Botswana

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Left Victoria Falls on the 30th. Said our good byes to Elissa and Greg as they were both leaving the tour and welcomed our new travelling buddies, Lindsey, Helen, Julie, Karl and Denis. Crossed the border over into Botswana which didn't take us too long. It was great to be in a new country and out of Zimbabwe as all the shops had shelves with food on! A great luxury to be back to delicious food and meat! Stayed at a campsite with a pool which was a nice surprise especially as it was so hot! Hannah was also surprised when she saw her sister there who is also touring Africa, but with a different tour company.

Our main activity in Botswana was spending 3 days and 2 nights in the Okavango Delta. We took our camping gear with us and loaded it and us on to mikoros, which are small wooden boats - very traditional and also likely to take in water (got very wet!) There were 2 of us to a mikoro and we also had a poler at the back who pushed us along the delta to our campsite destination. When we sat back in them, the top of the mikoro only sat about 3cm above the water level! Apart from the getting wet and the reeds hitting us in the face as we went down stream, the journey was very pleasant and relaxing. We just sat back, soaked up some sun and read our books. The time in the Okavango Delta was very peaceful, but the heat was so intense and very stiffling that it was impossible to lay out in and we were constantly looking for shade to keep us cool. The polers did take us to a safe water hole though we we spent some time swimming in the delta and cooling our bodies down from the savage heat. On our first evening there, we got taken on a bush walk, where we saw some elephants and zebras, but not much else.

I missed out on the bush walk the next morning as my foot was hurting and a lie-in was much more tempting than a 5 o'clock start! I did go on the evening sunset mikoro ride though, which was very enjoyable. We found 5 hippos and spent our time watching them playing hide and seek with us in the water. Ended the evening by watching a gorgeous sunset from our mikoro.

Arrived back at camp the next day and jumped straight in the shower which was heaven after a few days without one! Also found out that our tour leader has got malaria! But she's been put on antibiotics so should start to improve soon.

The next day we drove to the Mountain of the Gods , the tallest peak in Botswana. Some people hiked up and went to see the cave paintings but I found the heat too much to attempt it, so instead sat in the shade with my feet in a bowl of water to cool down! Cook group made a lovely satay chicken meal for dinner and then we just spent time around the campfire drinking hot drinks.

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