Blogs from Botswana, Africa - page 71

So much has been talked about the Okavango Delta in Botswana, often called the jewel in Southern Africa´s crown, that we did wonder whether the place was actually deserving of the label, especially after our unforgettable experiences in some of the less fashionable parks in Africa. As the thought of being stuck at our campsite in Maun, Botswana surrounded by backpackers reading about Mme Ramotswe´s latest adventures in her ladies detective agency wasn´t exactly appealing, we thought we would go for it and booked ourselves on a 3 day safari trip out into the Delta. Getting to the Delta involved a 2 hour truck ride across an unpaved track made difficult to negotiate by deposited sand from the encroaching Kalahari desert. We caught sight of a few Zebra along the way but little else. Arriving at ... read more

From Zambia, we crossed the Zambezi river on a Pontoon Ferry to get to Kasane, Botswana. Kasane is the gateway to Chobe National Park, which is home to 45,000 (yes, forty five thousand) Elephants. Due to heavy rainfall, there is water everywhere and hence, the animals are difficult to find. We did a morning game drive and an evening/sunset boat cruise on the Chobe River to see the wild animals. We have been spoilt by our experiences in Kenya/Tanzania and were dissappointed with the amount of wild life here. We found lot more Elephants on the highway rather than in the Park. But, Botwana is known for its sunsets and have seen some wonderful sunsets here. From Kasane, we headed to Okavango Delta. The mighty Okavango river from Angola flows into Namibia and river is stopped ... read more

Having bid a fond farewell to everyone who left the truck at Vic Falls we crossed the border into Botswana and spent the night in Kasane. Unfortunately, the campsite was a bit dismal and halfway through the evening some lightning hit an electricity line bringing all the power down. This coupled with the fact that the Mzungu's thought they had Malaria after Shane's very loud 'power chuck' did not make for a good night. The next day we were up at 5 for a (very cold) sunrise game drive through Chobe National Park. The park was beautiful and we warmed up as soon as the sun came up. Chobe is defined as one of the highlights on the itinerary, which it definitely is, but sadly as it had rained so much, the game viewing wasn't at ... read more

Hello hello hello, I'm sure you have all missed hearing from me but there is a rather large shortage of computers in central Africa. If you're at all mad you might wanna take it up with well all of Africa. I could probably write for hours about my experiences traveling through Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe but I will spare you for the time being. There are a few experiences that stick out in my mind from this trip that I think are really worth mentioning. First after we left the lovely beach town of Swakopmud we headed North along the Skeleton coats. They don't call it the skeleton coast because of it's lush foliage that's for sure. We drove past about 500 miles of desert along the ocean. Flat flat flat, with vegetation scattered rarely throughout. ... read more

I think the word Okavango has to be one of the coolest words in the world. It just feels so good to say it. We drove from Namibia to Botswana and drove to the town of Etsha 13 where we dropped our truck off and were transported to our camp on the Okavango Delta. We set up there and spent most of the day drinking cold Windhoeks and Lions in the bar on the lagoon. The next morn we woke up at 5am(becoming very much a trend on this trip) and caught a boat down the lagoon and to the delta itself. The speed boat was fantastic. I was sitting right in the front and the water was like glass displaying a perfect mirror image of above. Saw three crocs on the way in. When we ... read more