Moremi

Botswana
March 18th & 19th, 2009

After several sunny and rain free days we decided to head to Moremi, a game park based in the Okavango Delta. Meeting up with another couple, Sarah and Michael (who had just travelled from the UK doing the same route we are in reverse order), we decided to brave the various rumours about the muddy and rainy conditions and see what Moremi was like in the flesh. Arriving early in the morning we entered the gate and weren’t exactly sure what we signed up for.

The beauty of the Delta was intense. Imagine scenes of tall grass coloured green and yellow, patches of water clear and shiny blue reflecting the sun, mopane, palm and dead lead trees scattered around sparsely, white tyre track roads and rickety bridges made of mopane. Now add to that picture herds of elephant with babies small enough to walk underneath them, giraffe contently eating leaves, hippos lounging in water, small crocodile soaking up sun, baboons cunningly getting fruit from trees and zebra munching grass.

The road conditions were, well, an adventure. Dry at times, muddy at times, sandy at times and swampy at times. Thanking our lucky stars to be in the company of another equipped vehicle with fantastic drivers we made our way through. Water washed over the bonnet at stages, mud was splashed about gritted by tyres, and sand was treaded through. Feeling braver with every obstacle successfully navigated we decided to make a curious crossing and got stuck. Mud was thrown every where and decorated the stirring wheel and windows. Thankfully our friends in their Land Rover (yep that’s right Cruiser fans) managed to easily pull us out. The next day however it was our turn to even the score and the rescues were tied one-one. Karel eager to use the winch tried it out. It managed to get the vehicle out safe and sound but unfortunately the winch was rolled out too far and the connector snapped. But don’t worry friends, the repair for the winch was 9 pula thanks to our friend Mike the Mechanic (not to be confused with the band).

The most memorable moment however came after our first day in the park. We arrived after a long day of driving and navigating at our campsite Xakanaxa. Braiing a gorgeous feast of meat and potatoes we sat around the fire exchanging stories, laughing and enjoying a cold beer. Just as the sausage was cooking, I went to retrieve a knife from our car. As I was opening the drawer, a huge thunderous sound was coming closer and closer. Turning I saw a huge cloud of dust filled with a huge black shadow, heard ‘oh my God’, noticed everyone running and heard broken glass. Jumping inside the car, the cloud of dust passed. Climbing out again, we realized that a spooked hippo just ran past our camp at speed. Karel had jumped on to the roof of the car, Michael inside the back of their car breaking a glass inside, and Sarah was hiding behind the car ladder. Luckily everyone was safe as the hippo sidestepped our camp as he saw our fire. With the adrenaline pumping we thanked our lucky stars and had a much needed drink.

N click ai Pan *

Botswana
March 14th & 15th, 2009

Waiting for the puddles to dry before heading North, we decided to go to the famous salt pans which are best seen this time of year as the animals from Makgadikgadi, a pan further south migrate north during the rainy season. Just over a hundred kms from Maun we made our way.

Our first stop was Baines Baobabs, a cluster of trees made famous by a painting made over a hundred years ago. It is stunningly set as it is essentially a tree island in the middle of a flat salty landscape. A definite must-see.

We then headed into the park where game viewing is enhanced by a barren landscape of low grass plains spotted with sparse trees. Numerous elephant were spotted happily munching away on some bushes and grass. A zebra was noticed having a huge gash on his rear looking distinctly like a claw slash nonchalantly snacking. Huge herds of springbok were seen lying on the grass. And amazingly a group of 26 giraffe were counted. These giraffe weren’t too shy and once they got used to the car they continued as if we weren’t even there. They showed us just how flexible they are as they bent down somewhat awkwardly and ate the grass. It was fantastic.

Our big adventure however came at 6:30pm, just as we were heading to set up camp before dark. We drove into a puddle and well, couldn’t drive out. Yikes we were stuck. Out came the shovels. Moving like crazy we shovelled and shovelled. Trying again to move we had no luck. More shovelling, a bit of deflating and some complicated navigating, we got out just as the sun was giving its final light.

Nxai Pan pronounced with a click for the x, yep one of those cool African languages – see if you can say it 

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.