Blogs from North-West, Botswana, Africa

It was an amazing trip!! So many sights and a couple of stories, too!! Self driving allowed us to see so much of the parks. The campsites were remote with most of them 8 or 9 very large sites. We had heard stories of elephants or lions coming into the campsites, but to actually experience a couple of elephants actually walk thru was surreal, and slightly terrifying at times. And the park roads were just dirt sandy tracks of 10 -12” loose sand with the occasional deep ruts left over from the rains. Once we left the town of Maun, we did not see a tarmac road for another 7 days! We saw very few other vehicles, other than the occasional safari rig. And we loved it!! We rented fully equipped safari Toyota Landcruisers. They included ... read more

Breakfast with a view this morning - of the sunrise!! Am a little bit over these early mornings ?. Left the hotel at 7am for about an hours drive to the Zimbabwe border. Everybody off the bus, through passport control (a little faster than the airport), then back on the bus, drive a little way, everybody off the bus again, through passport control to enter Botswana, then back on the bus headed for Chobe Marina Lodge where we transferred to 4WD vehicles for a morning game drive through Chobe National Park. We were not too hopeful of seeing many animals, it was very windy today and apparently that makes them stay sheltered. But did come across a few. Firstly a herd of female kudu, who decided to cross the road in front of the jeep. Lots ... read more

Nach einer ersten Nacht in Johannesburg gings am Morgen früh wieder zum Flughafen und dann Richtung Maun in Botswana. In Maun wartete Marshall mit seiner Cessna auf uns. Auf dem Privatflug konnten wir erste Blicke auf das sehr trockene Okavangodelta werfen. Das Flugfeld „Delta“ liegt unmittelbar neben Oddballs Camp. Gleich bei unserer Ankunft bot sich ein Anblick der National Geographics TV in den Schatten stellt. Das Camp ist sehr einfach. Zelte auf erhöhten Plattformen mit dem Badezimmer unter freiem Himmel, die Dusche wird durch einen Eimer mit Schlauch und Brause versorgt, dieser muss selbst befüllt und hochgezogen werden. Geweckt wurden alle Gäste um 6.30 Uhr. Mit Congo, unserem persönlichen Guide unternahmen wir nun jeden Tag zwei Ausflüge. Jeweils um 7.00 Uhr gings los und für einige Stunden zu Fuss und zum Teil im Einbaum „Mokoro“ durch ... read more

Day 3 started with a cheekly little lie in until 5. Away from Palapye by 5:45 and heading north again, this time to our final destination in Botswana, Kasane. Leaving early gave us an opportunity to see another amazing sunrise and within a couple of hours we were tucking into a Wimpy breakfast in Francistown. After Francistown the landscape became more and more African with endless grassy savanahs either side, absolutely stunning. The traffic was extremely light with the majority of other traffic being intermittent lorries heading south presumably back to Gaberone and South Africa. Reaching Nata after about 4 hours we stopped for fuel and a wee in probably the least disirable toilets you've ever seen, fortunately though Reet had bought wet wipes, a flannel and soap. After Nata the A3 trurns west and we ... read more

We did get a shadowy glimpse at dusk yesterday of a lioness and then she was gone. No photo and no video. We just have to do the morning drive this morning and then this afternoon if we are unlucky this morning. So here it is again,5.15am and we get ourselves dressed for the wind chill factor that you can’t avoid in the open sided Toyota land cruiser whistling along at 40kph towards the park entrance. This morning our guide is Odey and in the front passenger seat is a young woman from the capital Gaborone who is studying tourism hospitality. Our fellow passengers are a couple of Aussies from Wollongong who we met yesterday and found them to be enjoyable company. Sometimes one of the things you miss when there is just the two of ... read more