Blogs from Botswana, Africa - page 6

September 8, 2017. Episode 2: Seven days in the heart of the African bush. Greetings from beautiful Botswana, where we spent the past several days on a mobile tented safari, moving around the Northern National Parks and reserves. Home to both the Kalahari Desert and Okavango Delta, Botwsana is one of the top travel destinations in Africa. Much of the country is arid or semi-arid. Yet beneath its parched soil lies a glittering prize, as Botswana is the leading diamond-producing country in the world (in terms of value) and the second largest in terms of volume (after Russia). Such a lucrative resource has driven Botswana’s prosperity, and hence it is a stable, safe and tranquil place with a generally good standard of living, at least in cities. The over-arching national principle here is equality. The proud ... read more

Windhoek was 500 kilometres away from Etosha so it made for a very long drive. Unfortunately our bus got a flat tyre so we had to stop for lunch early whilst the guys changed it for the spare. Spirits we really high for some reason and singing on the bus spread out onto the side of the road for dancing and singing whilst the tyre was being changed by the boys and lunch being made by the girls! We were a well oiled machine and thankfully didn't lose much time because of it. When we got into Windhoek we had to make a detour to get a new tyre before heading to our camp. We had to wait on the bus whilst this happened, so what better to do than play some music. Before we knew ... read more

We crossed the border from Zambia at Kazungula, which was fairly straightforward but required a short ferry across the Zambezi. A bridge is in the process of being built but the projected finish date seemed a tad optimistic. We found a cab on the other side- 10 minutes to Kasane, where we based ourselves for visiting Chobe National Park. The town itself isn't terribly interesting, other than the warthogs roaming the streets, nibbling on ample trash. Be sure to exchange all Kwacha (Zambian money) at the border, since there is nowhere in Kasane to do it. We tried the banks and bureaus, but eventually I had to just ask around to find someone who knew a Zambian and exchanged with her at a terrible rate. We stayed at Plateau Guest House (pronounce it plat-oo or no ... read more

Crossing into Botswana the typical long straight African roads continued. Despite entering the Kalahari Desert the landscape was much greener and supports a thriving beef industry. All along the Botswanan roads lined many cattle, horses, donkeys and goats - all of which have right of way when it comes to crossing the road!! Botswana is a rich country on the African continent due to its natural resources. It gained independence from England in 1976 and the following year it discovered diamonds. Today the Government have contracted De Beers to mine these. Botswana also has uranium resources and is also an important income stream for this country. A country that has the Zebra as its national animal to represent the harmony between black and white. Experiencing the survival skills of the San / Bushmen gave an insight ... read more

Beste meelezers Hier weer een nieuw blog. Het vorige is inmiddels ook wat bijgewerkt en de foto's staan erin! Maandag 08-05-2017 14e vakantiedag We staan vandaag om 5.15 uur op , we hebben een tamelijk lange reisdag op het programma. Eerst maar koffie en ontbijt (wat mij niet helemaal smaakt, beetje last van darmstrubbels) Hierna de tent inklappen, beetje afwassen en zelf even een douche nemen, Er staat ook hier een lekker vuurtje te branden die zorgt voor heel heet water! We checken uit (na wat souvenirtjes scoren) en gaan dan op weg naar Botswana. Al snel draaien we de B8 op die dwars door Bwabwata national park loopt. Het is ongeveer 190 kilometer lang en een aantal kilometers breed. Noordelijk van ons Angola en in het zuiden Botswana. Het is een park, waar zowel wild ... read more

5 -12 July 2010 Continued from previous blog Day 5 – Half day mokoro trip or fishing for tiger fish. On day five at the delta there was a good chance that we could get very close to hippos, even though we hadn’t seen the one that had wandered around our camp the previous night. The morning was taken up by our mokoro trip, a dugout canoe. We were quite excited, because we have always wanted to experience this age old tradition of travelling on the waters of the delta. We’d heard many stories from mom and dad about their time in a mokoro and the fun they had. A slight disappointment that the mokoros weren’t made out of wood anymore, now more likely fibreglass, but it stands to reason that they want to preserve as ... read more