Botswana Wild Day 0

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Tomorrow's the big day when we leave for our Botswana adventure. First we fly to England for a few days to get over jet lag and visit the newlyweds (Richard’s daughter and her husband), and then on to Botswana. England is a 9-hour overnight flight. Then it’s another 11-hour overnight flight to Johannesburg, wait 3 hours, then a 2-hour flight to Maun, Botswana. And we’re there.

We're finally all packed. Kayla needed a larger duffle than the small one we each hoped to use, but hers was full to almost bursting and that's not a way to start a trip. So the next larger duffle it is, since there wasn't anything in the small one she wanted to give up. Never mind the clothes - that was the easy part. It's all the other stuff one takes on a trip - whether a few days, a few weeks or a month - that one simply can't do without. And we’re veteran backpackers, just not minimalists.

Our weight limit is 22 kg, though, and we’re both way under that for sure. So far her duffle weighs just over 12 kg, so that's not bad at all and easy to carry. Way better than a similar size backpack for a trip in the mountains. But we don't have to take anything to keep warm, other than a light sweatshirt. Lately it's been in the high 30's and 40's, with low down to about 20 at night. That's Celsius, not Fahrenheit. So 40's translates to over 100 degrees F. Hot by any standards. No need for warm layers.

We've been watching the Earth Touch HD videos of the Moremi Lions. Pretty incredible film. We highly recommend downloading the podcasts in order to view them in the best resolution. Just open iTunes and search for Moremi Lions. They can also be seen on YouTube, but not nearly as good quality. The filming is in the Xaxanaka (pronounced ka-ka-na-ka) vicinity near to one of the bush camps where we will stay on the safari. Having seen these videos, our expectations are very high to see the Xaxanaka Lion Pride.

Link to Moremi Lions website: http://moremi.earth-touch.com/

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