25th June – We got bumped!
We woke up at our dodgy hotel, still in a deep depression after leaving Ant’s Hill and went to a very mediocre breakfast. Before breakfast we took our luggage to the front office and reminded them that we were booked on the 8am shuttle to the airport. At seven minutes to eight we went to the office to be told –“sorry the bus has gone”. After expressing our ‘disappointment’ in this, the receptionist pick up the phone then said that the driver would be here soon. He went and got the bus (from the garage) and ‘drove’ us to the airport. We did over 100ks in 60 zones, up on the verge and at least 100 meters on the wrong side then through the red light! Great.
We got to the airport, check in and went to do some Duty Free shopping. We arrived at the gate – well before final boarding to be told “sorry, we have bumped you to the afternoon flight”.
We told them that this would not do as we had connections etc. “Sorry, your luggage has been off loaded. The new flight is at 3pm. Go to the transit desk to get boarding passes.” We pleaded, we begged, we whimpered. No joy.
We then managed to find a flight with another airline, but Air Botswana would not release our luggage. It would take at least four hour to get it back. “They will send it up on the 3pm flight.” Then we panicked about the no luggage flying without the owner rules and decided to wait. Yah! Six hours in an airport. Plus we would now arrive in Botswana at 5pm not 11am and had a four-hour road trip to our next port of call.
So what do you do? Get lunch and eat it very slowly. Have a back massage, look at the shops, update your blog, have a foot massage then go and sit at the gate. Sarah bought Raybans – folding – wayfarers!! That is very exciting. And of course this flight left late.
We decided to change our plans. We would skip our booked visit to The Kalahari and spend the time in Maun, in the heart of the Okavango Delta. The four hour drive would have taken five or six in the dark (and would not have been safe) and would only give us one full day there.
So Maun, Botswana it was.
We got our car and drove around Maun. It was just like we imagined Africa to be. One busy main road with things happening everywhere. People walking all over the road, cows wandering around, goats everywhere, chickens and dogs, everyone in really bright colours. Didn’t expect the heaps of donkeys wandering around. Many of the donkeys were tethered together in pairs with a neck rope about 1/2 meter long. Very funny. And the lovely mud huts with thatched roofs.
We got to our accommodation, made of imitation traditional huts. All in a circle around a fire pit. We watched the Bush Baby’s race around the trees at dusk. They were a bit smaller than a squirrel but rounder and could leap massive distances and are so fast you could barely see them. We think they were teleporting.
Just as we were going to go and get some dinner the town lost power. We sat for a while around the fire pit then decided to skip dinner and go to bed. It was 7.30pm after all.
26th June -Maun, Botswana
Due to our bonus longer stay in Maun we had had to make some last minute plans and booked on a full day, half and half Mokoro/Boat trip of the Okavango Delta. This commenced with a 60 minute speedboat ride up the river – and it was utterly freezing! The kind of icy cold wind that makes your forehead ache. And sees you huddled up and struggling to keep your jacket done up tight and your scarf covering your ears. Stunning though.
Despite the cold we managed to have a good time because we got to see some pretty great stuff. Most importantly Monkeys! Which set Sarah to screaming, “Monkey, Monkey, Monkey!” This alarmed the German couple on the boat with us. Once they realised what it was though, they proceeded to make fun of Sarah, mimicking her tone and pitch.
We finally arrived at the spot where we were to hop into the Mokoro, a terrifyingly shallow and unstable looking dugout canoe type boat with a man standing on the back poling it around the river. It is a bit like a Venetian Gondola, though much less substantial and smaller.
Once over the fear of imminent death because of capsizing and consumption by crocodile, we realised that it was in fact an incredibly relaxing mode of transport. Sitting down with complete silence but for the ambient noise and gentle splashing of water as the driver poled us along. As we were poling thorough the Okavango Delta Raina keep looking David Attenborough and his film crew.
We saw a Hippo!
It was huge, even from far away (as was pleasing, given the tiny boat we were in) and by just being about to see its head it is plain to see how big they are. It would dive under water and pop up ever few minutes and blow the water out of its nostrils making a loud noise. Louder than any whale. As we poled away we occasionally heard that noise again, and couldn’t help feel a little anxious that one might be just around a bend or just over those reeds, as we were so low we could not see over many of the reeds. Luckily our driver guides could see as they were standing up. And knew where the deep holes were.
We had booked on a half boat half mokoro day, which is what we expected and had prepared for. So we were a little startled when we pulled up on a bank, were ushered out of the boat and started getting pushed along somewhere.
SURPRISE WALK! We were then informed that we were off for an hour and a half walk. We had prepared for a day that would start off freezing then warm up, but would be bearable because we were sitting leisurely in a boat.
We had also brought enough water to last us through sitting down in a boat all day. Sarah had tights under jeans, and fashion (NOT walking) boots. Now the walk would have been great – if only we had known about it. Did I mention it was a walk through deep, soft sand in boots with a not tiny heel and zero ankle support. Sarah ended up stripping off her jeans (much to everyone else’s shock till they realised she had tights on underneath. In a stroke of genius the walk also took place at midday. In the hottest part of the day. Genius!
On the plus side though we did see a troupe of Baboons, elephants far off across the river, red lechasomething antelope, a semi-aquatic antelope – the Sitatunga, brown antelope, zebra, wildebeest and a lot of tracks.
We think at some point the guides just started making crap up, like that a print the size of say a Labrador was a lion track. Oh great, so we are out walking in lion territory without so much as a stick to protect ourselves? I don’t think so. Or that another track (that was the size of a large antelope or maybe a Wildebeest was a Giraffe track. Hmmm. Or that the Buffalo bones that have been there for three years are still visited by hyenas who still ate them and would take the old bones to the river to soak them so they are soft enough to eat. Lol.
Sarah did have a go at the guide for continuing to walk closer to a herd of Zebra that he was racing after but was driving them away while another group was trying to watch them. The idea of wildlife viewing is not to disturb the animals in order to get the closest look. Oh and the walk was over 2 hours. Would have been amazing if we were prepared for it. We then had a lovely lunch of stale slices of bread with cheap tuna and cheese.
We then poled for two hours back the meeting place – just enjoying it. Before the boat driver who took us out in the morning came back to collect us, we spent some time looking around the village the poler’s lived in. Our boat driver turned up with an esky full of drinks. Water, water, water! And beer. Sigh, lovely.
There was a nice guy from Swansea, Wales who had hitchhiked out for a look who wanted a photo of the Aussie girls hooking into the beer. On the way back we saw an absolutely ginormous lizard sunning itself. Well over one meter long.
We went down to another lodge on the riverside and had a great steak looking at the sunset over the Okavango Delta. Sigh.
Again we were in bed before 7.30pm, what grannies!
27th June – Around Maun
After a good 12 hours in bed we finally got up and set out in search of breakfast and an internet connection. We went to a very phallic building and giggled in a mature way. The coffee still sucks in this continent. Lol.
We then headed out for a drive to the Sehithwa in the Kalahari dessert. Sarah was driving and doing a great job of avoiding the people, cattle, donkeys, dogs and goats on the road. Pretty much the whole way the road was lined with Horn Bill birds feeding, and Sarah dreaded the prospect of hitting one. She didn’t, but we did pass one mushed up little pile with a banana shaped beak protruding from it. Zaaaaaaaazuuuuuu Noooooooooooo!
Then we had to pass through a Foot and Mouth disease control area where we got stopped by police, had to get out and walk through a puddle of disinfectant (even had to do the same to any extra shoes we had) and then drive through a bigger one. Very exciting.
We passed donkey carts heading down the road, people on donkeys and on foot herding their cattle across the road. Many cows, goats and donkeys crossing the road of their own accord.
And then we hit the potholes, holes all over the road so deep you could hide a goat in them. And so many that there wasn’t really much you could do to avoid them.
The patterning on the road also did something very trippy to your eyes after a while; Sarah noticed that after she had been looking at the road for a while, when she would look at the speedo, her vision would warp. The speedo and dashboard looked like it was breathing, moving back and forward and bending. Tripy! Raina also noticed the same when she took over the driving.
We then came back and went to a café for lunch and to await our scenic flight over the Okavango Delta.
Then we flew over the OKAVANGO DELTA.
And cannot think of enough superlatives to say……………..
We saw huge herds of Elephants walking along in single file. A huge mob of Hippos in a giant pool. You could see then blowing as they surfaced, more Elephants, more hippo, many antelope, and the magnificent Delta itself! The photos are not brilliant through the planes windows but the memories are magic.
Brilliant. Then home. We stayed up really late tonight. 8 pm.
8.02 actually.
28th June. Fly to Kasane then to The Caprivi Strip, Namibia
We had a nice relaxed morning where we went to the café with free wi-fi to post a few pictures. Then remembered we had almost run out of Botswani Pula (money). The word Pula means rain – and as rain is their most important thing, they named the money after it.
We scratched up all of the Pula (850) we had and worked out we could afford two egg and bacon breakfasts and a coffee (as Sarah is still trying to find a decent cup). When the bill came it was about 320 pula – about $4.50. We had food and change.
The flight to Kasane was nice and uneventful. They did give bag of BilTong as their snacks. We arrived in Kasane to be met and collected by our pick-up. As we were driving from the airport we saw baboons walking into town and where struck by how much the area looked like the Africa we had expected.