Botswana - Land of Hippos and Baobabs

Hello from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe! Thanks for all the comments on our blog - great to hear from everyone.

First, here's an update on our travels through Botswana. Since we last posted in Windhoek, we took an overnight bus to Divundi in the Caprivi Strip of northern Namibia. We enjoyed a restful day on the banks of the Okavango River, drinking Windhoek Lager while viewing crocs, hippos and elephants. At night we were lulled to sleep by bellowing hippos.

As soon as we crossed the border in Botswana and got on a local bus we felt welcomed by the Batswana people, they are so friendly, polite and honest. All the bus rides we took in Botswana, it felt like being part of a big family as we'd trade food and stories to pass the time. On one bus ride we had a quintessential African moment - as we were grooving to pulsating ju-ju music from the speakers, the bus had to pull over to the side of the road to let a herd of elephants cross the road! Even the locals were all excited at seeing the elephants.

We took an excellent two-day mokoro (dug-out canoe) trip through the Okavango Delta. We did a trip off the beaten path, through a community-run venture. It was just the guide and ourselves poling through the reeds and colourful waterlillies. The atmosphere was so peaceful and tranquil as we glided along, spotting elephants, hippos, zebras and a plethora of colourful birds including the jacana and bee-eaters.

We did take a break from local transport to rent a four-wheel drive truck to tour through the Makgadikgadi salt pans. Zoe had a blast at the wheel of this big vehicle careening through sandy tracks and flying across salt pans. These pans were amazing. We'd drive across the middle of them and see nothing but featureless landscape in all directions to the horizon. We camped on an isolated island on the edge of Sowa Pan. It was just us, granite boulders and baobab trees, in a surreal setting. We used our GPS to navigate around and were rather pleased to land dead-on, when we went to the remote Chapman's baobab tree, with it's 25m circumference.

A few words about how we're traveling. We're camping all the time and cooking for ourselves on our stove. In Francistown, in southern Botswana, was the first time we stayed in a hotel in 25 days, but it's so nice being outdoors all the time in this perfect weather. We're surrounded by animals and birds all the time. Also, we're constantly on the move. Vic Falls is the first place we've spent two consecutive nights for over two weeks. The other tourists we meet can be split into thee categories: 75% South Africans in their 4WD safari-mobiles; 24% overlanders in their huge overland vehicles on a two- or three-week tour, and 1% independant travellers like ourselves. We are almost always the only white guys taking local transportation.



Chris at the edge of Waterberg Plateau, Namibia. We hiked up into this 'Lost World' Plateau from the plains below.


Gliding through the reeds and lillies of the Okavango Delta in a mokoro.


Fish Eagle on the Okavango Delta.


Taking a motorboat deep into the heart of the Okavango Delta for our mokoro trip. We had a wild ride, hairpinning through the reed-filled waterway.


Zoe at the Swamp Stop Rest Camp overlooking the Okavango River, a cool place to chill out in the thatched-covered bar. Believe it or not, we heard 'O Canada' being played here, as the bar had satellite TV, and they were showing the F1 Grand Prix of Canada.


Zoe in our 4WD machine in the heart of the Makgadikgadi Park. That's as wide as the track got! The sand was so deep here that we barely moved, even in L4 mode.


In the middle of the salt pan - good job we had our GPS to find our way across.


Camping at Kubu Island. Just us, granite boulders and huge baobab trees.


Zoe in the middle of Chapman's baobab tree. This is one huge tree!