Africa Safari: Botswana

Day 38: Chobe National Park, Botswana

After an early night (8pm!) and a massive sleep, we were raring to go at 6am on Monday. Today we were leaving Zimbabwe and heading west into Botswana. We packed up our things and said goodbye to our old crew (Mwangi, Mwai and Nick) who were heading back up to Kenya with another truck. We also bid farewell to a number of our tour group, some of whom were homeward bound, while others were taking a different truck south to Johannesburg. We, of course, were heading to Cape Town on a shiny new orange truck.

We had breakfast with our new crew and met some new tour group members, who seemed like good fun. We left Victoria Falls at about 9am and we drove west for around an hour to the Botswana border, where we were treated to a speedy border crossing.

Botswana is a flat, desert covered, landlocked country in southern Africa, with a population of around 2 million. Unlike its neighbours it was never formally colonised, although it was once a British protectorate before achieving independence in 1966. We had been intrigued by Botswana for a while as it is a proper success story - rising from poverty at the time of independence to become one of the fastest growing economies in the world (its GDP leapt from US$70 t0 US$14,000, largely due to diamond mining). Impressively, Botswana has managed to remain relatively stable and democratic post-independence and we were looking forward to seeing it after witnessing so much poverty throughout other parts of Africa.

Things started well, with a successful supermarket visit for supplies at the town of Kasane, just across the border. People there looked a lot wealthier than in other parts of Africa and the shops were really good - a welcome change from some poorly-stocked shops in Malawi and Zimbabwe.

After a short drive, we arrived at our camp and got ourselves set up. We had lunch and a talk from our new tour leader, Darlington. He seemed really nice and a bit of a hard case. He, like Mwangi, was an Arsenal fan. Smart man. After lunch we chilled out in the bar next to the swimming pool. Most of us had chosen to do an optional overnight camp in Chobe National Park. We couldn't resist the opportunity to sleep out in the wild with the animals! Chobe, in northern Botswana, has one of the largest concentrations of game in Africa and it is particularly known for its concentration of elephants (numbering over 50,000)!

Later in the afternoon, we got into our special 4x4 game viewing vehicle and set off for a two-hour game drive through Chobe. It wasn't long before we were at Chobe River and watching elephants play and wash in the water - happy times. We also saw plenty of giraffes, sables, impala, mongooses, crocodiles, hippos, monkeys and loads of baboons, before stopping riverside to watch another gorgeous African sunset.

We got to our camping spot, which had been set up for us earlier. The camp was in the middle of Chobe National Park and had no fences or security against the animals. The camp looked beautiful, with chairs, tables, lanterns and tents, which contained mattresses and pillows. Luxury! We went through a few ground rules since we were camping wild - no visiting the toilet on your own after dark, no leaving fruit in your tent (as elephants will smell it and tear the tent down to get at it) and no leaving your tent if you hear animals outside.

Then it was time for a few drinks around the camp fire and a meal that none of us had to cook or clean up afterwards, bonus! The food was fantastic - soup, beef stroganoff, pumpkin, potatoes, green salad and fruit with custard. However, eating was a challenge with hundreds of giant flying beetles, moths, flies, mosquitoes and other creepy crawlies dive-bombing our heads and trying to share in our food.

Several of the group were also unnerved by the large, white spiders that scuttled across the ground at high speed and seemed inclined to follow us wherever we moved. Our guide nicknamed the spiders the "Kalahari Ferraris" due to their speed. He was pretty relaxed about these spiders, as apparently they are not deadly (although if they bite you it will really hurt!). We weren't so fond of them and we were getting monstered by insects, so after dinner we retired to bed fairly early. Plus those mattresses and pillows looked mighty comfy. We got a great sleep, only interrupted by some odd grunting in the night...

Day 39: Chobe National Park

On Tuesday we woke at 5.45am and had an amazing breakfast at the campsite - porridge followed be French toast, bacon and baked beans. Delicious! Our guide informed us that the strange grunting noise we had heard in the night was a leopard, who had wandered right through the middle of our campsite and past our tents. Leopards make a grunting noise as a way to mark their territory and scare off any other leopards or hyenas etc who might be lurking in the region.

We left the camp at 7am and started a morning game drive through Chobe. It was a slow start, as there were not many animals about. However, before long we came across a big pride of lions, gathered by the edge of the river. They were looking hungrily at a dead buffalo lying in the river, just far enough into the water to make it out of reach for the lions. Out of reach due to the crocodiles circling the buffalo, almost willing the lions in to the water so they could pounce!

Once the lions realised they would not be eating this morning, they walked away from the river towards the bush. They passed our 4x4 vehicle literally 2-3 metres away from us. Those of us sitting on the left side of the vehicle felt very vulnerable, as there were no doors, windows or sides to the jeep - we were completely exposed and had nowhere to go if one of the lions pounced. They actually looked right at us as they passed - it was quite scary. But it was also brilliant to see lions so close!

During the rest of the morning we saw a variety of bird life, squirrels, impala, some kudu (a large type of antelope), elephants, giraffes, zebras, sable, buffaloes, baboons, hippos and a massive monitor lizard (this thing was well over a metre long)! When we stopped for a short toilet break, we saw some cheeky monkeys scuttling around on the ground. Tim accidentally dropped a piece of biscuit on the ground and one of the monkeys snaffled it and ate it up. It was pretty cute. The lions were definitely the highlight of the morning.

We left Chobe and returned to our proper camp near Kasane at 11am. We had showers and chilled out there for a while. After lunch we left the camp and headed back into Kasane for some more supplies. We then had an afternoon outing in the form of a boat cruise on the beautiful Chobe River. The cruise was spectacular. The scenery was amazing and we saw lots of wild animals up close.

There were loads of hippos in the river, some massive crocs chilling on the river bank, elephants grazing on the huge island in the middle of the river and some baboons scrapping around for some food. But the real highlight was an amazing fish eagle, perched in a tree, clutching a fish in one of its claws (photo below). Tim got to skipper the boat for a short while, which was pretty cool - again, photo below.

It was another "booze cruise" and some of the tour group dominated. Mike (aka Little Anzac) demolished most of a bottle of brandy in a touch over two hours and he stumbled off the boat at the end of the trip. One of his jandals (aka thongs over the ditch and flip-flops in the motherland) fell off and he was struggling big time to get his foot back into it. Tim asked him if he was OK and he slurred "I lost my shoe" and then laughed hysterically. Always good value, Little Anzac. Back at camp we had a good solid dinner and then went to bed nice and early. We were knackered after a big couple of days!

Day 40: Travel to Maun

On Wednesday we left camp at 6.40am. We had a long day of driving from Kasane (in the north-east tip of Botswana) south-west down to Maun in central Botswana. The landscape was very dry and barren - lots of red soil and prickly looking trees and not much else. We passed by a national park at one point and saw some zebras and a few antelopes but nothing too exciting.

We arrived in Maun around 3pm and we had some time to do a bit of shopping and internet before heading to our camp. There was no hassle from the locals in Botswana - it was very noticeable that people living there were much better off than those in Zimbabwe and some other countries, where there was severe poverty. It made it much easier for us to get around town.

Our camp was pretty nice - it had a small swimming pool and a decent bar, which was covered in NZ flags and All Blacks posters! We pitched our tents and had a couple of drinks in the bar before dinner. Our new chef, Freddie, made us spag bol for dinner and it was amazing.

There was a wicked thunder storm in the evening - the thunder and lightning rolled on for over an hour before any rain actually fell. Luckily we had gone to bed by the time the rain came - because it absolutely chucked it down. There were a few leaks in the tent. The noises were unreal - there was a real electric-sounding crackle from the lightning and an insanely loud boom from the thunder, like a bomb going off. We had never heard a storm like that before. It was scary.

Day 41: Maun

Thursday signalled the beginning of a three-day optional activity in the Okavango Delta. The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Swamp), is the world's largest inland delta. It is formed where the Okavango River empties onto a swamp in an endorheic basin in the Kalahari Desert, where most of the water is lost to evaporation rather than draining out to sea. Needless to say, the water attracts an abundance of wildlife!

The optional excursion involved a canoe ride and lots of bush walking. Megan and Tim decided not to do this activity, as it sounded a little dull to us and we were also looking forward to a couple of days to chill out on our own. While we got on famously with most of our tour group, there were one or two of the newbies that we picked up in Zimbabwe who were already rubbing us up the wrong way! Some time out was ideal! We were not missing out on much anyway, as we had booked in for a flight over the Okavango Delta in a Cessna on Saturday afternoon.

But Thursday and Friday were all about relaxing! After the others headed off on their Okavango Delta trip, we showered, had breakfast and did a bit of washing, before retiring to the pool area, where we lazed in the sun, had a couple of swims and chilled out in the bar. The camping ground was super quiet - there was only a few other people roaming around all day. It was really quiet. Just what we wanted.

Darlington cooked us an amazing dinner (Freddie, our chef, had gone with the rest of the team to cook for them in the Delta). We had battered chicken drumsticks, which Darlington called "DFC" - Darlington Fried Chicken. Very funny. Then we had pasta and sauce with spicy sausages. Delicious. While we were chatting to Darlington after dinner a couple of huge bulls walked through the middle of the camp. Very odd.

Day 42: Maun

Tim woke in the middle of the night thinking there was someone lurking outside our tent, but it was just a cow. We felt refreshed when we woke on Friday morning. We had a solid breakfast of scrambled eggs and bread and then caught a lift into town with another tour company's truck. We had a look around the shops and spent a fair chunk of time catching up with the outside world over the power of the internet. We even managed to fax our voting papers for the general election back to New Zealand.

We caught a taxi back to the camp and had pasta salad and tuna for lunch. We did some more washing and hung out by the pool in the afternoon. Another bonus of staying at the camp was that the truck bound for Johannesburg rolled back into camp, with many of our former tour mates on board! Even though we'd only spent a few days apart, it was great to have a reunion. They had just returned from their trip to the Delta and were not overly enthused about it - apparently it was insanely hot and there was not much to do there.

We had a few drinks with the old team and then dinner in the camp restaurant - roast chicken, scalloped potatoes and coleslaw. After dinner there were more drinks and shenanigans with the old crew. It was a late night by African standards!

Day 43: Maun and Okavango Delta

Saturday started slowly - we were pretty tired. After breakfast we spent a productive morning doing our hand washing and repacking our things. Then it was time to welcome our fellow travellers back from the Delta (feedback was generally positive but it was not a trip highlight) and get ready for our Cessna flight over the Okavango Delta. Those of us who had chosen to do the flight drove to the Maun Airport after lunch.

Our plane was a seven-seat Cessna, it felt small on the airstrip and even more so once we were airborne! It was a windy day and we got blown sideways during take-off! The Delta from the air was mesmerising. We were amazed at the contrast in scenery in the Delta - the landscape seemed to change so fast. There were huge patches of water, grassy areas, palm trees and patches of dry land, as well as little streams that ran across the countryside like veins.

We were captivated by the stunning views and we even spotted some game - hippos, elephants, giraffes, zebras and antelopes. The flight lasted over an hour and we covered a big area. It was a really wicked experience.

We got back to camp late in the afternoon in time to see a wart hog ripping through our rubbish bags! We then caught up with some English football in the bar before enjoying pasta, bacon and veges for dinner and settling in for our last night in Maun. Megs saw a little brown owl in the tree next to our tent, which was very cute! We hit the hay at 9.45pm - late! Tomorrow we were leaving Botswana and entering Namibia.






Elephants
in Chobe














Elegant











Baboon
grooming












Our Chobe
camp













Hungry
lions












Woah
that's
close











Praying
wart hog











Freaky
tree in
Chobe











Buff! With
birds in its
nostrils












Megs in
Chobe












Monkey
eating
biscuit
















Chobe
River













The skipper
of the boat
















Huge
croc











Fish
eagle -
with fish
in claw










Bar and
pool at
camp in
Maun










Our
little
Cessna











Maun
from the
air











Oka-
vango
Delta












Very
excite











Delta













And
again

Africa Safari: Zimbabwe - Part 2

Day 37: Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

On Sunday, we woke at 6.30am, not feeling great after a lousy night's sleep. At 7.30am, Neena joined the two of us on a visit to the Victoria Falls waterfall. It was a decent walk down to the waterfall and it was already hot, although there were not many annoying street vendors hassling us and, by going early, we avoided the crowds at the Falls.

Victoria Falls is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Locally known as "the smoke that thunders", the waterfall is situated on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Falls are 1.7km wide and 108m high at the centre. The average flow of water over the Falls is 1,088 cubic metres per second. That is a lot of water.

We arrived at the Falls around 8am and had a slow, leisurely stroll from one end of the Falls right to the other end. The beginning of the walking track had a large statue of David Livingstone. Livingstone, the famous Scottish missionary and explorer, is believed to have been the first European recorded to view the Victoria Falls. Livingstone gave the Falls the name "Victoria Falls" in honour of his Queen.

The waterfall was so incredibly beautiful. There was a fine mist in the air (like that spray that keeps the fruit cool in the produce section of the supermarket), which kept us cool. On the side of the walkway opposite the Falls, there was a beautiful garden, thick with exotic looking trees and plants and some bright red flowers that looked a little like pohutakawa flowers.

It was not the high water time of the year, so the Falls were not as full as they can be, but they were absolutely spectacular. The noise of the Falls was quite breath-taking. It really does "thunder". We spent around two hours there. After we got to the end of the path, we walked all the way back along the path the the start, taking loads of photos as we went. There were much bigger crowds coming through by the time we finished.

We had a drink at the outdoor cafe by the entrance to the Falls and checked out the gift shop before wandering back to our camp. We were harassed by street vendors on the way back - they kept asking for Tim's shoes and T-shirts. We had lunch at the camping ground restaurant, which was comically called "In Da Belly", and the food was great. It was a lazy afternoon chilling out by the pool, swimming in the pool, and lying in the sun.

Later in the day, we had showers, packed up all of our things, and sheltered from a thunderstorm that rolled in around 5.30pm. There was really heavy rain for quite a while - thankfully we had got the rain sheet on the tent in time and we had put our packs back in the truck. Crafty! We had dinner with Troy and Sara and then had an early night - tomorrow we would enter Botswana with a new crew!






Entrance
to Victoria
Falls












Statue of
David Livingstone


















The
Falls























Pretty
flowers
at the
Falls



































































Neena and
Megs at
the Falls

























Tim on
a big log!







































Megs
and the
giant
log

























Zimbabwe
flag












Our
camping
ground
pool

Africa Safari: Zimbabwe - Part 1

Day 35: Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

We woke up still feeling a little drunk from the night before. It was a bit of a struggle packing up our gear, although eggs on toast for breakfast greatly improved things. We left the camp at Livingstone just after 8am and we had our shortest drive of the whole tour - just 20 minutes to the border crossing into Zimbabwe.

The crossing itself took a long time - over an hour - and it was scorching hot despite being early in the morning. Once we were across the border into Zimbabwe, we were almost immediately in Victoria Falls town, where we would spend the next three days.

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and north and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three official languages: English, Shona and Ndebele. Zimbabwe began as the British self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, created from land held by the British South Africa Company. Zimbabwe's independence from Britain was internationally recognised in 1980. The population of Zimbabwe is around 13 million and the capital and largest city is Harare.

Victoria Falls is a town of about 20,000 people on the southern bank of the Zambezi River at the western end of the Victoria Falls themselves. Aside from being home to one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the town is far enough away from the big centres of Harare and Bulawayo that it has escaped much of the political and economic unrest that has plagued Zimbabwe since the 1990s, ensuring that tourism has remained steady in the region.

On arrival in town, we stopped in at an adventure company and heard about all the activities on offer. Victoria Falls is a kind of adrenalin capital, similar to Queenstown in New Zealand, but with wild animals thrown in.

We chose to steer clear of the bungy jumping (a 111-metre high fall from a bridge over the Zambezi) and other adrenalin activities. This proved to be wise, given that an Aussie tourist miraculously survived when her bungy rope snapped as she was falling at the very same bungy site, just weeks after we were there. She fell 30 metres into the crocodile-infested Zambezi River, passed out on impact, woke a few seconds later, struggling to keep afloat as her legs were still tied together and only avoided drowning in the rapids when the rope got caught in rocks and she managed to haul herself out of the water. Scary stuff.

We signed up for the "Walk with Lions" and we seriously considered doing a helicopter ride over the Victoria Falls waterfall, but in the end decided against that. We also opted not to do the elephant ride, as we had done that in Thailand in 2004.

After choosing our activities, we checked into the camping ground and pitched our tents. We thought it was pretty cool when the clock ticked over to 11.11am on 11/11/11. It was insanely hot - easily over 40 degrees and so dry. Apparently there was a heat wave in southern Africa while we were there, meaning there were unusually high temperatures for the time of year. We sought refuge in Pizza Inn (a good restaurant just down the road from our camping ground). It actually combined a bakery, a pizza place, a fried chicken place and an ice cream parlour all in the same shop. Brilliant. We had delicious pizza for lunch and enjoyed the air conditioning!

There were loads of young guys in the streets who pestered us to buy things off them every time we walked down the street. Most of them were selling old Zimbabwe currency (which is no longer legal tender) for novelty value. The hyper-inflation in the country in 2008-09 meant that bank notes up to 10 trillion Zimbabwe dollars were printed. These are now sold as souvenirs - we bought a 20 billion dollar note for about US$2. Quite a good deal, we thought!

While we felt sorry for them, the street vendors were also really annoying - they were so persistent. When they realised we did not want to buy anything from them, they would ask if we wanted to swap shoes with them or they would ask us to give them T-shirts or other clothing. It was sad, as they were very poor.

The camp was quite cool - it had a big swimming pool and a nice bar area. Our time in Zimbabwe was more or less free time - so we could choose which optional activities we wanted to do and the rest of time was spent chilling out. We hung out at the camp for a while and Tim cut his hair with Andrew's clippers. Then later in the afternoon we walked back across the border into Zambia to the bungy jumping bridge to watch Mike, Sara and Susan do their bungy jumps, bridge swings and flying fox slide things. It was scarily high looking from the bridge down to the river below. But the guys didn't seem to be too nervous and they all had a blast. There was a sign in the middle of the bridge that marked the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe and, as you can see from the photo below, Tim got a rare photo of himself spread across two countries...

It was so hot in the afternoon and there was very little shade anywhere near the bungy jump bridge. We were all very dehydrated and Megs almost fainted from the heat. Not good. Back at camp, we sat by the pool for a while and took in loads of water. In the evening, we had a big dinner with our whole tour group at a restaurant at Kingdom Hotel. It was a buffet dinner, with an emphasis on meat (oh Africa we love you). We had delicious soup, all sorts of amazing meat (including game such as ox tail, crocodile and wildebeest), veges and salads. Fantastic.

Day 36: Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Sadly we did not have a great sleep - the camping ground was right next to a nightclub, which played really bad music very loudly until about 2am... It was also stupidly hot, so we couldn't have slept anyway. We woke early but lazed in the tent until 7.30am. Saturday signalled the last breakfast with our old crew. We were getting a new crew and some new tour members for the last leg of our marathon tour. Mwai cooked us fried eggs and baked beans on toast for our last breakfast. Brilliant. After brekkie, we charged some of our electronics and put a load of washing in to be cleaned. Then we set off for our lion walk at 10am.

We got picked up in mini vans from the camping ground and we drove about 15-20 minutes out of town to the Lion Encounter enclosure. Lion Encounter operates the African Lion Rehabilitation and Release into the Wild Programme on behalf of, and supported by, "ALERT", the African Lion and Environmental Research Trust. Given the rapid decline in free-ranging lion populations (80-90% in the last 50 years) and the reduction of much of their natural habitat throughout Africa, ALERT supports assisted lion reintroduction programmes.

The Programme run by Lion Encounter is a four stage long-term project. Cubs born in captivity are removed from their mothers and raised by humans in what is as close to their natural environment as possible. Once they are old enough, they are released into a "controlled environment" where there is limited competition for food and then eventually they are released into the wild.

When we arrived, we were given a safety briefing and an explanation of the project and what they hope to achieve through it. Lion Encounter had five cubs at the time we visited and the costs of feeding them, let alone maintaining their habitat etc, was huge. The tourist visits to walk with the lions was a means of raising awareness of the rapid decline in lion population and of raising money to fund the project.

We were each given a stick that we had to hold at all times in case the lions got too playful with us, and we were given some instructions on where we could and could not stand and where we could pat the lions etc. It was all very exciting. Then we walked through the dry, arid bush for a few minutes until we came to the spot where two cubs were sleeping on the ground. They were huge! We had expected small cubs, around the size of a labrador, but these "cubs" were massive.

They were brother and sister and were both 17 months old. Apparently they both weighed around 90kg. Fully grown males weigh about 260kg, while fully grown females will weigh over 150kg. Cubs are born with light-coloured spots, which gradually fade and are gone by the time they reach two years of age.

Initially we took turns patting the lions while they slept. They loved having the bellies rubbed. They were just like domestic cats - purring as we patted them. Their fur was surprisingly soft and we were blown away by how big their paws were. Even their back paws, which are smaller than their front paws, were bigger than Tim's hands (which are like buckets). After we had all patted the lion bellies and got some photos with them, the Lion Encounter guy whistled and the cubs jumped to attention and followed him off into the bush for a walk. We then took turns walking alongside the lions for 20 minutes or so.

Despite the way lions lazily amble along, our cubs moved at a quick pace. We had to stay behind their hind legs at all times. If you move in front of a lion, their hunting instinct will kick in and they will chase you! At this age, they would only want to "play" with us if they chased us, but unfortunately they play with their teeth and their paws and they are incredibly powerful animals. Their enclosure (or area) is not actually enclosed at all, meaning that other wild animals can come in whenever they please, which could pose a risk for the cubs. At night the cubs sleep in an enclosed hut sort of thing, to keep them safe from hyenas, leopards and other lions.

Despite not having a pride to teach them to hunt, their natural instincts were clearly there, as they had worked together to kill a baboon a few weeks earlier. The guides were really impressed with them for showing such good hunting skills at a young age. While we were walking with them, one of the cubs spotted a guinea fowl off in the distance and she tensed up and then took off towards it, almost bowling the guide out of the way as she went. After that excitement, the cubs stopped at a pond for a drink and then they found a big tree to sit under and rest in the shade. Lions are notoriously lazy animals in the heat of the day!

Our encounter with the lions was absolutely amazing - probably the highlight of the whole African tour and one of the most spectacular experiences of our lives. Everyone was buzzing for the rest of the day. We had drinks and snacks back at the Lion Encounter office, while we watched the DVD of our experience. It was a really good DVD and we just had to buy it as a record of our lion encounter. The walk with lions was an expensive activity, but everyone agreed it was absolutely worth every cent and, even if only a portion of that money goes towards lion conservation, then it is a fantastic cause!

Back at camp, we grabbed a quick lunch at the Pizza Inn bakery and then we had a cruisy afternoon. Tim did some emails and blogging in a great internet cafe (with air conditioning) and Megan went for a massage. Later in the afternoon, we hung out by the pool with some of the others and had a few drinks.

We had a cheap and easy dinner and then chatted to the others for a while. We went to bed around 11.30pm, but we were again disturbed by the nightclub next to the camp and by a few members of our tour whose loud drunken shenanigans kept most of us up until 3am. Thankfully a huge thunderstorm with super impressive lightning rolled in around 3am, which sent the drunkards to bed. Luckily, it actually didn't rain for that long, so our tents remained dry.





View from
bungy
bridge -
Zambezi
River












Tim in two
countries at
once! Border
between Zambia
and Zimbabwe












Megs and Tim
on bungy
bridge















Our lion
cubs
sleeping










Rubbing
lions'
bellies














Such soft
fur!















Megs
with two
lions!











Huge
paws!












Walking
with our
lions!












Amazing













Still walking
with lions











Megan
and lion












Thirsty
work













Raaar!













A bit
tired











Posing
with
lions













And
again










Beautiful
lion












Warthogs
in the
street in
Vic Falls