Moroko Trip

Okavango Delta
March 13th, 2009

After reading countless guidebooks highly recommending a Moroko trip we decided we better give it a go. Various campsites and tour operators offered the trip in the dug-out canoe for prices ranging from 550 to 750 pula per person. Looking for a bargain if there was one we asked around town and Mike the Mechanic told us that next door to his workshop was the man who owned the boat station and he could maybe get us a deal. Enquiring next door the man told us that if we drove down to the Buffalo fence we could arrange our own tour for much less.

Guided by the trusty GPS we went on our way only vaguely knowing where to go as the ‘Buffalo fence’ didn’t feature we headed towards the river. One wrong road lead to a dead end with a massive puddle green with moss and home to many a duck. We turned around and tried another. The next road was sandy with a few muddy patches. Driving along we noticed a few people in small groups working. We waved to them, being friendly. Later we noticed a large building, a prison!, and found out that our new ‘friends’ were doing time. No wonder they looked at us a bit strangely.
Turning on to a final sandy road we met up with a village. Approached by several men, our trip was quickly arranged and we met Steven our guide. We walked towards the boat station where several mokoro boats were parked and were immediately in awe. Having no perception of what a mokoro would really be like, we were so pleasantly surprised. The boats were surrounded by thick green and yellow reeds, and amazing lily pads. We got into the boat and headed towards an island Madikubu, named after a female tortoise. It was so relaxing and peaceful floating along at a slow pace admiring the lilies and the flowers. We were also struck by how clear and clean the water was.

An hour and a half later we arrived at the island. The landscape was a curious mix of large trees, palms and tall grass. Walking along we saw some hippo. These were the largest hippo I think I’ve ever seen. One bull was not too happy about our presence and loudly grunted and rose out of the water to look at us. Feeling relieved to be on dry land we snapped a few photos before heading back to the boat.

It was one of the nicest experiences of my life – a slice of heaven I would say where the rest of the world melts away and a complete atmosphere of tranquillity takes over. And the icing on the cake was it was only 150 pula (24 dollars) for the two of us.

Central Kalahari

Botswana
March 7th & 8th

First on our list of must-sees was the Central Kalahari. After travelling on 40kms of sand roads we arrived at the office. Greeted by an empty office at the Matswere gate we signed ourselves in and were ready for adventure. The landscape was flat with sandy roads, green and yellow grass measuring ten to fifteen cm and small bluffs of trees. The birdlife was amazing and we had fantastic sightings of social quelea which moved from tree to tree by the hundreds, saw loads of guinea fowl who stubbornly refused to move from the road and one in particular who seemed to be training for a marathon of sorts, and loads of Kori Bustards. We also saw jackals on the trot looking for their next meal, gemsbok with babies, funny little ostrich babies which are basically fluffy ducks with poor balance (they run and keep falling over) and huge springbok herds.

We were also lucky enough to see some lions. Just beside one of the main roads a group of lions with two lioness and four cubs. They were sitting under the shade of a camel thorn tree enjoying their gemsbok kill. Quite relaxed we enjoyed their company several times. It was pretty amazing to see them eating, grooming and sleeping as their characteristics are so similar to house cats. We also spotted another group of lion with a male and two lioness.

With eagle-eye Stroebel we saw some cheetah at Piper Pan. There was a mother with two older cubs in the distance. They weren’t too interested in our company so sadly we didn’t spend too much time with them. We also saw some cheetah at Tau Pan and were lucky enough to be a lot closer to them. After snapping a few photos from a fifteen meter distance they quicky moved on.

Our best sighting on the trip was a leopard. Amazingly we were at the right place at the right time. The leopard crossed the road right in front of us and then it sat next to us behind a bush for a few minutes making eye contact with Karel. It was so special to be right next to the elusive cat until his curiosity of us was satisfied.

Maun

Botswana
March 5th- 20th , 2009

Heading for the Metropolitan of Maun we were pleasantly surprised. It has a small town atmosphere full of African beauty. The people are so lovely with complexions the perfect combination of black and reddish brown, easy smiles with glowing teeth full of laughter and always beautifully dressed with style alternating between traditional and western. The town has a completely safe feel absent from curious or watching eyes and feels so comfortable.

Exploring the centre we became regulars for the beef stew at the local taxi rank take away restaurant. Fourteen pula (two dollars) would fill us with a gorgeous melt in your mouth stew and fat cakes, a non-sweetened savoury doughnut (perfect for Canadians and so similar to Tannie Bessie’s vetkoek- of course not quite as good). For two pula fifty (fifty cents) we enjoyed numerous meat pies which were essentially a large fat cake filled with a gravy based mince. Gorgeous. We quickly became addicts and for several days lived almost entirely off them. The stalls were interesting too with containers of spice sold by the cup, a second hand shoe store selling high-top trainers which funnily enough are the latest style in London with the 80’s revamp fashions, and several seamstresses repairing and sewing new creations.

We used this easy going city for our base, going in and out of the unbelievably wonderful National Parks. The parks office also became another one of our hangouts. Laughing with the easy going and incredibly friendly parks office staff was one of our favourite things to do. Hearing about where is best to stay, joking about the rain and mud (‘you came for adventure’), and asking about the staff members was fantastic (one woman especially loved Karel as he was always asking about her pregnancy and joking about the baby).

Nessie also had a few ‘spa’ treatments in Maun. The men and women at Toyota were fantastic. Our air conditioning sprung a leak and needed replacing. As they didn’t have the correct part they sent us to Mike, another business in town who could repair it. We also went to see Longman, a short man in fact, who filled the air-con for us and replaced a relay for our spotlight. Later we had to return to Toyota to replace our brakes which were retired from 20,000 miles of service topped off by an amazing trip to Moremi for a final hurrah. Also (I know even more) a trip back to Mike for a winch repair (a total cost of 9 pula – not even two dollars- it helps having friends in town). And finally another quick trip to Longman where we chatted and even had our photo taken by the local mechanics there.

Who Do You Support?

We’ve noticed a few familiar fashions here in the form of sports jerseys. Deciding to keep track and selecting which team to support (K- Man U, H- the Gunners) we have some early results.

Manchester United – 9
Arsenal – 4
Liverpool – 2
New York Yankees – 1

Tsodilo Hills

Botswana
March 4th, 2009

The Tsodilo Hills are mentioned in every guide book as a must see in Botswana and thus we decided that we must see it too. Finding the road on the GPS and following a few randomly located signs we made our way. Arriving at the World Heritage site we read about the spiritual and archaeological significance of the area. This area is believed by some to be the site of creation. People have inhabited the area since 800 A.D. and the rock paintings are as old as 3,000. There are over 4,000 paintings across more than 400 different sites. The overall atmosphere of the place is the most memorable thing about it. It’s amazingly calm and peaceful and is a place of reflection. Our guide Ollie took us around the female hill (there is also a male and a child hill) pointing out paintings and areas where the original people lived including bits of pottery they have found. It was amazing.

On our way out, after preparing some peanut butter bread, a group of people sitting underneath a tree waved us over. They wanted a ride to the main road. We politely said we didn’t really have room as the back was filled with jerry cans, oil and various other items. As it turns out ‘room’ is defined culturally. When you’ve been waiting for a lift underneath a tree for half a day, an inch is sufficient. We moved everything around and squeezed a woman, man and child in. Sharing our resources we enjoyed peanut butter sarnies and water. The baby loved hers, ended up a right mess and once she finished she dozed off. Adorable. Making our way on the road, another man with a donkey flagged us down. Now we seriously didn’t have any space. Luckily he just wanted some water. Karel passed over his water bottle and the man guzzled it. He then proceeded to have a discussion with the other man in the back of the car for about five minutes. Perhaps we’ll start our own taxi service.

Operation Nessie

March 4th, 2009

Filling the car with much needed diesel from our trusty jerry cans after leaving the park we felt proud of our foresight. Karel was just finishing and took out the jerry cans, however nozzle had become too comfortable and decided a life just inside the petrol tank pipe was much nicer than his life inside a plastic bag in a spares box. Attempting to remove it with all sorts of kitchen utensils, knifes, forks, you name it and an assortment of tools, we were at a loss. The next town we were due to be in had a garage so we decided to enquire as to what to do. Advice given by a toothless mechanic (yes, seriously) was to just leave it, it wouldn’t do any harm. We were fine with that, but when we went to fill up at a fuel station the attendant was unable to get the nozzle properly down the tank. He could fill up but not without a massively annoying beeping of the tank warning that something wasn’t quite kosher. This wasn’t on. We had to remove it somehow. Karel came up with a plan. Fashioning a tool from a braai/carving fork and some tape, he began to work. Five minutes later and Operation Nessie was a success!

Etosha

March 1st, 2009

Our next stop was Etosha, one of Namibia’s National Parks. We woke up early and were the first to arrive at the gates. The park definitely lived up to its reputation of beauty. We saw huge herds of springbok, giraffe and zebra. The zebra were especially amazing as they moved around nodding their heads up and down and occasionally baring their teeth. They also snuggled each other by placing their heads on the dip of the other’s back, almost like hugging one another.

In the afternoon we saw a large group of lions. There were supposedly fourteen in the group, but we only saw twelve- all lionesses and cubs. They didn’t stay around for long and basically just crossed the road and heading out for a hunt. We were lucky enough to see them the next morning as well. This time they were closer to the road, resting after a busy night and we were able to watch them for 30 minutes.

The most memorable moment of the park was meeting an elephant. Taking Rhino Drive, one of the few side roads open (again due to massive rainfalls), we drove. Tracking the elephant due to its massive fresh poo we drove along. At last we spotted him. He didn’t look super excited to see us and just looked at us for a few moments before continuing his feeding. He peed a few times (which strongly smells of the circus interestingly enough) and moved forward. As did we. He stopped, looked at us, I told Karel we needed to go, Karel responded by snapping more pics, then the elephant stepped towards us a few times and we reversed the car in a hurry. It was a total adrenaline moment with us having heart rates higher than ever before.