing on a bush walk in search of animals lead by your guide (our guide was Shakes) armed with his magic stick that seems to ward off any danger - well it worked for us. We saw leopards, zebras, elephants, impalas, hippos, giraffes, baboons and snakes - heard the ... read more

Leaving Vic Falls was upsetting for us Zimbabweans, but, together with all aboard the bus, a sense of relief prevailed as we travelled into a normal, functioning country; with local people smiling, enjoying life! We crossed into Botswana heading to Kasane, a small town on the banks of the Chobe River. After setting up camp at Tembe Lodge on the river bank we settled in the cool shady bar next to the small dirty swimming pool to avoid the midday heat, when out of the haze appeared two weary Australians; Trent & Matt were back on track after the unfortunate passport experience. Trent was all smiles as usual and looked on the positive side; he had gone through a unique Zimbabwean experience! Later that afternoon we began the Chobe sleep out; headed out for an evening ... read more

Howdy! Our journey began the next morning from the campsite with a 1.5 hour drive to the water's edge of the Okavango Delta. We went through tiny towns with huts that looked like bus stops for phone shops and hair dressers. Everyone waves.....which I love! Mokoro boats with our rowers were waiting at the water's edge for us. I was such a relaxing and amazing experience! We just lay back in our Mokoro and were 'poled' through the reeds, occasionally stopping to watch an elephant in the distance. The water had big fat water lillies in. Some of the reeds had huge spiders hanging from them. We had a few near misses! A couple of boats capsized and ruin people's cameras which was a shame. The journey in the boats look a couple of hours, with ... read more

After an early start we were on the way to our next adventure: two nights in the Okavango delta with a whole army of local guides (almost 1:1 ratio). For those of you who haven't marvelled at the footage of the delta on the BBC'S Planet Earth, it measures an enormous 18,000 squared km and is a bit of real wilderness as it is not a national park. Part of the attraction to the delta is that the best mode of transport is nothing more than a hollowed out tree trunk called a Mokoro. The guides are pretty adept at punting these shallow canoes along through the marshlands. After setting up camp and digging a bush toilet we had a lovely four hour walk on one of the larger islands. The wildlife there is great ... read more

16 July - 23 July We arrived in Livingstone around 2pm and decided to take it easy for the rest of the day. The next day we went to the falls. It was very spectacular! It looked as though many years ago there was an earthquake (or some natural disaster) that just cut a slit though the earth which created the falls. We did a few walks and got very wet a few times (thank goodness for gortex trousers and jacket). Sometimes the water seemed to be going up instead of down which caused beautiful waterfalls. With the exception of the falls we were not massively impressed with Livingstone. Everything was very expensive (starting with the $270 we paid for visas to get in—got to love being American and/or British!) and we decided that beans on ... read more