Swaziland (on a whim)

After deciding the day before to spend a couple of days in Swaziland we hadn't done a lot of research! We knew the border was about 60km from Nelspruit but that was about it! The drive up to the border was stunning, climbing up hills and driving along misty, cloudy mountain passes made for a very interesting journey! The weather was cold, probably the coldest it has been so far with a constant British drizzle! The border was simple, everyone was friendly and helpful - I wanted to know about my South African visa coming out of Swaziland and whether I will still get till the 28th (it was a yes!), and on the Swazi side it was a case of a stamp and 50 rand tax for the car.. no TIPs, which made things very simple - we were through in under 20 minutes! Being in Swaziland was like being back in Cameroon or Congo, so much green and red clay lining the roads! The roads got worse, slippery and with lots of pot holes.. every time we went through one I could just see more £ signs coming up. Since having the car serviced in South Africa it seems like we have opened a can of worms.. we are just now hoping the lid holds until the end of the trip! We drove through the capital, Mbabane, and into the Ezuleini Valley, another beautiful place surrounded by green mountains. We stayed at Legends Backpackers which felt like something out of a fairy tale.. the camp side was in the middle of a heavily tree populated area covered in the purple flowers from the jacaranda trees. It was very pretty, and you expected to see fairy tale animals and characters popping up every so often!

That afternoon we visited the Mantenga cultural village and national park. We paid our entrance fee and first walked up to the waterfall about a kilometre away. It was very peaceful, a small pool with the waterfall cascading in. Lots of fish and lizards around and it was nice to just sit and enjoy the silence! Arriving back at the 'village' we were met by a Trevor, our guide, who would show us around. It was very interesting, we got to see traditional Swazi houses and learn about their early culture. The housing village was set up for a man with two wives (this isn't a lot of wives, the current King has 56, and the previous had 78 with 249 children!), we soon learnt the wives got a rather rough deal, their job was to be subservient to the husband. Each wife did however have three houses, one for cooking, one for sleeping and one for beer making! The customs and rules were quite complicated but it was interesting to hear about them! After the tour we were treated to traditional dancing and singing, I often find these events quite awkward but it was good fun! They showed us a male and female dance, a wedding song and a warriors prowess dance. A good first day in Swaziland was topped off by a small craft market, where I did manage to buy some bits and pieces..on a roll now with the souvenirs! We are going to have to ship the car home just so I can bring them all back!

On the way into Swaziland, as I said above, we realised the car was making some funny sounds.. I say we, Charles did, I'm afraid all I can hear is engine noise! The second day Charles was desperate to sort out the car, whilst we knew this would impact on our time in the country it was something worth doing. Staying at Ledgends another day allowed him to take off the wheels and try to work out where the noises were coming from. If you have read Mandy's blog you will know they had a jingle for a while.. well in true discovery fashion ours a few months after their diff went, we now had a jingle too... I could already see the money draining out of our account! We decided to tackle the things we (Charles) could do first, before paying someone to do the rest.. A few trips to auto parts, which was very cheap, for lock tight, brake cleaner and a certain spanner head we were back in the campsite and the wheels were off (NB There was a slight interlude which I will explain below after the car stuff). After tightening some bits and pieces which hadn't been done properly when serviced, Charles changed the wheel bearings on both front tyres as they were loose, he hadn't done this yet and luckily had spares in the back (yay finally using up the spares that take up space and weight!). He had watched Rob a few times, but we still nervous doing it by himself especially as we had no internet and no contact with our 24/7 mechanic himself! Well not being at all mechanical I was impressed with his work.. we had yet to see if we could drive but it all looked above board! I understand why Charles gets nervous and feels under pressure.. it's a big thing to get right when you aren't 100% confident.. I am so useless with all that stuff, probably because I have never had to do it, so anyone that can I totally respect (it is very interesting watching, I loved watching Rob take apart their engine in the Congo!). As it got dark and Charles was still working on the second wheel we were joined by Dave and Tasha, a couple who were coming to the end of their travels. Chatting to them, swapping stories and experiences helped pass the evening away as Charles worked on. He was finally finished at 9pm, it took 7 hours!

Any way the slight interlude between getting the parts and taking the car apart involved going to (another) craft place! In my previous blog I mentioned how we are finally and frantically picking up souvenirs to take home, now we are 99% sure we will be shipping it makes it a lot easier to say yes to buying! The craft place was great despite the bus loads of tourists coming in and out (yes I know we are tourists but that doesn't stop me being snobby about busses!). There were the usual African crafts where we bought some jewellery, a soap stone rhino and a guinefowl (whilst they are numerous here they are good looking especially when made out of wood). There were also some enterprise shops including a Swazi candle shop which was just the most amazing and original souvenir shop we have seen so far! Their factory was on site so you could see them making these amazing candles (even Charles was impressed and he HATES candles!). I wish I had taken photos! They had normal ones with African print around them, and then holders with the African skyline pained on them, but the crowning glory were African animals in swirling, trippy colours. They were just spectacular.. we may have spent a little bit of money in there also!! 

 Our visit to Swaziland was going to be short and sweet and on our final day we travelled an astounding 10km to get to Mlilwane National Park. It was boiling hot as we used our wild cards to get in (South African park cards) so the entrance was free, and paid for the camping. Because the park had no predators you could hike on specially marked trails around the nature reserve so we set off on the 'hippo trail', a 6.5km walk up mountains, down valleys, across rivers and through fields. The scenery was green, a proper green.. full of plants and birds. We walked past herds of wilderbeest, zebra, blesboks (antelope) and nyalas, an animal cross between a kudu and bush buck. It was amazing to be so close to them on foot - walking along the river we saw crocs, and a group of sunbathing turtles, was pretty special! We went out again in the afternoon but across the rolling hills, you could see the thunder storms in the distance over the mountains which made us move a little quicker! It was nice to be able to walk around a reserve, something we hadn't been able to do so far.. it also got my daily step count to 28,000 which I was hoping would count nicely towards my 'work week hustle' on Fitbit which I normally seem to loose! 

 (bee eaters .. prize for anyone who knows which one! Answer below)

 (all the snares - there were hundreds more - collected in the Swaziland National Parks)

 (nyala)

Sadly our time in Swaziland was short but sweet, so glad we went, it was like being back in Central Africa again.. rough and rural. The people were unbelievably friendly, from people in car parks, waving at us in the car to those on road side stalls - there was also a sense of safety, even in the more busy places. As I keep repeating the scenery was beautiful, so green much like we were back in the Congo - I would describe it as a rain forest set in the Alps! We would have liked to spend more time here, however I feel we did get to see a good slither of what the country has to offer so whilst leaving was hard I didn't feel we had missed anything major!

(some of the beautiful scenery back up to the border)

Answer: white fronted  bee eater

Botswana 3

With our visa and carnet running out we left Maun laden with food, fuel and more money. It was the last big town for a while so we stocked up, hiding the meat in some boxes. In Botswana and also Namibia, there are a lot of vet fences where they can confiscate meat, if they wish, to prevent the spread of foot and mouth. These are normally placed in the most inappropriate places (normally after a big town where everyone stocks up), and we knew there was one on the road we were headed down. I know it is a bit naughty to hide the meat, but every one does it and 9 times out of 10 we are not asked. Luckily this time we weren't, I think the vet fence checker was eating his lunch, but Charles was asked for his licence (the police officer couldn't read it and was about to fine him for it being out of date..), and we had to get out and stand in the foot bath and then drive through the muddy water. This is filled with disinfectant.. Never mind our tires you should see the whole car! I feel these fences are another example of a great idea at the top of the chain, but on ground level highly inappropriate and poorly managed... Anyway, we managed to get through with our mince, sausage and biltong (a must!) and headed towards Tiaan's Campsite on the edge of the Mkhadihadi pan. 

In Maun we met two Swiss Overlanders, Heiko and Ursi (check their Facebook page: Grounded Ganet. In their words 'you won't understand it but it's got some good photos!), who had done the same trip as us just left a little later. They had some Landrover trouble (no jokes please!), and had ended up staying in Maun with us longer than expected. Over beers, after a hard day at the garage for them, during Happy Hour we made a vague plan to head towards the Mkhadihadi Pan together. We met up with them in Tiann's that evening and had a great braai... Sausage, home made bread and home made dhal made by Ursi which was lovely ( something else for me to try!). The Mkhadihadi Pan National Park was accessed only by boat, which looked fairly unstable! Luckily it got us both across without sinking and we were in the park. We didn't expect to see much at all, maybe some elephants, zebra etc which we saw all of as well as a family of lions as we came around a corner! A male, female and three cubs which were adorable! The sand in the park was deep and churned up, after failing to get up a sandy bank we let out the tyre pressure making it a lot easier.. If we hadn't been lazy and just done it in the first place we wouldn't have got stuck! It wasn't just us landrovers having issues, other cars were also getting stuck especially after a tourist bus churned up the roads more.. we had to help a couple in a rent-a-car out! On a side note I have nothing against rent-a-cars, it's a huge business, but I really feel park wardens should explain to peole in those kinds of cars what the roads are like.. We have come across many now who have never driven on 'roads' like the ones in Botswana and have got stuck. We got to Gweta, a small half way point, and the mosquito ridden camp site and were straight in the pool! We haven't had too many problems with mosquitos since Zambia but that night I got 15 bites from some sneaky ones that made their way into our tent! There is nothing worse than the sound of whining mosquitos in your ear, it fills you with a sense of dread - luckily we are still on the malaria tablets however I am really looking forward to coming off.. Having no crazy dreams or more sensitive skin to the sun will be great! 

(Boat trip into the park)

After reading my Go! Botswana magazine a few times I had seen a photo of the salt pans in the Mkhadihadi where the car was on its own in the middle of white salt and an amazing blue sky! We wanted a photo of this for ourselves so spent the morning driving out to the pans. The dust was insane, grey and like talcompowder, the wind was whipping it up and it was like a blizzard! Dust rained down on the car and obviously managed to get inside the car as well! We reached the pans and got the photo, we managed to get some well posed shots of both of the landrovers and had great fun doing it! Try to get the timer just right on the camera is always a challenge! We had wanted to wild camp in the pan that evening but the wind was too strong and whilst the car was already dusty, we didn't want ourselves and the inside to get worse.. Also swirling dust doesn't make for good camping! Leaving the pan we spent a night at Elephant Sands trying to cure Heiko of his elephant fear (whether it worked I am not sure) and decided to attempt the wild camp the next night! **fun elephant fact: an elephant can hold up to 14 litres each time it goes to suck water with its trunk**

It took a long and hot drive, through a lot of low hanging branches to get to the salt pan before Kukonjo island (not an island at the moment), the route wasn't marked and at times again it was fairly deep sand! We arrived onto the salt pan at 1pm and decided this was a good-a-place as any to camp! Awning out for shade, photos swapped and an afternoon of quiet and nobody! It was very quite throughout the night and no early risers to wake us up! The best nights sleep in a long time! 

(Camping on the pan)

The 11km for Kukonjo Island was fairly simple, despite there being no road there were tracks which at times were slightly squishy! The pan is fairly dry however under the crust in some places it is quite spongy. We let Heiko drive first as they are lighter than us, so if they sank we knew we could judge the ground from where they had been. It was fine however and we arrived, paid and found a site. The island was bizarre, the salt pans surrounding the grassy island, along with the mirage meant it looked like the sea was around us.. You can see how those lost in hot places think there is water on every horizon! The campsites were big with a newly built pit toilet, and some shade as well as lots of flies! It was very remote with little wildlife but beautiful! As the sun went down and the fire was lit loads of scorpions came out, our feet and shoes were kept firmly off the ground! It was out last evening with Heiko and Ursi, it had been great to travel for a few days with them! The company, the sharing food and sharing our experiences with others who had done the same was really nice, something we hadn't realised we had missed until now! They are heading towards the Central Kalahari now whilst us towards South Africa (I have put their blog below).

Our last few days were going to be spent along the road towards Martins Drift where we would cross into South Africa. We had already done this border before so we knew it was fairly quiet, with a place to stop over just before you cross. From Kukonje we headed towards Khama Rhino Sancturary. It is a Sancturary run by a community trust and been running since 1992, with an aim to increase rhino numbers - most of the Moremi rhinos are from the Sancturary. We thought it would be really expensive, however we arrived at lunch time and were told for that day, camping and until 12 the next day would be 480 pula (about £34) so we decided to just bite the bullet and go in! Normally we like arriving at parks early in the morning so were sceptical about seeing anything! Arriving at our camp site it was isolated, with good facilities - I thought it was really good value!  After lunch we headed out to the park, it is very small but we were told there were over 30 rhinos, both black and white. Going through the dense shrub land we saw very little, some birds, Spring bok etc but once we got onto the open pan with the watering hole we were rewarded with 10 white rhino including a baby! We hadn't seen white rhino yet (saw black rhino in Etosha), so it was incredible to see one, let alone 10! They were amazing, graceful and slow, however once they moved they were fairly rapid!  We watched them for an hour or so until the masses of Toyota turned up and we moved onwards! We managed to spot some Eland, which again we hadn't seen much of - huge animals - a whole herd with 17 babies! Animals thrive in this place, I imagine there are very few predators due to it being well fenced in. We had met lots of people who had seen nothing here, I can see why, the next morning we went out again but saw less.. Luck of the draw..  A few rhino, jackles, vultures and obviously Spring bok! I would totally recommend this place, it is a bit of a gem.. Great camping and the possibility of lots of animals!

Between the Khama Rhino Sancturary and the border we had 4 nights, when arriving in Botswana we thought we wouldn't have enough time to see everything however as we have travelled through we have found some places we haven't stayed as long for various reasons. This meant we had to stop for a couple of nights some where, which was needed.. Repairs to the car, tidying bits up and tackling the mountain of washing that had piled up after the few days of wild camping and an increase of exercise being done! We arrived in Palapye where we had arranged on the Friday to see Deepthi who we had met at Elephant Sands the first time. It would give us two nights to sort everything, however her father recognised our car and as we arrived at the camp site she rang us up telling us to come over to her house, rest, shower and use her washing machine! I could have hugged her! On the hottest day in weeks (officially), we got to stay in an air conditioned house, my mountain of washing was washed in a washing machine and we were treated to 5* hospitality and food (beautifully cooked Indian food - I got some hints and tips but I fear mine won't be as good) from Deepthi, her father and her son. We could not have asked for more, they even let us stay over in the house. 

(Mango which has been squeezed and dried in layers - they had 2 mango trees producing 2000 mangos during the right season!)

(Deepthi and myself)

We left the next day to head to Moremi Gorge for the night before returning to see them all again on Friday evening. We weren't sure what to expect with the gorge, but drove the 34km down dirt road to reach it. They were fairly full but managed to find us a spot which again was isolated with each site having its own braai, fire pit, tap area and bathroom.. An outside shower also which was really cool! The price was cheap, £22 for camping, entrance and a guided hike through the gorge. We quickly changed and headed off with Zuma who to get there had to hold onto the back of the car - disadvantages of having only two seats. Zuma was so knowledgable, he know all the birds, trees, insects and flowers, giving information about all of them.. He showed us hyena signalling points, trees that were good for snake bites, flowers that were good for poisons and a foot print that had been imprinted into the rocks years ago when the ground was still soft. We hiked up through the mountain stopping off at 3 small waterfalls, luckily it wasn't too hot and the water was cold! This was the first guided walk where the guide has been part of the price, and official.. He had a uniform, a radio, his own water, and first aid kit and most importantly didn't ask for anything - we did give him a small tip at the end but we really felt he earned it. This place was again another gem, definitely a place to visit, even for a day and a night! 

(Hiking on the gorge)

Back to Palapye on Friday and we got back to Deepthi's around lunch time and were treated to Indian rice, salad and curd (a soured milk based dish). I was able to watch her make it and write down the recipie so I hope at some point to replicate it! We chilled for the afternoon, it wasn't as hot as the previous day so we all felt less hot and bothered! Evening came around and after chatting to Deepthi about what I cook at home we came up with an arrangement, for dinner I would cook macaroni and cheese (she liked it but didn't know how to make it), Charles would sort out the pork and she would sort out the chicken. This arrangement worked out really well and we had a lot of fun in the kitchen making and preparing everything for the braai. As the braai got started Charles and I were convinced there was too much food.. There must have been 2 chickens, 5 pork chops and sausages on top of the macaroni and cheese and bean salad. Deepthi's father, the chef, however was very good at making us eat and at the end only two pieces of chicken were left over, we were so full and luckily managed to prevent him from retrieving a leg of goat out of the freezer to slow cook over the dying embers! It was a great evening sitting outside, chatting, laughing and comparing lives and cultures. Pudding was frozen mango from the previous years crops, how we managed to fit it in I am not sure!! Again we were bowled over by the hospitality shown and left as new friends!

Our last day in Botswana was spent at Kwa Nokeng, a place where we had been before. Due to me having only 76 days left on my 90 day visa I could only cross on the Sunday which we planned to do early in the morning to reach Charles' family in Pretoria. 

What is effectively our third 'stint' in Botswana has been fantastic, and we have come away from the country feeling a lot more positive and less 'done over' that the previous visit to the southern region. Our last visit we were left thinking that the country was hugely expensive, there wasn't much game or wild life and not much to do in between the tourist spots. This trip has changed all of that and I would thoroughly recommend Botswana to anyone (quite possibly over going to Namibia). Yes it is expensive, but not any more than other places.. We averaged £55 per day for the time we were here (3 weeks) and that included a scenic flight and Mokoro trip, so we weren't stingy.. Had we not done those we would have been on budget. There was loads of animals and it was so much greener than Namibia, the scenery just added something else to the experience.. Yes in places it was dry but in the pans for example it was part of the charm! There was lots to do and also cheaper ways to do things.. Take Moremi, we stayed outside in Maun for most of it going in for 1 night at a cheaper camp instead of paying the ridiculous Savauti camp fees of $50. We researched before we went looking for different places to stay in each town and ended up at the cheapest each time which, in Maun was the better option! We wild camped, and were lucky enough to spend two nights at Deepthi's house which always helps the accomodation budget. We were on the move most days, stopping only at Elephant Sands, so to reduce costs even more you could do it all slower.. We were time bound by the carnet so had no choice. What has struck me the most about this country is the people, the locals are so friendly and proud to be Botswanean (the 50th celebration of independence being an example). Everywhere you go they chat to you, are smiling and their hospitality is amazing as I have said already in this blog.. You just can't fault them! The people travelling in Botswana have also been the most friendly; in Elephant Sands where we met the most people who were happy to share food, fires and company.. We met people in Kasane also who I have heard from since. Meeting Heiko and Ursi was also great fun, it made the few days we spent with them even more enjoyable and we did things with them we wouldn't have done other wise.. Sometimes it is good to have new input! To sum it up, Botswana has been up there.. I would advise anyone wanting to take a tour of Southern Africa to spend a considerable amount of time here over any off the other Southern countries we have been to thus far! Roll on South Africa (no pressure!).. 

BLOGS:

Heiko and Ursi's blog: www.gannet.ch (Google should translate it!)

Another blog to check out: www.yenshawinworld.com. Dan was on the Overland Truck which we met coming down. He travels a lot and his blog and photos are really interesting! 

#africa #botswana #khama #mkhadihadi

Botswana 2 - the land of the elephant

Our distance across the border and into Botswana was going a not so gruelling 63km, without sounding like I repeat myself too much the border was easy and were in Ngoma within 30 mins. The sun was shining and everyone was friendly, the Botswana border had a herd of zebra and Impala 100m from the front door, which, the immigration officer informed, was a pretty nice sight in a Monday morning! I could only agree! Unfortunately our insurance has run out (valid 3 months) as had our road tax (valid the duration stay in a country) so we had to pay those but they were two bad (about 250 pula).

Arriving in Kasane, the self proclaimed HQ of safari, we booked 2 nights at the Chobe Riverfront Lodge, the cheapest camp site in the town, but still really rather swanky! Surprisingly the campsite was fairly cheap (which for Botswana is a shock), and it put us in high spirits to spend our cash else where..! By the time we were settled down in campsite 3 we had decided, after being recommended it by two other people, to go on an evening river cruise into the Chobe. Because you had to pay park fees on top we decided to go the next day after paying park fees to self drive in the morning. We spent the afternoon enquiring about the carnet which was rather fruitless so we settled down with a drink and got a braai going!

(Applying for jobs in Kasane with my new PA)

The alarm went off early to get into Chobe National Park which was 6km away. By 6.30 am we were in, and the animals just kept coming! By the time we left at 1.30pm we had seen all the usually stuff, herds upon herds of elephant, Impala, lechwes, zebra, roan, sable, hippos, crocodiles, heartebeest and buffalo, as well as a male lion eating a buffalo, 2 female lions doing what lions due best (sleeping under the tree), and vultures stripping an old carcass. Move over Etosha, Chobe is definitely the place to go for high concentrations of animals, the landscape was much greener with the river running along the Northern border with Namibia. Our boat cruise left at 3pm from the lodge. The boat and the set up was not as nice as the one we went on along the Zambezi in Zambia (a few more people and no free alcohol or food!), but you couldn't fault the views! We had two very experienced guides who told us about the local land, and knew the names of all the water birds along the banks - always good for me, I know very little! During the 3 hours we went into the park, and around Sedudu Island (meaning a raft of hippos in Tswana the local Botswanean language). The sun set was amazing over the Namibian side of the river and we were thoroughly glad we had spent the money doing it! 

(Self drive around Chobe)

(Boat trip)

Ever since our first visit to Elephant Sands back in July, Charles had been desperate to come back. He loves elephants and it suits us both, he can watch the elephants and I can watch them at intervals whilst reading! It generally seems to be a stop over, with most people staying one night only, however we decided to do 3 nights here - save a bit of cash and get an overdose of elephants! After dinner (and possibly one glass of wine too many), I proclaimed our German neighbours were rude and not at all chatty (they had arrived after us and proceeded to park about 15m away even though they had the whole campsite to park) and proceeded to take our chairs to our next neighbours up. We arrived, asked to sit with them and were promptly given a burger (second dinner is alway good), and got chatting to Max and Werner who were taking customers through Botswana. They were great guys, very intersting, and invited us for breakfast the next morning as they needed to use up their cereal! Non-surprisingly they were South African (always very hospitable)!

Friday rolled around very quickly, our last day at the site, and Botswana's 50th year of independence. Us, as well as most of the other people on the site and the staff had their celebratory tshirts on and there was a good mood all around. As it got busier we were joined by an Indian family who live all around Botswana and were invited to spend the evening with them. We were thoroughly spoiled, an amazing braai and great company from all their family. All this to a backdrop of elephants coming and going. We even had thunder and a bit of rain, apparently this is good luck, fingers crossed then! It was great to see a country so united and proud of their independence, chatting to the owner of Elephant Sands she told me that reading Botswanas history (something I had already done), was a real testament as the handover was peaceful and the circumstances of the first presidents rule very interesting - worth a read. We also were continuously told how good the current Botswanean President is; zero tolerance on poaching (shoot on the spot) which has lead to Botswana having 40% of all Africa's elephants. He is also promoting new business growth and education. It was nice to hear! 

(Matching Botswana 50 tshirts!)

Leaving earlier than expected on the Saturday we popped into Nata Bird Sancturary on the way to  Maun. Sadly we saw very few birds apart from Pelicans, I think we were in the wrong season, but did see a lot of wilderbeest! My advice for here it to check you are in season before parting with your £10. Leaving Nata faster than expected we powered it to Maun to try and get things booked on the Sunday (easier said than done, shops are generally closed which is a bit of a concept to get around coming from Britain!), as it was past lunch time and the shops were closed we checked into Audi camp which was a bit of a rip off (they charged you double for electricity!), but it had a pool which after a very hot drive was very welcome! 

(No birds but lots of wilderbeest in Nata)

Booking Moremi was a mission, especially on a Sunday! You are advised to book your trip at least a year in advance, something we had already failed to do but hey, we like a challenge! The plan was to try and book at least one night in the park so we could do a Mokoro trip on the Tuesday. This is easier said than done as each camp site is run by its own concession with its own offices at different ends of the town, finally we got so fed up we went straight to the Department of Parks where the very helpful lady told us just to turn up on the gate and see whether we could book. Take enough cash she also told us.. Very sensible as again Botswana manages to rip off the tourists.. For me (International) the campsites can be up to 50 US dollars, and for Charles (South African), up to £13.. It drives me mad and is almost worth getting a South African passport (this however, I hear is not so easy either!). Anyway we were planning to fuel the tourist trip and go into the park, so you are stuck between a rock and a hard place! That decided (if it didn't work we would come in and out across the two days), we booked the Mokoro trip and all was pretty much sorted! Food shopping was done, no alcohol though because it's a Sunday, and no bikini (an ongoing saga which has had me looking in every town we get to.. They just don't sell them anywhere). A half successful morning! We moved camp sites to Island View which was 10x nicer - two pools with all added extras included for an afternoon of relaxation before the park the next day! 

The day you go into the park is filled with two emotions.. Oh do I really have to get up (at 4.45am) and yay we are going into the park what will we see! We had a 90km drive to the gate which was at times testing, we had been lulled into a false sense of security about roads with Etosha and Chobe but hit the ground hard navigating the corrugated and deep sandy roads around Moremi - this continued in the park also where they found a new type of corregation that not only go up and down but side to side, granted however it is a good ab work out! Arriving at the gate we were welcomed by 17 wild dogs, with cubs. We had not seen any since Kafue in Zambia where they were very shy, but here they had no problems playing around and sun bathing on the road! Great start! The ranger at the gate told us the reservations lady wouldn't be in till 11am (I mean what! Monday morning when due to offices being closed on a Sunday they probably have the most walk ins), but to just head to the camp and ask if they had any space. This again was fairly idealistic because it would take 3 hours to get there and if they turned around and told us no it would be a mission to get out. It in fact took us 6 or so hours to get to the campsite as we were blocked off by water crossings which were fairly deep and with the likely possibility of crocs. Had we been with others we would have done them but we chickened out! 

We saw some great animals, mainly around the boggy swamp areas - the normal including sable and roan - but very little where it was dry and barron. Arriving at the camp site we were hot and tired, not knowing whether we could stay we just set up camp and waited for the site worker to arrive, 3 hours later he did (claims he missed us coming in ..) and said it was fine to camp. That evening we watched the sun set, a thunder storm in the distance, fire flies dancing and at 10.30 as we were in the tent a female hyena and Cubs raided the bins for dinner. It was quite funny because to begin with we thought it was a lion and were convinced the bin was the lion, it wasn't until we flashed the car lights we realised it was a hyena .. Funny what your eyes see in the dark (bin lions apparently - they go well with Anthillopes and rockopotamuses). They destroyed our neighbours camp, who woke up to pots and pans over the marsh lands and 5 litres of oil gone, why you would have that much oil any way beats me, plus leaving your stuff out in the middle of a National Park, overnight.. Anyway waking up the next morning we headed towards the Mokoro place, it was only a 25km drive but after previous day's fiasco where it took us 6 hours to do 45km we thought we would give ourselves as much time as possible! It turns out the roads was ok, and it took us only 2 hours to get there!

The Mokoro trip was something Charles has been looking forward to. He had done it before with his family in 2007 and had seen loads of elephants and other animals along the river. As we pulled up he exclaimed that the water level was a lot lower than last time but never the less we were still looking forward to heading out. On the Mokoro (fibreglass, as the wooden ones are not used anymore due to termite infestations or becoming too heavy with water), it was so peaceful. It was so nice to sit, relax, hear the wind and the occasional bird chirping across the park. We saw very little game, some lechwears and Impala but the reeds were very high either side. Sadly, our guide told us there had been a fire at the beginning of September so the game was just returning. It was a bit of a shame but still nice. I think Charles felt a little under whelmed about it, it didn't quite live up to expectation but was a great thing to do. 

I think under whelmed was how we felt about the whole of Moremi to be honest, coming from Chobe where we saw so much (and could stay outside the park easily), we had very high expectations. We didn't see as much as we had hoped (which really is luck of the draw, we met some people who load lion and leopard), and the roads were awful in parts which was a shame as Charles (the main spotter) was concentrating more on driving than the animals. As with all of Botswana it was expensive, a luxury which we decided to do, I am glad we went but am glad we didn't book more time in there. This overall feeling was portrayed by others who we also met, I think maybe the park authorities need to think more about their parks and less about ripping off tourists.. However we still had a great time, Mokoro, wild dogs, with one of the highlights being us lending a Toyota our sand ladders to get out of the deep sand! We left tired, dusty, grimy and we glad for a shower! My advice, go to Chobe!!

We had been told by a lot of people we had met to do a flight over the Okavango Delta, initially we nodded and said 'hum maybe' but assumed it would be mega expensive and there would be no chance we could afford it. During a moment of maddness and a wifi connection, I decided to look into prices and phone up some companies. This is something I would suggest booking more than 2 days in advance (unlike Moremi!), as all but one company had a flight on Wednesday morning. Air Shakawe told us they had a flight and then the price, I politely declined saying it was too much for us to which they replied if more people booked on the price would go down. This was on the Sunday and we were heading to the park for two days with no signal the next day. I told them I would ring them up on Tuesday evening and see if they had managed to find anyone else. Whilst in the park, Charles and I got chatting saying we should just go for it, that go for it mentality, we won't be here again so best not to have any regrets! Leaving Moremi I phoned up the office and they said they had filled it with two places left for 2/3s the original price they gave us. BONUS! It made it much easier to swallow and we agreed!

We arrived at Maun airport the next morning at 7.45 for an 8.30 flight, checked in and met the rest of the group who had just found out the flight had been filled and the cost had decreased (they were very happy!). Through the metal detectors and passport control, and we boarded the Cessna, taking off at exactly 8.30 (very un-Africa time!). Our pilot, Charlotte, told us the vague route we would take; over the delta and tributary rivers, across the dry pans and then returning over the forest. The views were incredible, you really got a feel for the landscape and geography of the area. So much water and green, followed by yellow, bare trees and dry salt and sand pans. We saw loads of animals that looked like small plastic toys, herds of elephant, giraffes, zebra and Impala, and also three rhinos and a lion which I spotted (our pilot had been flying for 3 years over the delta and had only seen a lion twice!). We were very lucky, it made up for the lack of animals the previous day! We were flying at 150m, the same height as the fish eagles and vultures and it was funny to be at the same level as them! After our hour was up we landed back down smoothly, all of us in awe of what we had just seen! A great way to end our time in Maun. 

A final small plug.. We were given this magazine by the editor who we met in Katima. It had been fantastic and whilst it is only published in Namibia and South Africa, if you are planning to come to Botswana to look them up. They also have published others on Etosha and other places in Southern Africa! We worth a read, we loved it and have used it a lot! 

From here (tomorrow 6.10.16), we head towards Gweta and the Mkhadihadi Pans - more driving, more fuel and more money! Botswana is great but our bank accounts are certainly not enjoying it!  

#africa #botswana #botswana50 #overland #chobe #moremi #okavangodelta #airshakawe 

Namibia 4

The border dash was fairly uneventful, lots of driving, sadly no Harry as we had finished him around Etosha (we had moved onto the Hobbit which was fine until about chapter 8 where I got lost..). We had two stop overs, one at Oppi Koppi which was free for 'Overlanders' providing you posed for a photo. We saw Rob and Mandy, Kars and Simone and the two cyclists Sarah and Scott who we met at the Fish River Canyon in the photo book hall of fame. It was a nice site, and they provided a good meal, I finally tasted zebra, oryx, Spring bok and kudu on a game sosaties (a kebab skewer), which was really nice as well as a pizza.. Something you have to have when the chance arises! Charles and I have started a plate sharing thing, we both other something the other one likes and halve it.. All very romantic but really it prevents food envy.. The crux of all good relationships! The second stop along the way was Roy's Camp, another example of the farmers branching out in times of hardship, the camp site was decent and on the site of a farm.. The pool was a real welcome after 6 hours of hot and sticky driving! Why I ever complained about the cold in Swakobmund or Pretoria I will never know!  As we are moving onto the fairly touristy Caprivi strip sites are becoming busier and harder to find a place, great for the businesses but harder for us, Oppi Koppi was so full they were squeezing and sharing camp sites, this, however, is generally not a problem as they are all huge! 

Two days before our visa was to expire we decided to try our luck at the border near Ngepi camp and a short drive through the Bwabata National park. After another sweltering drive we arrived and explained our situation to a lovely immigration official who told us we could have another 30 days (having only used 60/90) but to do so we would have to be stamped out of Namibia, walk over to Botswana get stamped in then out, returning to Namibia for a new visa.. So we left the car in Namibia and walked the 100m to the Botswanean immigration. The lady there thought it was highly amusing, and chatted away to us as she was filling out paper work and stamping our passports twice. Coming back into Namibia all was well, new visa stamped, carnet checked and a new road tax slip - we had lost the last one and needed a new one, you can get fined if you fail to produce.. The policeman there was highly unimpressed we had lost it but after a bit of sweet talking (and 250 dollars) he was all smiles and polite chat!

Arriving at Ngepi camp along the Okavango river we we shocked, when we had been here in April the river had been so high, and half the camp site had been under water. Now it was dry, there was no fun river crossing to get in (Charles being most put out as he had wanted to clean the underneath of the car driving through), the camp site was accessible and the river level much lower. This was a good thing as we took the last camp spot, they were so busy, all houses filled and all sites booked out! Our spot was not as good as the first time, sadly we weren't on the river this time but we were glad to be able to stay there. We booked in for 4 nights, mainly to slow down a bit, sort out the car and also visit the national parks around the area. The first two mornings were spent cleaning the car and fixing problems that had occurred - the connections for the light switches had become loose and bulbs needed to be changed and fitted.. Also the car needed a serious clean inside. We don't care too much about dust, it's just a daily issue but it had gotten bad even for us! The afternoons were spent on their sun deck or in the caged pool in the river cooling down. Lots of wild life to be seen as well as bird life. Sitting on the deck and around the bar area throughout the afternoons allowed us to chat to others at the camp, we met Figure of 8 Africa, Goeff from the UK and his daughter Eve, in a defender and Toyota who had followed our blog (very strange meeting people who already know your journey), and Clement and Joanne who were South Africans and had quit their jobs etc and were travelling around for 4 months. It was nice to chat to others and swap stories.. Bugs, police, animals and good places to stay. 

(River level and water level in April when we first visited)

(Same spot in September)

On the Friday we went into Babwata National Park, it is a small park but when we went in back in April we saw loads of animal. We were lucky to see buffalo which we hadn't seen much of, and also roan! I am slowly getting to grips with all the names of the antelope-y animals, David Atenborough doesn't really touch on the roan, eland, sable etc during his Africa shows, so I have to be forgiven for only really knowing zebra and Impala.. And even then I get Impala confused with Spring bok, puku and lechwears! By 12 the sun was roasting, we were sweating and the animals had retired to the bush! Back to Negepi we went and moved to our new camp site 20 by the river - we had extended our stay by another night and were lucky enough to be able to move, our first site was fine but not next to the hippos on the river which is definitely a feature of the camp site! Our first evening there was great, hippos grunting away as we had our braai - pork and home made bread, with a couple of beers - we were going to eat at their restaurant but the menu for the night was stew which, to be honest, we could easily make ourselves, plus our braai was much nicer! The second day in our new spot was spent spending time with, and chatting to our new neighbours, 3 couples who had all met in Hong Kong but two were South African and they were doing a tour of Namibia. They were very fun, and made the day and night fly by with lots of smiles. 

(Home made bread) 

We had wanted to move along the horse shoe part of the Caprivi however realising we had no food, it was a Sunday and there was no shops until Katima Mulilo we changed our plans to head there. Frustratingly we didn't arrive until 1.10 when the shops closed so we splashed out on a KFC and headed towards Namwi Island Campsite on the Zambezi river. It was an ok place, not much soul but served a purpose for the night until we could head back into town, find some food and move to the Caprivi Houseboat Lodge, which the previous night had been full. We stayed here for 2 nights, fishing, catching up on admin jobs, researching Botswana and speaking to family! We also spoke to a bird photographer who recommended another campsite 30km away. We weren't going to go there, as we had never heard of it however he told us it was great for bird watching! Never keen to turn down ticking off some more birds in out 'Birds of Southern Africa' book we moved there after our stay at the house boat. 

Kalizo Lodge did not disappoint. Campsites set on the wide, meandering river, under large trees, we arrived about 10am and were already seeing some beautiful birds! Carmine bee eaters, which were a shocking pink and orange were everywhere, skimmers, storks, as well as fish eagles and yellow billed kites. Sadly our camera was not so good for some of them, but we managed to get some fairly decent photos! Boats out on the river were catching huge tiger fish and it was great fun watching them as they hauled up these huge fish! In the morning we drove the 2km just outside the campsite to a hide. We had been told there was a colony of carmine bee eaters there which were worth a look. There were hundreds of them and we certainly didn't need the hide! The noise and the colours were incredible! An amazing sight to behold, and Charles was having great fun taking photographs!  

On our first trip to the Caprivi we had stayed at the rather expensive Namushasha Lodge, which was rather nice! Heading towards Nkasa Rupara National Park we stopped over there for the night, spending the afternoon in the swimming pool and the evening drinking gin and tonics on their beautiful decks! We made a hasty getaway after sunset due to the amazing smelling food making its way out of the kitchen, it was all slightly above our price range, and besides, our sausages in the braai were almost as nice!

Nukasa Rupara National Park is a small park at the bottom of the bulb of the Caprivi. We had come here previously but not stayed as we couldn't find the community campsite. There are a few here, one being the Livingstone Exclusive Campsite (we thought Namushasha was expensive this was 285N$ per person per night), a tented campsite which again would have been out of our price range and a community campsite, Rupara Camp. This time we made a concerted effort to find it, and with a bit of luck we did! A small site, each pitch with its own toilet and hut for shade for a mere fraction of the price, 80N$ per person per night. After securing our spot we headed off to the park HQ for a permit for the next day, and spent some time driving around the roads leading up to the park which you can do for free. We saw loads of elephant, all a little stressed with the hot weather, warthogs having a great time in the mud, zebra, wilderbeest and Impala. Not bad for free!  The weather here in the Caprivi at the moment is excruciatingly hot, by 9am the sun cream is on, and I have gone back to tshirts for prevent too much sun burn (having got burnt badly at Kalizo!). It makes things ten times harder; when driving I am always hopeful I will be in the shade, and if not have a scarf over my arms as the sun is so feirce, it makes exercising hard (we choose to do it morning or late afternoon), and just walking around the camp site you get hot and bothered! The campsite was fantastic, whilst setting up our lunch under a grassy hut, 8 elephants and a baby came down to the watering hole for a splash and a drink! Not even in the park and we were getting up close and personal with the wildlife! 

(Elephants whilst eating lunch!)

As darkness fell and the mossies began to bite we headed up to the tent to watch the watering hole. We had both just fallen asleep when we heard crashing noises and awoke to two elephants trashing the trees around us. They were about 5m away and drinking out of the toilets! There were some funny sounds coming from both ends, slurping and farting, and lots of trees snapping! It was slightly nerve racking but after an hour they moved on! Was a pretty cool experience! After an early wake up, we drove round the Nkasa Lupala national park, seeing and hearing loads of elephants, Impala and warthogs. As the sun rose higher we left the park, filled up with food in Katima and headed towards Ngoma (where we would cross to Botswana). We stayed the rest of the day and night at Chobe Lodge, on the edge of the Chobe River and across from the National Park, it was stunningly beautiful. The lodge and campsite were on the river, Charles was able to fish whilst I sat and bird watched. Over the other side of the river there were elephants and zebras. What a way to leave Namibia!

(Views from the camp site at Chobe Camp)

 Namibia.. I can honestly say we have loved this country, it is deinfitly up there with the top places we have been, but not top (Malawi still clinches it!). Down South we loved the scenery, the different places to see related to their flourishing diamond mines, the canyons and craters, the walking and the towns quintessentially German/Swiss in their appearance. The middle and as far North as we went, was so different, dry and arid, experiencing Namibia hospitality at its best. Staying with those who know the land inside out and experiencing some things no 'tourist' would see! The wildlife was stunning, and landscapes vast! The Caprivi strip is still a highlight, it's so green and full of animals and birds! Whilst it is more popular with the tourists (and a bit more pricey) I would recommend a trip from Livingstone in Zambia, all the way down the Caprivi towards Etosha and then Windhoek. You really will see some gems of Namibia. It is an easy country for tourists, everything is labelled, and sign posted, prices are fairly readily available and you don't have to search for somewhere to stay, food is everywhere but is very Un-Namibian, however apart from pap and meat I am not really sure what is! For me, it still wasn't quite up there as Malawi, due to the lack of interaction with locals, and fact that it is so busy with people however it is  still a place I would recommend in a heart beat! 

Namibia 3

Our next big adventure was into Etosha, or E-toe-Sha as the Americans like to call it, is one of the biggest and most densely populated parks in the world. A bit of history (as the entrance blurb is next to me). Etosha is made up of a pan which was a lake millions of years ago this has an area 4730km, whilst the park as a whole has an area of 22270km. It has around 114 mammal species, 380 bird species and 110 reptile species. These statistics mean you would hope to see something and luckily we did! We stayed about 30km outside the park the night before in a fantastic campsite called Mondjila Safari camp; cheap and a good location, nice campsites and amazing smells coming from the kitchen - sadly it was a little too pricey for us! Having stayed up most of the previous night lion hunting (unsuccessfully), we were both shattered and in bed early. This was probably a good thing as we were up at 5.30 to get to the gate for opening at sunrise. Since the clocks have changed, forward, sunrise is now at about 6.45. Getting into the park was interesting, a fairly simple process made difficult by lazy gate staff and a bizzare paying systems, however we decided to pay for two day passes which came to £16.. Not bad at all really, cheaper than most places! They get you on the camping in the park so we decided we would camp outside and come back in each morning (so we planned..!).

Etosha is very commercial, the most commercial national park we have been to yet! Lodges and camp grounds were very modern, shops, tourist shops and filling stations were littered around. The roads on the whole good, graded gravel tracks and only some places you really needed a 4x4.. Road users fairly inconsiderate, driving extremely fast with little or no consideration for the animals next to the road which often jumped out of the way! The most common sights around the watering holes are the numerous white Toyotas (now nicknamed the impala of the road), and the overland/tourist busses carting people around from animal to animal.. Here's a lion, here's a zebra.. And so on! However, despite my early ramblings and grumblings it was actually a nice park! On a small side note, day 1 we hit, and went over the 40,000km mark for the trip.. We will be placing bets on the final count!

Despite how dry it is here, there are loads of animals, high populations of predators which have not seemed to make much of a dent in the game population.. Hundreds of zebra, Spring bok and Impala on every road! Very quickly on day 1 we saw a pack of jackles, black faced Impala (quite rare), Spring bok, oryx, kudu, Impala, zebras and elephants! As the sun got higher, and temperatures reached highs of 40 degrees, the herds of Toyotas retreated to the restaurants leaving us 'poor folk' to claim the peace and quiet in the park. It was at this point we saw two spotted hyenas chilling on the plains, very ugly, yet strangely beautiful animals, they look like thay have stolen someone's clothing and not quite matched it all up! Charles was very pleased as he really likes these animals. Arriving at the nearest water hole we were again rewarded with a rare sight, a black rhino which I have yet to see - they are funny looking animals, squat with small eyes.. They look like something out of Dr Who (I can't remember what, but the ones who liked to kill a lot with a potatoe head coming out of a space suit.. Rich you may know their names!). As the afternoon wore on we noticed a pack of Toyotas cirlcing around at the side of the road, another thing in Etosha is that it is very easy to let someone else do the spotting and then go and crash their party (this happened with the hyenas, we spotted them and within 10 minutes there were another 6 cars around us). We were right to do so, and as we puled up saw a female lion, her cub and a kill lying under a tree. An incredible sight and we spent a good hour watching them, the power in her teeth ripping the zebra to pieces was amazing, the cub was giving it a good go also! With the gates soon closing we headed out at the East side of the park and stayed the night at Sachsenheim Guest Farm, a lovely place on a cattle farm - cheap, hot water and big sites, and only 20km outside the park. 

(Obligatory ice cream selfie)

Up early again we headed to the gate where again it was all kinds of a pain to get in.. Whilst we had already paid the previous day it was far too much effort for the gate staff to off of their bottoms to check, meaning each car had to stop and the driver get out before they could get in making it a long and drawn out process! Finally we got in and headed back into the park via a similar route to the previous day. We went more back roads this time, seeing red haartebeast, hyenas with a kill and hundreds of vultures. Driving past the place where the lions were the previous day they had long gone, however this had not filtered through to the tourist game drive drivers who were all circling the place mystified that the lions had gone.. But they were there yesterday, they kept saying to us.. Makes you wonder really.. We headed back to the Anderson gate where we had come in the first morning and were there around lunch time, as we got there and looked at the map and also how many days we had left on our visa, we realised that we weren't really in a great position, also having just spoken to another Landrover owner (we really are few and far between so tend to seek each other out and band together at all opportunities to swap break down stories) who had stayed in the park that night, we decided that we may regret not doing so if we didn't. We like a change of plan, it keeps us on our toes and luckily we spoke to the most competent NWR receptionist we have yet to meet who was able to make us a reservation at Olifants which apparently has one of the best watering holes. She found it funny we had not made a reservation andslightly shocked at the fact our plans were only stretched to the next hour! Luckily she found us a reservation and we drove rather quickly the 133km to get there. We saw less on the second day, more of the same game animals, hundreds of zebra, wilderbeest (or Williams as they are now fondly known). 10km from the campsite we stopped off at a huge watering hole, around it were a herd of elephants including some small babies, zebra (who were doing a pretty good job intimidating the elephants away from the water), Spring bok, Impala, wilderbeest, ostrich and giraffe. It was a pretty magnificent sight to behold! The was also a jackle, who sadly seemed to be on its way out, we didn't think it would survive the night - apparently there has been an outbreak of rabies amongst the jackle population so it could have been that! 

The campsite Olifanturus was less commercial than the others in the park, it was smaller and even though we were in the overflow site it was still great. In fact we thought we had a better deal than the other campers as we will had all the same facilities (electricity, braai etc) but were right next to the picnic tables.. Bonus! Tent was up in record speed and beers opened so we went and sat in the hide next to the watering hole. The hide was amazing, you walked up a 50m walkway over the campsite fence and into a octagonal two story building right on the water, the top level was open and the bottom had huge floor to ceiling windows. As the sun began to go down we watched a huge herd of Zebra cool off, it was funny watching them surge forward, much like the forwards in a rugby scrum, but get irritated at each other and kick out. As it got dark we quickly cooked some dinner, had showers and rushed back to the hide. When you know the opportunity to watch animals is out there you find yourself thinking about what you are missing out on when you aren't there.. During dinner we sat there hoping we didn't miss out on anything! We didn't miss out, as we arrived two black rhinos were standing 5m from the hide drinking water and snorting rather loudly. One was rather territorial of the water and any other animal was inspected and driven away if not liked! This didn't stop other animals from arriving however, a huge herd of eland came, these large, cow like animals had great fun in the e water and as they sloped off two jackles arrived and shortly after 6 elephants. The elephants were fantastic, having a great time splashing around,  the sounds they make were so loud as they were literally 5m again from the hide, many of the so big their eyes almost met ours on the second floor! He hide was much quieter in the morning, as we drank our coffee, we thought people would be up early to watch the animals or set off into the park but most seemed to be asleep still! This was a shame for them as after hearing it calling, a spotted hyena came bounding up to drink! It was a pretty impressive sight! 

(Rhino in the red light)

(Elephant in the red light)

Our third day in the park was spent moving towards the western side to come out of the Gaston Gate. It was full of artificial water holes and lots of giraffes, elephants, kudu, Impala, Spring boks, warthogs, zebra and oryx. Sadly no lions but you can't win them all! A great few days in Etosha! We are now in a camp site just outside called Oppi Koppi which allows Overlanders to stay for free before we make our break for the border! 

#namibia #etosha #southernafrica