Victoria Falls

Our next stop was the Victoria falls in Zambia, less than a 100 km from where we stayed in Chobe. As we approached the ferry to cross over to Zambia, we past a line of trucks, more than 3km long. The answer to the riddle of the long line of truck became clear when the customs official explained to me that only one truck can get onto a ferry at a time and there are only three ferries. For the last ten years the Zambia and Botswana governments have both been talking about building a bridge but nothing has obviously yet been done. Luckily for us, small vehicles are able to pass the line of trucks and go straight to the front of the queue.

The border post on the Zambian side is a little bit of maze, with a different office for each of the immigration,  customs, road taxes and third party insurance officers. The 500km of roads up to Lusaka are almost all beautifully tared with almost no potholes, so am happy to pay the road taxes.

Victoria falls in Livingston was everything and more than I was expecting. The falls are around 100m high and about 1.7km wide. You have to stand there, get drenched by the spray,  see the rainbow in the mist and hear the thunder of the water to really appreciate it.

The breathtaking view of the falls with the rainbow in the spray

Chobe park - Botswana

Fish Eagle with its catch for the day

After a big breakfast at our overpriced luxurious accommodation we set off for our day trip into Chobe National Park. I really should not be complaining about the price of the accommodations. It is after all high season and having a proper bed and being clean feels great after roughing it in Khwai.

Time seem to slow down in Chobe.

Chobe is a huge park and we barely made it halfway west through the top part of the park. All you have to do is get off the main road and drive along the bank of the Chobe river to see more animals in one morning than what you might otherwise ever see together.  The highlight was the elephant. We saw the largest herd of elephants I have seen, ever, estimated at between 60 and 80 elephant. They just kept on coming out of the bush toward the Chobe river to drink, and we could only watch in amazement. We were also blessed to see the rare Sabel antelope come out for a drink, and a number of Fish Eagles, to name but a few.

The rare Sabel with it's amazing horns.

Boats take tourist right up to the banks of the
 Chobe river for a close up view of the animals.

At three in the afternoon we took a boat ride with a number of other tourist on the Chobe river. On the positive side, within three hours you see elephant, buffalo (more than 100 grazing together), giraffe and hippos, not to mention a large variety of birds that live on or around the river banks. On the negative side, the river can get a little crowded with all the boats taking tourists on their respective tours. And since you are with 15+ other tourists, you have to go with the flow and do not have the luxury to take your time with photos to set up the right angle for that perfect photo. Having said that, it was a very relaxing afternoon and it is a great way to see so many animals at such close range.

Sunset over the Chobe river.
The best way to finish an amazing day.

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. 

"The Jesus bird," also known as the African Jacana

The amazing colours of the Lilac Roller

The only thing that can top a day of sitting around watching animals pass by is the breathtaking sunsets. 

Sunset at it's best!

Etosha Park

Etosha park, a must visit for all wildlife enthusiasts, is a park with a difference. Because of the lack of water in the area, animals often gather around one of the waterholes. The beauty of that is that one does not have to do a lot of driving around in the white dust to have great sightings.  

Elephants at the waterhole at Halali camp

At Halali camp one can get out of your tent, walk no more than 5 min and be seated at the edge of a waterhole that is visited by large herds of elephant, rhinos and a variety of antelope. At night the waterhole is beautifully lit up for late night viewing. Camping facilities are excellent, but because of the vet check point, one is not allowed to take your own meat into Etosha unless it is vacuum packed. The meat sold in the shops are a little pricy and not the best quality either.

Elephants gathering at the fresh water inlet into a waterhole

Etosha is not only known for its large herd of white elephants (due to the color of the dust), but is also a birdwatcher's paradise. 

Lilac Breasted Roller

Next stop is the Caprivi Strip before we enter into Botswana.

Namib Desert Safari

A few people asked me why I would want to spend 6 days in the desert. My initial attraction to the Namib desert came after seeing the photos of Sossusvlei and the surrounding areas. But now I know that you have to experience it, to have an appreciation for the Namib desert. There are two things that I will always remember and defines the Namib for me...

First, the beauty of the desert. It is difficult to imagine that sand can be so beautiful,  but when you look out over dunes as far as you can see, and the sun highlights the one side while the other side is darker because of the shadows, then you get the most amazing scenes.

The beauty of the Namib desert

Second, the size and unpredictability of some of the dunes. When you have to slowly drive the nose of your vehicle over the edge of a dune and you see the other vehicles almost one hundred meters below you then you feel small. When the vehicle start slipping down the dune and the dunes starts roaring as the sand starts a mini avalange then you feel even smaller and are filled with awe.

Going down the almost 100m roaring dune

The six days started with a lecture by the guide on the do's and don'ts of driving through the desert. There is a lot of emphasis on safety and preservation.  Whatever we did, we had to stay in the tracks of the vehicle in front of us. First to ensure that we stay safe and don't get stuck in lose sand or potentially role the vehicle because of driving up too steep an angle. Secondly, but more importantly, to minimize the impact that we have on being in the desert. In some areas your tracks are almost completely covered within a day of going through the area, while in  other area, out tracks will stay for months if not years.

The trip gave the me the opportunity to get my adrenaline going. Some of the valleys between the dunes are so deep and the opposite edge so steep that you can only make it out the other side by going at it full speed. But getting stuck up against the opposite edge of the dune sometimes meant a lot of patience, trying over and over again, or very clever maneuvering to get out.

Patience is important when traveling through the desert,
waiting for the next vehicle to get up the dune....

Spending 6 days in the desert also gives you more than enough time to learn a few new things about nature. As an example, the toktokkie (a small local bug) would angle its body in such a way so that the morning dew would run down its body towards its head. Because of the fact that the toktokkies always have enough to drink, they are also referred to as the water bottles of the desert, causing other animals to often eat them because of the water they have.

The different faces of the Namib desert

Whether you are watching the breathtaking scenery, or are in awe when standing at the foot of one of the mighty dunes, feeling the earth tremble as the dune roars, the Namib desert will have an everlasting impact. How great is our God!

Namibia: Sossusvlei

Sossusvlei is hands down the most beautiful place I have seen on this trip. On the way over we stopped at Dune 45 and did the touristy thing and climbed the dune. Definitely a good idea to do it in the early morning hours as it was quite a workout. We procceded to Sossusvlei and I got my first taste of driving through desert sand as the last few kilometers are not accessible by anything other than a 4x4. Another kilometer hike south from the parking area and you arrive at a photographer's dream. Almost a hundred photos later, and a little sunburned, I finally went to look for my travel companions. The most difficult thing is picking the best photos and deciding which ones to delete.

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Tomorrow we are starting our 6 day desert safari and will not have any access to the outside world...  cant wait!

Namibia: Fish River Canyon to Aus

Daniel:

We left Roadhouse Canon after a delicious breakfast and headed back to the Fish River Canyon for photos in morning light. The canyon was apparently created by a tectonic event and not erosion.  It is in total almost 100km long and up to 1.5km wide.

Fish River Canyon

We took the scenic route through the southern part of Namibia. The mountain ranges surrounded us all the way to Aus. The mountains are absolutely spectacular, varying in height, formation and color. The dirt road is in a very good condition all the way to Oranjemund from where it is tarred, with the longest stretch of straight road being almost 26km long.

The mountains are forming layers.
How the first people found their way through it is beyond me.

The color of some of the mountains are at such a
contrast with the surroundings.

Just south of the Fish River canyon we found this old vehicle abandoned next to the road. There was a very strong wind blowing from the north, causing the radiator fan of the car to spin and an amazing rate, as if it the engine was still running.

Going nowhere quickly

Diamonds were discovered on the northern banks of the Orange river in the 1930s. A long stretch of the road running parallel to the river is still a restricted area, and although you are allowed to drive through it, one is not allowed to stop and leave the road.

Diamond mines on the Northern bank of the Orange river

One the gems you will find in this semi desert area is the patches of plants growing next to the road. They are definitely worth stopping for so keep your camera close by when you drive through here.

Surprised to find a bee in the flower in this desert area.

We arrived at Klein Aus Vista campsite and found that our campsite was already occupied, not by other travelers but by a large nest of very sociable birds. They made themself at home on the wooden railings while we were having supper and happily came to eat crumbs out of my hand. 

Our neighbors for the night at Klein Aus

After a long day on the road we opted for a Back Country's freeze dried meal, not bad at all, and ready in no time, not to mention that one has minimal dishes to do afterwards.

Dinner.