Wednesday morning the 12th was a cold morning in Windhoek. The day was spent in transit to Botswana- it was a long day with the strong easterly still blowing , the head wind making the truck’s progress even slower.
A highlight of an otherwise‘slow’ day was entering the Kalahari Desert. While much larger than the Namib Desert, it has a lot more vegetation. The landscape is reminiscent of parts of the Northern Territory- although very, very flat.
After an uneventful border crossing it was a couple more hours until we arrived at our lodge just outside the town of Ghanzi. We also stopped briefly to get Pula from an ATM in town. All in all, a long day.
Thursday AM and another early start. Our destination was Maun ( the ‘Safari Capital’) of Botswana. After a great coffee and cake at the ‘Dusty Donkey’ cafe in Maun ( very good coffee!) we headed to the airport for a scenic flight over the Okavango Delta ( Less Nessie, who has an aversion to low, bumpy flights and the nausea they induce).
The Okavango Delta covers a large area off central west Botswana. It is fed by the Okavango River, which rises to the north in the highlands of Angola. The river delta comprises five major branches and countless minor streams and watercourses. The five major branches contain water permanently, the other areas wax and wane according to seasonal variations and inputs.
An interesting fact about the Okavango Delta is it is the only river delta in the world that doesn’t end in the sea. It is essentially sucked up and disappears into the sands of the Kalahari Desert.
After the flight we hopped into an open Toyota Landcruiser Safari vehicle which was to be our mode of transport for the next three days. Five chilly and bouncy hours ( and a very good sighting of a pack of Spotted Hyena later) we were at our lodging for the next two nights. We stayed at the ‘Pride of Africa’ tented camp, situated on a water course on the border between the Moremi and Khwai conservation areas. After a hearty (and warming) dinner, and a few red wines around the fire we were quite tired. We went to sleep to the sounds of lions doing their thing in the marsh at the edge of camp.
We saw a lot of game from the air – it is surprising how much you still see at 450 feet AGL and around 140 knots IAS. A phenomena Mark hadn’t seen before the flight was pods of Hippopotamus lying around sun bathing during the day – they are normally immersed in a body of water during the day. There was were also countless groups of elephants and the ‘usual’ zebra, giraffe and different sorts of antelopes. We didn’t see any predators- their camouflage, and our speed, precluded spotting them.
Ness’ and Mark’s Wandering 