BOTSWANA
Below is a map of the country with our intended route in red. Our diary is below the map.
15th May
Today was our first border crossing. To get to the border we had to drive 12kms through Mahango Game Reserve and just as we got into the reserve Oli told us he needed the loo! Normally this wouldn’t be a problem but a few hundred metres later we had to stop for a herd of elephants to cross the track. We told Oli to keep his legs crossed and luckily it was only a 5 minute drive to the border crossing. It was a fairly pain free experience except for the complete lack of knowledge regarding the carnet. They had no idea what the carnet was for and told us we didn’t need it stamped. We told them we could give them 4,500 reasons why it needed to be stamped and Toby literally had to show them what to stamp and what to sign.
Anyway, we had arrived in Botswana and it was starting to look like the Africa we know and love.
Our next stop was in Shakawe – a large village approx 8kms from the border. We arrived at the Shakawe Fishing Lodge and it was stunning. It is situated right on the Okavango Pan handle and has beautiful green lawns and a fantastic campsite. We chose a pitch that was right by the river, Oli set up his train track and we set up the tent.
The owners of the lodge aren’t at all interested in the campsite so they have asked an American/Kenyan fishing guide – Matthew – to look after it in return for free board. The only other people in the campsite were an interesting German couple who had registered their Land Cruiser in Namibia and who visited Southern Africa 3 or 4 times a year for a month’s break before returning to his doctor’s practice in Germany. Who said German’s weren’t cool!!!
We enjoyed 3 lovely days at Shakawe which included a sundowner boat trip with Matthew, a visit to a crocodile farm and an invite to supper from Matthew and Elena. Supper was stunning, Matthew cooked a delightful Bream which he caught fresh from the river earlier that afternoon and included a few too many beers, cider and Amarula, our latest night yet and a hangover the next morning.
Any keen anglers should consider a trip into the Delta with Matthew. He can be contacted on africananglingadventures@gmail.com
18th May
Our next stop was Maun and on the recommendation of Matthew we headed to the Okavango River Lodge. Matthew had co-run it for a couple of years and he insisted we stay there for at least one night to experience it’s party atmosphere. We decided that we would treat ourselves to a proper bed for a couple of nights so checked into one of the bungalows. It was great to have a proper bed to sleep on but Matt was right about the party atmosphere and the music kept pumping out until
We headed over to the Audi Camp where we had already made reservations before we left the
Our camping neighbours were Carol and David who have driven from the UK to celebrate their retirement and Toby recognised them from their website which we had frequently visited to get ideas before leaving the UK. It was great to meet them - they have just come from where we are going and vice versa so it was great to trade tips and routes, etc. They have had such a great time they are going to drive back up the west coast of Africa from SA.
We hope they have a great time on the rest of their trip.
22nd May
Today was the first time we have been cold in
23rd May
It was even colder this morning - 4 degrees!!!! Anyway, the good news is we finally managed to update the website today and load up photos from Etosha and Shakawe - see Photo Gallery page. Maun has loads of internet cafes but unfortunately the internet connection isn't always working!! Toby had a crew cut and I braved a trim but the hair wash and massage was well worth it. Unfortunately, we couldn't convince Oli to have his done.
We are heading off tomorrow for Moremi and Chobe National Parks which will be a bit of an adventure as they are unfenced campsites (don't worry mum!!) and a bit wilder than Etosha. From there we will head to Zambia so hopefully will be able to update the site when we get to Livingstone.
24th May
Out comes the GPS as we have been advised that we will need it in Moremi. We have been assured that it is simple to use and thankfully it turns out it is just a case of entering coordinates (waypoints) which were listed on our map and then just selecting which one we wanted to go to and it would point us in the right direction - piece of cake really.
We checked in at South Gate and it became hugely apparent that there isn't really any infrastructure in the park. We were supposed to be staying at South Gate campsite but were told that basically, we could go to any campsite we wanted even though we had been told at the National Parks office all the other campsites were full. We decided to head up to Xakanaxa (even easier to pronounce after a bottle of Amarula!!) and had a fairly pleasant drive on the way up seeing elephants, giraffe and lots of impala. The roads were sandy but nothing too bad and we cruised into the campsite just after lunch to find the campsite pretty much empty and able to fit in a lot more than 8 camp sites!!
We spent 2 nights at the campsite and shared a boat trip with 4 South Africans who we had met on the first night. We had seen loads of lion prints in the sand on the way up to, and near the camp, but unfortunately they didn't make an appearance even though there were rumoured to be 2 males in the vicinity.
26th May
We woke up feeling a little disappointed that we hadn't seen much game or even heard any hyena or lion during the night and were wondering if Moremi was going to be a big disappointment. Luckily for us it wasn't and on our drive to North Gate campsite we found a large pack of Wild Dog resting in the grass in the early morning sunshine. We couldn't believe our luck. We stopped the cruiser so we had a good view of them, switched off the engine and promised Oli a whole crate of Grape Fanta if he sat really quietly - isn't bribery great! After about 10 minutes Oli started to get a bit bored so we set him up with a feature length DVD and he was more than happy to stay for a while.
Suddenly Moremi had gone from zero to hero!!
North Gate campsite gave us our first real encounter with monkeys which we had been fortunate enough to avoid at all the other campsites. It didn't take them long to smell the bacon and eggs that we cooked for lunch and suddenly they were all around us waiting for us to turn our backs for a second. This inevitably happened and they were on the table in a flash and the leftover bacon had gone. Oli thought this was very amusing and was even more delighted when Toby started chasing them and chucking things at them to make them go away. Oli decided that trying to sneak up on the monkeys and chucking things at them would be a great game and it kept him occupied for a good hour. Unfortunately for Oli, the bravado soon wilted when one of the monkeys came to challenge him for the stick he had been lauching at them and Oli decided it wasn't a fun game anymore.
That night, from the safety of our roof tent, we saw a hyena wondering round the campsite scavenging for anything we had left out and we went to bed feeling happy that Moremi hadn't been a disappointment and although we hadn't seen any lions, we had seen a pack of wild dog which was even better.
27th May
After a quick breakfast - and a last chance for Oli to throw some more sticks at the monkeys - we crossed the mopane wood bridge, exited Moremi's North Gate and set off for Savuti campsite in Chobe. For some reason we had it in our heads that Savuti was only about 60kms away but just as we drove out of the gate we saw a sign that said Savuti – 112kms – doh!! The guard we spoke to also said that it would take us about 6hrs to drive - double doh!!
The 20kms between the exit gate at Moremi and the entrance gate to Chobe turned out to be one of the nicest drives we had done. The track was pretty good - not much sand - and the scenery was stunning. We came across a couple of South Africans in a hi-lux who told us there was a lion sitting about 50ft away in the long grass. We couldn't see her from where we were so we climbed onto the top of the cruiser and there she was just sitting there. So, even though we were outside of Moremi we still got to see a lion!
Unfortunately, once we were in Chobe the road condition deteriorated into very deep sand and we found ourselves driving through the midday heat once again. Toby reckons the roads were some of the worst he has ever driven in Africa and just when we thought it couldn't get any worse it did. The sand got deeper and the single track became very narrow and winding with high sides and scrub on either side. Now, it had been a good 3 hours since we had seen another car so sods law would of course dictate that whilst we were on the worst bit of road we would see another car. Great!!!
Neither of us could really stop in case we got stuck so we both tried to pull off the track so that we could pass each other. Unfortunately, as we pulled off the track our back end slipped out and there was the sound of metal meeting metal and we now have a nice dent in the rear panel! It could have been a lot worse so I guess we should just be thankful that no-one was hurt. needless to say Toby was wholelly pissed off!
We were about 10 minutes from campsite when we came across some Finnish guys who were parked in the bush with a flat tyre and no jack - not a great combination!! We lent them our jack and just as they started to change their tyre another vehicle pulled up behind us to offer their help and happened to be a British couple (Matt & Bonnie) who had driven from Cape Town to Kenya and were on their way back again. They told us that the day before a young elephant had been killed by lions and they had just been to the kill site but no sign of the lions. Minutes ealier I had lamented the fact that we never met any young overlanders. We arranged to meet them in the campsite for a cold beer that evening and left the Fins to it hoping they would return our jack to us as promised. They seemed so chilled out about the whole issue I somehow doubted we would ever see the jack again.
The campsite was huge and widely spread out, the sand was still really deep and we had to use 4WD just to get to our campsite - mental!! There were also 2 large bull ele's in camp wandering round eating acacia pods, which was cool, but also an Omen. We met up with 2 older guys Hami and Sid who were up from SA who we had met at North gate in Moremi and they offered to let us share their plot, which we gratefully accepted. The jack never re appeared and we swore never to lend anything again. Matt and Bonnie joined us later that night for a good chat and catch up and we learnt a great deal about our future countries. We were joking about the fact that you should never bring citrus fruit into camps as they are the ele's favourities and there have been reports in other parks of ele's breaking into cars to get them. Bonnie looked a bit concerned and admitted to having some fruit in the car but we said we were sure it would all be OK.
May 28th
An interesting day! Matt and Bonnie rocked over mid morning to tell us that the people we had been on the boat trip with in Moremi had had an interesting experience with a large bull elephant last night. Apparently they had set up their tents right in front of an acacia tree which turned out to be one of his favourites!! Frustrated at not being able to get to his favourite takeaway place he had stuck his tusks through their tent ripped it open and proceeded to crush it with his trunk. Luckily they had rolled out of the tent before he flattened it but needless to say they were a tad traumatised!
We were telling Sid and Hami about it and how we had been joking about the dangers of having citrus fruit in your car etc when they looked at each other and produced a huge sack full of oranges which had been on their back seat all night!! We decided it might be best if we tried to eat them all so we took a pile and starting peeling. Sid and Hami were driving up to Linyanti for the day so took the rest of them with them and made us promise not to hide the peel in their tent!!! It was very tempting.
Matt & Bonnie decided that they would stay another night but as they had set up camp close to the offending takeaway tree we all thought it might be wise for them to move into our campsite - safety in numbers and all that!! So much for that...around mid morning a large bull ele strolled purposefully into our site, our first thoughts turned to the last 3 oranges we had left on the front of the cruiser and mild comedy panic set in. The ele was obviously on a mission for something and whilst Matt started to film on his camera we all broke into nervous giggles trying to decide what to do with the oranges. Toby had hidden them behind his back and we thought it might be wise to chuck them around the campsite as far away from us as possible. Luckily the ele didn't see at all interested as we launched them in different directions away from us, it walked straight up to the acacia tree we had parked next to and started shaking it for seed pods. Oli was in the Cruiser watching Scooby Doo completely oblivious to what was going on outside (which we think was probably quite lucky), Matt videoed and we just watched in awe - a mad 5 minutes, and very funny. We have loaded some pics onto the photo gallery and will try and load up the video clip. To celebrate our relief we cooked up a lovely curry and chilled until a late afternoon game drive to see if the lions were back feeding on the ele carcas. Matt drove and turned out to be a brilliant guide as there were 3 males and a lioness feeding on the foul smelling kill. What followed was a a surreal 30 mins or so, we seemed to fall into a state of teenage giggling whilst watching a truely rare spectacle as only a couple of lion prides are known to prey on ele's - both of which I think are in Botswana. Why we were giggling like teenagers and having such a laugh was a mystery, maybe fear, maybe excitement, maybe maybe maybe. Whatever it was we had a riot inbetween retching at the foul smell and trying not to show the lions what we had for lunch and trying to change seats without making too much noise so that everyone got a good view of the lions. We will never forget that 30 minutes. We then drove a loop to see yet another stunning sunset and a large gathering of ele bulls at a waterhole. Back at camp we caught up with Sid and Hami and told them about the ele and showed them the video clip. We spent the evening chatting, waiting for our next ele visit and Matt made some beautiful mulled wine which helped keep the chill at bay.
May 29th
Mission Ihaha. Today we planned to drive to the last public camp site in Chobe. We had breakfast with M&B who were heading south today and broke camp. The journey was supposed to be a long and varied one, after the awful drive on the 27th we were hoping it couldn't get worse. In fact, it was not so bad, some deep sand and corregations and some gravel. We did have to do some off piste driving when we found the track blocked by an abandoned lorry and a safari Landcruiser stuck trying to get around. We actually caught up with the SA ele tent dudes as we got to the gate reentering Chobe from the Chobe Forest Reserve. The road to the campsite was stunning, coming down a a small escarpment to the Chobe river, now this place seemed more like it. The campsite did not disappoint, although we both arrived there in a crappy mood, can only think it was a result of the sugar low from the gorgeous mulled wine... the campsite was 8 well spaced plots on the banks of the Chobe river and the sunset was truely magical. I hope the pics do it justice??
There was a herd of buffalo around the camp and some really odd noises that sounded like alarm calls, so we climbed up into the roof tent and waited, with a near full moon lighting up the campsite - sadly nothing appreared.
May 30th
The truck needed a little tidying after last night's rapid exit to the roof tent, and as we didn't need to be out until 11am we didn't rush... and thank God we didn't. In a gesture of international relations and generousity I stopped the passing rangers and offered them some unholy German cheese Lex had bought and some steak and casually asked if they were aware of any kills etc in the area, "No boss" came the answer. Oh well we would just trundle to the gate later then. About 10 minutes later they were back, "Oh by the way there's a leopard by campsite number 1 do you want to go and see it?" Oh my god, we have never moved so fast, we grabbed Oli and the camera and jumped into the back of their pick up. Oli was a little bemused but thought riding in the back of the pick-up was cool. A few minutes later there she was - a beautiful female leopard watching the buffalo. The rangers said she was watching for a kill, I seriously doubted that, but it was great to finally see a leopard. Not sure that Oli quite appreciates that by the age of 4 1/2 he has seen, leopard, lion (on ele kill), a pack of wild dogs, black Rhino, Letchwee, more eles that you can shake a stick at, giraffe, kudu, waterbuck, buffalo etc, not a bad effort really.
Needless to say we left Ihaha quite euphoric and took the track that followed the river at times guessing where the road was. Chobe was awesome and we will return.
Next stop was Kasane for food, beer and to see if we had lost any real volume of EP90 from the rear diff seal, that had started to weep. After a glutonous brunch, we found THE mechanic who managed with a flat 24ml spanner (must buy one of these) to open diff filler nut, it was full and clean and the advice was get it replaced in Livingstone. Its probably 18 years old so no shock that it has gone, especially after that deep sand in Chobe. We decided to splash out £30 on a fixed tent for the night and had a great night's sleep.
May 31st
Mission Zambia; this border was supposed to be a bit of an experience. Having listened to some good advice we loaded up with 80 litres of diesel before we left Botswana (this meant we had 160 litres total leaving Botswana) as fuel is expensive in Zambia and 24 beers (also expensive). The Botswanan bit was very straight forward but got a bit hectic once past the Botswanan side. The Kazangula ferry transports you across to madness and there were many kind young men offering to help us with the details. I politely (well kind of) told them we didn't need their help and they could go on their way. Oh my God, here is real Africa, a mad border/dock area filled with haulage going both ways and some decent heat and dust to add to our enjoyment!! We made it through buying visa's, carbon tax (ouch at US$50) council levy and 3rd party insurance with only our bank balance damaged and we were on the road to Livingstone.