SouthboundOverland: Caprivi, Maun, Khwai and the Okavango delta

After leaving Etosha we headed for the Caprivi strip in the northeast of Namibia. But first a quick stop in Tsumed to buy Aletta another tent. The one she brought with her had too many openings and "windows" that could not be closed up at night causing it to be freezing cold. There was no free space on the roof rack and we magically rearranged things in the back of the Prado to make space for the beast of a tent. If there was no space left in the car before, there was now even less.

Driving down the Caprivi strip was an experience in itself. It was difficult to think that where there are now peaceful small villages, was a war zone less than 30 years ago, when the current South African ANC government was still considered terrorists and were clashing with the then South African armed forces. How things have changed.

The road from Etosha to the Caprivi was much better than I expected and we pushed through to Mahangu instead of stopping half way for the night. But because of that we arrived at our destination a day early there were no free campsites available. The friendly staff made a plan and we were given an open space to camp although not with the normal beautiful waterfront view. While waiting for the breakfast cruise the next morning, we were rewarded with an amazing sunrise over the Okovango.

Sunrise over the Okavango

The breakfast cruise did not deliver any elephant sightings although we did see a few shy hippos that would pop up from time to time. Still an amazing way to finish our visit to Namibia. There seem to be some very nice accommodations on the banks of the river as the photo below can testify to, and it must be very relaxing, as long as you finish up in the bathtub before the breakfast boats come past.

Bathroom Okavango style.

The border crossing into Botswana was hands down the most friendly one so far on this trip, all because of the friendly attitude of one customs officer that kept the conversation going for the whole 10 minutes while he completed the Carne and while his colleague was stamping our passports. The difference one person can make! Lesson learned from an unknown customs officer at what is probably Botswana's smallest border post.

On the way to Muan we saw our first and last speed trap in Botswana with two friendly traffic officers that waved back as we past them. We also had to stop at our first of two animal disease control points. As part of the process you have to get out of the car and step into a tray with some chemicals while the tires of the car are sprayed. The whole process does not even take a minute. At the second checkpoint they asked that we please also bring our spare shoes and step their soles into the solution.

The road down to Maun was unfortunately nothing like what I would have expected from a country that has a currency stronger than that of South Africa. We had to not only swerve for way too many potholes, but also for quite a number of donkeys. Donkeys, cows and the odd horse seem to freely roam around on the side of this road with no one in sight. The problem is that donkeys would walk half way over the road and then just stop there, not paying any attention to the approaching vehicles or my hooting. There are plenty of road sighs warning you against other animals crossing the road, but from what I have seen, they should rather replace them with warning signs for donkeys.

Maun turned out to be much bigger than I thought it would be. We bought everything we would need for our three days of being "off the grid." On arrival at the Khwai Development Trust offices we were told that they had no record of our booking and that they are actually full (more on that later), but they still took our money and gave us coordinates to the camp site. Our logic was that if we get there first or early, then we can have our choice of the best spot.

The next morning I entered the name for our campsite into my GPS and was pleased that it was already pre-programmed as part of the existing locations. Easy since the GPS coordinates provided by the Khwai office was in a slightly diffent format than what my GPS was set for. We left Maun and followed the direction of the GPS. The Okovango delta was in flood and we were required to take a few sandy detours. This was nothing after having to drive through the Namid desert a week earlier, and with my tires now at 1.7bar, it was smooth sailing. Four hours and one very very long detour later, the garmin announced "arriving at destination." One small problem was that the camp site we arrived at was not the one we booked at. Whoever entered our camp site name into Garmin's list of standard sites obviously made a mistake when doing so. Getting some rough directions from one of the locals as well as fiddling with the Garmin coordinate settings and then entering what we were given by the friendly folks at the Khwai offices, and we had a new destination to head to. An hour later we got to our actual camp site just to find all camping spots occupied. Everyone accept the one a few hundred meters from the river and covered in thorns and loads of elephant dung. There was no question about our chances to seeing an elephant in our camp if we actually stayed there. Aletta and Peter went to look for help while I guarded what we have already unpacked before deciding we could not camp there. Paying 300Pula for camping and then not even having anything that resembled a camping spot was not acceptable. We thankfully were given permission to double up with another couple that had a huge camp site to themselves, right on the water. The toilet was dug, the tents were set up and we were ready for our first night in the wild.

After our braai (BBQ) we spotted hyenas less than 50m from where we were doing the dishes and quickly finished up and all made our way to our individual tents. Hyenas in between the tents ended up being the norm rather than the exception as I watched them no more than 10m from my tent the next night.

Yes, it is right there, only 50m from our tents

Watching the elephant from our campsite.

Elephant in Khwai area feeding in the river.

Camping at Khwai has its drawbacks, but the reward is really being among the animals. Having elephants walking through your campsite is nothing strange. We never had to go more than 5km up or down the river to see elephant grazing in the river without paying much, if any, attention to the odd car passing by. The area is also blessed with some of the most amazing birds. We saw so many fish eagles that we did not even stop for photos after a while. The most amazing of them were the colorful African Jacana and the Lilac Roller.