Out of Africa
 Botswana - Chobe and Maun On my last night in Vic Falls I went to meet the group and guides with whom I would be spending the next 20 days and enjoyed dinner with Mark from Woodstock. The next morning we left after breakfast and after 80km crossed the border into Botswana. After setting up camp and having a quick swim we went for a game viewing cruise on the Chobe river. We saw plenty of hippos - in the water, out of the water, and we also saw a dead hippo being munched on by a crocodile which was a bit grim. The bird life was abundant and included kingfishers, fish eagles and a particularly brave little cattle egret who decided to engage a hippo in a fight - the bird won! We were then treated to the most spectacular sunset befaore returning for dinner. The next day we drove through Botswana and started to get a feel for the place. It is a very sparsely populated country in terms of people (1.6 million in case the stattos out there wanted to know). However there is an abundance in terms of animals. Goats, cattle, horses and masses of donkeys milled around the roads, often performing kamikaze missions in front of the truck. We also saw some lovely wildlife on this section of the drive including elephant, ostrich, zebra abd buffalo. So many animals and so few people - my kind of place! We arrived in Maun - a cool little town that serves as the gateway to the Okavango Delta. I immediately liked this place - it felt a lot safer than South Africa, had all the necessary amenities that were non-existent in Mozambique and yet has retained its African culture. This is definately somewhere I feel that I could live for a while, so perhaps I should take up Saskia and Kobus` suggestion that I photograph riding safaris for a living - we`ll see!! It`s certainly a plan to add to my growing list of travelling opportunities. That night we missed one hell of a local celebration. Don`t know what the party was in aid of, but the traditional singing carried on until 3.30am and the dogs started barking at about 4. I think the roosters must have started up about 4.30 and by 5am the donkeys added their braying to the dawn chorus. There were some tired and grumpy campers that morning, but we were all looking forward to the next part of our adventure -the Okavango Delta.
|
Diary Photos
|
Elephant |
 Crocodile |
 Hippo & Cattle Egret |
 Botswana Sunset |
| 478 Words | This page has been read 136 times | View Printable Version |