Maun Lodge

... wide-mouthed rhino), so, in English, it became the white rhino. So, the other one, "obviously", had to be the black rhino. We saw six of them.

One of the most amazing sights at this stop on the trip was not the rhinos, but rather the blanket of stars over our head once the sun had set. In the Okavango, it had been pretty cloudy on both nights, so we didn’t get the full effect, but here, there was ...

... is obvious. Botswana prides itself as being the most environmentally sensitive country in Africa and, in particular, its conservatism in its National Parks and Reserves is practiced to a fault. However, this environmental enthusiasm does not appear to be considered or practiced where there are humans, whether it be a house, a settlement or town, or a picnic area. Namibian towns, on the other hand, regardless of size, are practically ...

We returned from the Okavango Delta exhausted, although the cold beer and nap on the truck back to Maun helped a bit. We took our first shower in 3 days which was much needed. Tim, Elena, and Lisa did not go on the cruise and welcomed us back to the world with a nice lunch. Afterwards, we went into town.

Everyone but Lindsey, Paul, and Brittany went on an 45 minute long scenic flight over the Delta. The flight was ...

... ready to take guests further on to the uber-luxurious lodges in the delta.

We were immediately met here by a lady from our 4x4 company who wisked us away to their office down the road. During this 10 minute drive the rep started to give us the run down of the town, swinging around to talk to me in the back seat while swerving around donkies and goats which apparently have the right-of-way.

We pulled up and set our ...

... to withdraw money from your account.

Next stop was Island Safari Lodge just 12km north of Maun on the road to Moremi. We had booked for 3 nights from the 5th and we had decided to do extra 2 nights, there was no problem. It is situated next to the river, the entrance to the Okavango Delta and the lodge runs many trips out to the delta and to Moremi Game Reserve. The thatched chalets looked very nice too as did the bar and ...

... just as the truck gave in again. We had to all climb out and carry our equipment the last few feet to our site. That afternoon we were due to go on a game drive through Etosha Game Park but with the problem the truck was having we couldn't turn off the engine once it was running. So at 3.30pm we set off to the park entrance 10km from our camp. We were all pretty excited about what we would see in the park although we were told we would be lucky to see lions, leopards or rhinos even ...

... to spend on lunch, dinner and breakfast at our choice of casino restaurants. It was a luxurious night. The room was wonderful, complete with duvets and a flat screen TV, and the meals were delicious. But it could only last so long, and the following day at noon, our bellies bulging with all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast, we boarded a bus for Botswana.

And so we were thrust back into our budget living. The bus was cramped, 5 seats across, and hot ...

Today we spent the whole day driving. We made our way to Maun and are staying at a campsite outside of town. Tomorrow we leave for the Opakanga Delta where we will have to take a canoe, called a makura, over to the Delta. We will be staying in an area where there is no electricity or running water. For toilets our guides will be digging a hole in the ground for us to use. We have to pack a daypack with everything that we will ...

... view. John gave Suzy the controls so she got to fly for about 10 minutes or so. When he grabbed the controls back he did a sudden nose dive then pulled up and banked to either size sending the plane all over the place. I was in hysterics of laughter but with the boys sitting right down the back they thought Suze was still at the controls so were more than just a little scared. Sarah on the other hand nearly threw up. Hahaaa funny. Not her nearly throwing up but the thrill of ...

... imax theatre showing a lion documentary called Roar so we headed over there, pleased to discover a cute little theatre fitting a max of 20 or so people. Best of all Sah, Suze, Martin, Oliver and I were the only ones there so we enjoyed taking some close up photos to show others of our adventures when they returned from the Delta :-)



From there we walked into town for a spot of shopping (Mr Price and Shoprite), grabbed Nandos for a late lunch and hailed a taxi back to ...