Overland Tour - Botswana

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September 5th saw us heading for Botswana. It was a relatively short drive and we stopped on the Botswana side to stock up on supplies. What a difference! You forget how little choice the Zimbabweans have until you’re faced with a fully stocked shop just across the border!

We had another short drive to our campsite on the outskirts of the Chobe National Park where we set up camp and had a picnic. That afternoon we went on a river cruise into the Park, it was a fantastic afternoon with loads of game coming down to the water. We were even treated to the sight of elephants swimming across the river, at one stage all we could see was the tip of the trunk. Other sightings included Impala, Waterbuck, Kudu, Buffalo, Hippos, Fish Eagle and Crocodiles. The sunset was a perfect end to a very enjoyable day. We loved the Chobe and will probably go back someday as one afternoon just wasn’t enough for us.

We were up early the following day and drove to Maun on the southern edge of the Okavango Delta, arriving at our campsite late afternoon. It was a long day on the truck.

On the Thursday we loaded our equipment into trucks and drove 45 min to the edge of the delta where we embarked on a Mokoro Safari. A Mokoro is a dug-out boat, traditionally made from a sausage tree and is punted (poled) along. It is also traditional for them to leak, as many of those in our group can confirm. Thankfully we had a modern fibreglass Mokoro which is more stable, roomier and leak free. Our guide was John and he expertly poled our Mokoro to a little island in the delta where we set up camp for the night. We were 2 to a boat so there was quite a flotilla boats pulled up on the island.

The journey was quicker than we expected and we were on our island by 11:30. It was hot and there wasn’t a whole lot to do. Phil tried his hand at poling a Mokoro, which is a lot harder than it looks, and we all went for a swim after lunch.

We were taken on a bush walk in the afternoon which was a little disappointing as our guide seemed rather disinterested in the whole process. We saw elephants, zebra and wildebeest.

After dinner, our guides sung and danced for us. It was great being in the bush but we were filfthy dirty and there were mice everywhere. We woke up to screams at 4am, apparently a mouse had found its way into one of the girls tents.

In the morning, Phil joined the bush walk, which was much the same as the previous day, as was the Mokoro trip back to the trucks. All in all we were a little disappointed with the trip, and we didn’t feel like we had experienced the delta that everyone raves about.

That afternoon we went for a flight over the delta, it was awesome! The delta is huge and a magnificent sight from the air. Our pilot was a bit of a nutter too and he treated us to some acrobatic twists and turns, at one stage he put us into a steep climb, which had the girls screaming, followed by a drop which made us feel weightless, and the girls scream some more! Great fun. We would like to see the delta again, but suspect we would need to fork out some hard cash to get the true experience.

Tomorrow we head for Namibia...

PS. Don't forget to send Phil a text message with your name on it so he can recreate his contacts list.

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