Month: June 2019

In the early morning we watched a bit more of the big and small hippos.

We first started towards the airport to the Bidvest Rental Station. They had unfortunately no suitable tent cover for us and a day on a production wait we did not want. It went then again on the runway direction Ghanzi on a campground called Palm Afrique Lodge. A small private game reserve with mainly fallow deer. On the site we discovered a large ghost insect. It looks like a branch or twig and is super camouflaged.

For supper we had broccoli/flower charcoal stew with potatoes.

Silke

At 7:30 am we said goodbye to Chantal and Sven.

Have a great rest of your time in Botswana and Namibia. We were picked up by a game drive jeep, on which we promptly met the next world travelers Jan and his wife. They are traveling in the same time frame as us, but started in Singapore.

They are doing the trip to the Okavango Delta that Reiner and I spontaneously signed up for yesterday, over 2 days, with an overnight stay in a tent in the bush. After our experience with the elephants, I was not yet comfortable again. Funny how different world travels are. There are usually a few points of intersection, but everyone has different experiences with the people, the food, the accommodations, etc. . Thus, of course, also quite different stories come about. Anyway, the tour today was wonderful and relaxing. 2 hours each jeep – mokoro boat – walking through the bush – mokoro boat – jeep. The boats are very narrow and seat shells were put in, for two guests each. Our guide “Locke” transported us safely with a wooden stick through the river landscape overgrown with reeds and pretty water lilies. Wonderfully tranquil. We saw some birds, dragonflies and elephants in and around the water. The walk through the bush led over an island to a waterhole where hippos, a crocodile and an elephant could be seen. A herd of buffalo ran away from us through the bush and since a few buffalo did not run with us, we changed our route. After a sandwich – lunch, we went back to the starting point by boat.

By jeep, we were back at camp around 5:30pm. We cooked ourselves noodles with Schakalaka. Afterwards we sat down for a while in the bar with a coke and a non-alcoholic beer at the campfire.

Silke

After a quiet night we started our drive to Maun after a refreshing cold shower and a cup of hot coffee. A few buffalo grazed in the pastures near our campground, hippos grunted and springbok hopped across the road. Since we found paw prints around our car, we asked the staff if there were any cats around. She said yes, the lions were stalking the buffalo nearby. At Southgate, a few miles away, we saw several game drive vehicles pointing the way not far away to a lion with freshly killed buffalo.

Wow. He proudly guarded his prey and after some time started to continue eating. The “king of beasts” grabbed the huge dead buffalo by the neck and dragged it a bit further.

About 100 yards away was a second lion that must not have been doing well. The rangers told other tourists that the lions hunted in pairs and the one lion was probably injured by the buffalo. Wildlife pure! Since the roads outside the national park got better again, we arrived at our campsite at Old Bridge Backpackers already at 14:45. We met some very nice travelers. Claire and her son Joshua, South Africans, sleeping with their dog (and the second son, who was just on a mokoro boat tour) on a campsite further on, and traveling with a big overlander. And Chantal and Sven, two Germans we already met at Southgate, and who recommended Old Bridge to us. They are expected to finish their one year trip around the world in 2.5 weeks and we accordingly had a lot to talk about. We also had a good meal at the Old Bridge Backpackers Restaurant and sat on the terrace from where we could see hippos with baby and a big crocodile.

Silke

After the fright of the last night we didn’t sleep so well and at 6:30 a.m., after the sun had risen, we first went around the car in search of our tarp. A few monkeys and birds accompanied us. Many footprints of elephants, monkeys, cats? and us, we could recognize.

Unfortunately, the cover was nowhere to be found, so we are now “topless”. We took our clothesline as a backup.

Our way to Xakanaxa Camp was exclusively on unpaved roads, some of which rather resembled dirt roads with huge potholes. Giraffes, wildebeest, ibex and many elephants could be seen.

We were also greeted by a large gray toröö at today’s campsite, which we reached just before sunset at 5:45pm! Hopefully they will leave our tent alone tonight! We quickly made a few sandwiches and then climbed into our cave.

Silke

At about 23:00 o’clock we woke up by loud noises. A herd of several big elephants had surrounded our car with roof tent! They cracked branches and took our tent cover off the roof. It was swung around and eventually dragged along! They felt the tent walls with their trunks. One elephant put his head on the second packed roof tent and fiddled with our tent window. At times the car was really rocking. The creepiest part was the noises!

Fortunately, our tent remained intact. At the second tent the cover was damaged. After about 2 hours of grumbling, the spook was over. We did not find our cover even after a long search this morning.

Silke

We asked at the park entrance for free campsites in the national park. Savuti, our favorite, was booked out. In Linyanti, we snagged an overnight stay (100 USD).

The “roads” are rather deep sand dunes and for the 180 Km we needed 7 hours. On the last 20 Km we got stuck in the deep sand. Reiner left again air pressure from the tires. Two Botswana park employees, who just passed by with their truck (by the way, the only vehicle that met us on the last 100 km!) helped to shovel the wheels free.

They gave us the tip to take a parallel road in the bush, because there would not be so deep sand. The road would rather get worse. So we first had to go back 7 km and take a sneak path through the bushes to get to said path. Somewhere along the way a thick branch had wedged itself into the rear bumper and bent it a bit. Shortly after sunset we reached our destination, a campsite with no fence and a fabulous view!

Which, unfortunately, we could enjoy only briefly. We were not hungry anymore.

Silke

We slept in and had breakfast. Then we moved to Thebe River Lodge Campsite to have a barbecue for the third night. In the Shoprite supermarket next door we bought fresh food and prepared a small lunch. Then at 2:30pm we were picked up by Wild Cars and Guides and driven by jeep to the boat dock. Mitch, our captain and guide took us and four older South Africans for a three hour cruise on the Chobe River National Park between Namibia and Botswana. Wonderful! We saw huge crocodiles, iguanas, a bee nest high in a tree, hippos, elephants, buffalo, kingfisher, storks and geese, …. . The highlight was a bank where three hippos were lying in the mud.

Large and miniature elephants joined in, a stork and a spoonbill fished around, and then ibex and buffalo also joined the picture. The sunset was also beautiful from the water.

However, you are not alone on the river as many different boats start at the same time. Back at our campsite we made a barbecue and let the Whitsunday end comfortably.

Silke

At 7:00 am we were picked up at the gate of our accommodation by “Cars and Guides”. At 7:35 am we reached the border. The exit from Botswana went quickly, at the border control to Zimbabwe there was already a long queue in front of the two counters. For the entry Europeans need a visa. The 2-day visa you get directly there for 350 Pula / 25 Euro pP. After about an hour we continued to a helicopter launch site and viewpoint of the Victoria Falls. Esther and Tamara, two German tourists, started there for a sightseeing flight. (150 USD pP). After a photo stop we drove on to the Victoria Falls. The falls are great to look at and you get pretty close to the edge. The height of the falls is 107 m at the highest point.

A path of about 1.7 km leads along 16 viewing points to the view of the railroad bridge to Zambia, from which some adrenaline junkies have bungee jumped (Tamara too!;-))We got well wet on our walk. The spray is sometimes so strong that you can only hear the water masses and not see. On the opposite edge, in the water were some people with nets in gear. That looked not harmless. In the jungle on the Zimbabwean side were monkeys on the way. One came dangerously close to a man’s sandwich. A few ibex and warthogs were grazing along the way. We had another coffee in the park restaurant and were picked up again at 14:00. Together with Tamara and Esther we had a good chat with a coke on the terrace of the luxurious “Victoria Falls Hotel” until we started our return trip. This time a bit faster, because only two stamps had to be put into the passport. After another “shoe sole disinfection” we were back in Botswana. As dinner we cooked ourselves mustard party with boiled potatoes. At the end of the day we played another round of Carcassonne.

Silke