Botswana, Africa

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Our first stop in Botswana was the (kind of) city of Maun, gateway to the Okavango Delta. The delta is quite unique in that the Okavango River, rather than flowing into the sea, spreads out and evaporates across the Kalahari Desert.

Our first excursion here was two nights bush camping on an island in the delta. We were accompanied by a group of locals who took us to the island in dugout canoes called mokoros. The scenery was amazing, but after doing 8 hours of bush walking all we saw was a pack of zebras. It turned out to be more of a cultural trip than a wildlife trip. The locals who had taken us into the delta sang songs for us in the evenings and chatted to us in the day time. It turns out that they're all pretty well off such is the amount we have to pay for their services. We enjoyed their company and we thought that they had enjoyed ours, but as we left they were too busy dividing out their tips to wave goodbye.

Back in Maun we took a scenic flight over the Okavango. My assumption about the flight was that we would be shown the sheer scale of the delta, but I tentatively asked whether we would see any animals. The pilot looked at me like I'd just asked the world's most stupid question and assured me that we'd see animals.

He was not wrong. We saw hundreds of elephants, hippos and buffalo. I couldn't believe we'd spent three days camping in the delta and not seen anything. The animals migrate through the park depending on the season and this is why we didn't see anything whilst camping.

Botswana is one of the success stories of southern Africa. Shortly after independence they found three huge diamond fields. Rather than wasting all the cash of big palaces and government luxuries, they invested in health, education, and transport infrastructure. De Beers won the rights to mine the diamonds, but have to pay 75% of all profits made to the government.

From what I can see driving through the country, Botswana's newfound wealth has been spent mainly on donkeys. It seems like there are ten donkeys for every person in this country.

Our next drive took us to Kasane on the edge of Chobe National Park. On the drive there we passed a herd of elephants. We also stopped by a bull elephant who was right on the edge of the road. He looked pretty docile, but then suddenly charged the truck. Elephants normally mock-charge before the real thing and sure enough he stopped just a few metres away from the truck. We didn't hang around long after that!

Our campsite in Kasane was right on the Chobe River. The best way to see animals here was on a river safari. The river runs through the national park and is the main source of drinking water for the animals. We saw loads of elephants and hippos as well as baboons, giraffe and crocodiles. Three elephants were play fighting in the water just a few metres away from us. Our first stop in Botswana was the (kind of) city of Maun, gateway to the Okavango Delta. The delta is quite unique in that the Okavango River, rather than flowing into the sea, spreads out and evaporates across the Kalahari Desert.

Our first excursion here was two nights bush camping on an island in the delta. We were accompanied by a group of locals who took us to the island in dugout canoes called mokoros. The scenery was amazing, but after doing 8 hours of bush walking all we saw was a pack of zebras. It turned out to be more of a cultural trip than a wildlife trip. The locals who had taken us into the delta sang songs for us in the evenings and chatted to us in the day time. It turns out that they're all pretty well off such is the amount we have to pay for their services. We enjoyed their company and we thought that they had enjoyed ours, but as we left they were too busy dividing out their tips to wave goodbye.

Back in Maun we took a scenic flight over the Okavango. My assumption about the flight was that we would be shown the sheer scale of the delta, but I tentatively asked whether we would see any animals. The pilot looked at me like I'd just asked the world's most stupid question and assured me that we'd see animals.

He was not wrong. We saw hundreds of elephants, hippos and buffalo. I couldn't believe we'd spent three days camping in the delta and not seen anything. The animals migrate through the park depending on the season and this is why we didn't see anything whilst camping.

Botswana is one of the success stories of southern Africa. Shortly after independence they found three huge diamond fields. Rather than wasting all the cash of big palaces and government luxuries, they invested in health, education, and transport infrastructure. De Beers won the rights to mine the diamonds, but have to pay 75% of all profits made to the government.

From what I can see driving through the country, Botswana's newfound wealth has been spent mainly on donkeys. It seems like there are ten donkeys for every person in this country.

Our next drive took us to Kasane on the edge of Chobe National Park. On the drive there we passed a herd of elephants. We also stopped by a bull elephant who was right on the edge of the road. He looked pretty docile, but then suddenly charged the truck. Elephants normally mock-charge before the real thing and sure enough he stopped just a few metres away from the truck. We didn't hang around long after that!

Our campsite in Kasane was right on the Chobe River. The best way to see animals here was on a river safari. The river runs through the national park and is the main source of drinking water for the animals. We saw loads of elephants and hippos as well as baboons, giraffe and crocodiles. Three elephants were play fighting in the water just a few metres away from us.

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