Bountiful Botswana

After cross the border from Namibia into Botswana (border crossings in Africa are definitely different than the ones from Canada to the US – first you have to check out of a country, cross no man’s land and then enter the next country and so far they have been quite uneventful and relatively smooth) we entered the Kalahari Desert.  It was a lot greener than I thought it was going to be.  On our way we came across a Black Mamba (very poisonous and very vicious and thankfully for us very dead), two very small baby leopard tortoises, and a worm that uses sticks to make a portable home. 

Black Mamba

Baby \Leopard Tortoise

Leopard Tortoise

Camelion

Worm with stick house

Our first night we stayed in a village with the San bushmen.  For those film buffs they are the same people that were used in the filming of “The God’s Must Be Crazy”.  We went on a desert walk with them.  This is where they showed us how to live in the desert from plant medicines, foods, roots that can be smashed into soap and how to start a fire.  In the evening they danced and told traditional stories.  It was very interesting.

We then went to the Maun area where we set up camp.  Lisa and I had a beautiful site right on the river that led us into the Okavango Delta.  After setting up camp we looked into our helicopter ride over the delta.  It seems the booking was not exactly as promised. (More on this later)  As we checked into things I noticed something going on inside the boxes on the truck.  Then a monkey came out of the box with a box of crackers.  We had all forgotten (guides included) that we were in monkey territory.  I chased him down and he dropped the crackers.  The picture is of that mischievous monkey who was soon joined by many of his friends.  We have been in monkey territory ever since.  Even this morning there was a large family playing in the trees above us. 

Camp site monkey

Entering the Okavango Delta was one of the highlights of the trip so far.  We woke early and took a speedboat from camp to the Mokoro Village.  On the way we saw a Fish Eagle.  It was very impressive.

Fish Eagle

Fish Eagle

Fish Eagle

Mokoro Village

On our way in the mokoros

Long line of mokoros and polers

At the Mokoro Village (picture below) we took all of our tents, day packs (we left everything else back in Maun) and cooking stuff and loaded it onto mokoros  (these are dug out canoes).  Our polers then took us two hours into the delta area where we set up camp on one of the larger islands.  We were definitely in the wild then.  After unloading the gear and setting up the tents we had a chance to swim in the delta waters.  Our guides showed us where it was safe from hippos and crocodiles, we still had to watch out for snakes – thankfully we did not run across any.

Swimming in the delta

After relaxing in the mid-day heat (it was in the mid 40’s according to one of the guides) we started our game walk into the delta (the temperature did not drop much and man was it hot).  The first two hours had us wading through crotch deep water and into the heart of the delta to find game.  We did run into a herd of Wildebeast and some Zebras.  As we approached them they took off running right at one of the other groups in the area. On the way back to camp we came across so large spiders and a very large termite mound.  Just before the end of our 4++ hour journey we were treated to a beautiful iconic African sunset.  Night time at the camp was also very cool.  Our guides and polers put on a show for us and then we had to reciprocate with some singing and dancing.  Bring that far from any civilization was exhilarating and challenging.  The pit toilet that we had to dig was a treat, especially for if you have had to use Imodium for the last two days.  (I will spare you the details)  That night was uneventful as our guides had warned us that they have had elephants, hyenas, and even lions wander through camp in the past.

Herd of wildebeast and zebrea

Large Spider

Another Large Spider

Hiking through the delta waters

Termite Mound

African Sunset

Once out of the delta we connected up with our flights (even though we were disappointed that the helicopter flight ended up being a fix wing plane over the delta).  It was still very cool to see how large the area was at to come across herds of Elephants, Wildebeast, Zebras, Giraffes and much more.  The only ones that came out on the camera were the Elephants.

After the delta we camped in a very old Baobab forest.  They call these trees the upside down tree.  Lisa and our tent were under one and the picture should hopefully give you the size perspective.

The next leg in Botswana had us driving into prime African Elephant territory.  On the way we saw vultures and some of the elephants were eating grass right beside the road.  We then stopped at a place called Elephant Sands for lunch.  This is where things got very interesting.  Lisa and I pulled up two chairs right beside the watering hole and put our feet up and waited to see if anything would come to the water.  We didn’t wait long until a large bull elephant came into the area.  He strolled within 10 feet of Lisa and I and started to snuff and stomp his feet.  The only thing between him and us was a two foot high brick wall.  Our guide told us to get back fast because the elephant was telling us to get back.  Once we did this he calmed down and strolled down to the water for a drink.  It was soooooo amazing. 

That night we went for a boat cruise into Chobe National Park.  It didn’t take long for us to run into wildlife.  We came across hippos, elephants, baboons, impala, spring bok and cape buffalo all in the same area.  We even saw a very large and very dead crocodile that had been killed by a hippo.  Man are they big and dangerous.

On our way back to camp we noticed a herd of elephants strolling towards our camp.  We quickly parked the truck and camp grabbed our cameras and watched the elephants until the sun set.  As we watched them some movement inside of the fence posts caught my attention.  The movement turned out to be two bush babies (the smallest of the monkey family) living in the pole.  It was amazing watching some of the largest and some of the smallest creatures at the same time. 

Elephants at the camp site

Bush Babies

The next part of our adventure took us across the border into Zambia.  More on that in the next blog.  Right now I’m sitting pool side in Livingstone where Lisa and I decided to get out of the tents for three days and stay in a chalet. I have to finish this entry now as our shuttle to take us on an ultralight flight over Victoria Falls is due very soon.

Zambian Family Robinson

Feel free to send a comment.  We will respond once we get to wifi again, hopefully in a week (the connection is supposed to get even sketchier than it has been so far – in Malawi the supposedly only have dial up on very only computers and no wifi in the areas we are going)