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Published: December 28th 2010
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Leaving Zambia So on November 29th we had a bit of a lie-in in Livingstone while some of the group went for their viewing of the Victoria Falls (which we had done the previous day). This also meant we had time for a lovely cooked English breakfast by the pool, a bit of luxury in our camping trip!
The journey over the river and border back to Botswana was much smoother this time, and we all made it safely, including the truck. The ferry which broke a few days before was still there, so lucky we didn´t wait for it to get fixed! Only a few hours later we arrived at our next overnight stop, Elephant Sands.
Elephant Sands This campsite was named because of the great number of elephants it sees visiting the nearby waterhole. However given there are no fences round the campsite the elephants also come straight through it, and only a month before, over a period of a week, the elephants had completely decimated the campsite including one of the shower blocks and all the trees in sight so it looked a bit barren when we arrived. Within a few minutes of our
arrival 3 big elephants passed through only about 30 metres from where we stood. So although that was very cool, that meant that there were also other wild animals roaming around, which freaked out all the girls a bit (and I´m sure the boys although they wouldn´t admit it). Willie (our tour leader) couldn´t really understand this as apparently some of the other campsites we´d stayed at also didn´t have fences and animals roaming about but I guess it doesn´t really hit home until you actually see the animals so close!
So dinner (a very very good shepherds pie with the biggest amount of cheese on top!) was spent with the girls looking over their shoulder at every little sound possible. It didn´t help that there were massive dung beetles flying around smashing into all of us. But once I went to bed and put my ear plugs in I slept very well, as I always do! Not so by most people apparently, including Aline that couldn´t sleep at all because she heard growling in the middle of the night!
Bye bye Botswana Well we didn´t get to sleep all that long anyway as it was another
5am start. Today was a big travel day to get back into South Africa, with 2 chicken stops for breakfast and lunch (there was a power cut at the breakfast stop which meant the only option was Barcelos, kind of like Nandos, which we also had for lunch!). At our last stop of the day we had to say our goodbyes to Mei and Ben who were unfortunately off back home. And then finally we arrived at the Boma campsite near Polokwane for our overnight stop. This was a bit different from the previous night being right on the side of the highway but with a nice but weird bar that was effectively someone´s lounge.
The next morning we set off early for a game drive in the Polokwane park. We didn´t see a great deal that morning but it was quite fun standing up looking out the top windows of the truck, which we wouldn´t be allowed to do in Kruger. But Willie made it up to us, well me at least, by cooking another bacon and beans breakfast. Fantastic!
Kruger After packing up the tents we headed for Kruger. Once we were in the gates
of Kruger we did see elephants, different antelope, and giraffe, on way to the Satara campsite about 45km from the gates. Luckily there weren´t other intrepid tours in resident so we were allowed to sleep in the permanent tents with single beds which was a bit more comfortable although more importantly it meant we didn´t have to set up the tents or pack them up in the morning! There were though tons and tons of bugs flying around which was really really annoying so it was definitely an early night for me in the tent.
Just as well as the next morning was a 5.30am start for our first proper game drive in Kruger. There were great expectations for Kruger from our group. Although we´d seen lots of elephants, rhinos and a few buffalo, we hadn´t yet seen the other of the big 5, lions and leopards. Poor Willie was trying to point out impala (a type of antelope that are actually everywhere), zebra, giraffe, lots of birds but it wasn´t hitting the spot until our driver turned the truck around after a call from another intrepid driver to an area we´d actually already been where we´d completely missed
a male lion lying under a tree. At this point it was a good 200m away but all very exciting anyway. And patiently waiting (well being told by Willie to patiently wait) we watched as the lion proceeded to walk closer to the road (being followed for a little while by a suicidal waterbuck) and eventually it walked right in front of our truck. Very cool. That was definitely the highlight of our Kruger game drives. Especially given our remaining game drives were actually quite disappointing.
After a chill out afternoon lazing by the pool and then moving to another campsite closer to the gates we went on a sunset game drive organised by the national park. We did see lots of different animals on this drive though, jackal, genet, mongoose, a tortoise, as well as wilderbeast, more buffalo and lots more birds. Not bad and finished off with another good braai (bbq) dinner.
The following morning was up again at 5.30am for another game drive. This however was the most disappointing game drive, I even fell asleep for about 30 minutes given we didn´t see anything! We did see a few different antelope, the kudu, nyala and
steenbock, all of which are beautiful, and a few elephants up really close. But no leopard again, or cheetah so to make up for it we went onto the Hoedspruit Endangered Sanctuary which although yes is a glorified zoo, it meant we got to see the lovely cheetah up close.
Following lunch at the Sanctuary we caught up on the internet while Willie went food shopping again, and I also managed to finally buy some more secondhand books after being bookless for a good 5 days which had been a bit boring given the long truck drives!
Shangaan Cultural Village So our last evening on the tour saw us at the Shangaan Cultural Village not far from Kruger. This was an area where descendants of the Shangaan tribes had built some round huts and cooking areas to teach other descendants and tourists about the life in the tribes many years ago. We were set up 3 people to a round hut to sleep on lovely mattresses, luckily with a mosquito net, and then had a nice dinner and entertainment of some old songs and dances from the tribe. Again they failed to get any of us up
doing national anthems although they did get us in a circle round the fire doing some dancing. Funny how our driver and Willie disappeared at this point to do something strangely important!
Unfortunately we were all rather tired this day and I think most of us would have preferred we had done this night before Kruger, and then just chilled out on the last night. But it was quite a nice ending anyway to the trip. And no more tents! Yay!
Bye bye Intrepid truck So the next morning was another early start to go see Blyde River Canyon on the way back to Johannesburg where our trip would end. We were at the view point at Blyde River Canyon about 8.30am I think. Even most of the tourist souvenir stalls hadn´t set up yet! But there were fantastic views and it was a nice area to wake up a bit.
Another couple of hours and lunch saw ourselves back at Johannesburg airport where a few of us were getting dropped off to go to various hotels for the night (we stayed at the quite nice Life hotel). It was quite sad saying goodbye to all.
And although I´d be glad to get back to a bed the trip was a great experience. We´d definitely be back to Southern Africa, we really liked Botswana and would recommend it as a destination for everyone.
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Stephen Palmer
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Hi
Hey guys - you're definitely getting around southern africa. WOW !! even more than i have seen !!