Motsentsela Tree Lodge Maun

... the monotony of sand and desert plants and trees. There are many donkeys, goats, and sheep along the road which frequently slows us down as we wait for them to get off the highway.

A very light mist starts to fall, just enough to wet the road, and occasionally becomes a major drizzle. It’s ironic that we are traveling on the periphery of the Kalahari desert and it is trying to rain. Our biggest worry is that it will be raining ...

... blieben wir hoffnungslos stecken. 4X4, Differenzialsperre, Luft ablassen, Holz unterlegen, schaufeln, alles für nichts. Irgendwo in der Wildnis waren wir jetzt also gestrandet. Mit der Hilfe eines roten T-Shirts und einer Trillerpfeife konnten wir einen Wagen auf uns aufmerksam machen, mit dessen Hilfe unser Auto schlussendlich kurz vor Sonnenuntergang aus dem Schlamm gezogen werden konnte. Daniele, Serge, wir werden euch ewig danken, dass ihr uns aus dieser misslichen Lage befreit ...

Thursday 3rd September. Sadly our delta camp came to an end and we packed up and took the slow mokoro ride back to the meeting point, very chilled out and relaxed we arrived back at our Maun campsite about 2pm where we quickly washed our bodies and clothes. Then 7 of us went to the Maun Airfield for a 45min flight over the delta in a 7 seater plane. What a fabulous flight over only a small area of the massive delta. The flooding patterns were ...

... you fall down). All our safari mates were a little hesitant to play at first, but soon learn to love the game. Afterwards, Paul introduced us to his game of crossing the bridge. The game was feared by past safari riders for good reason. Yet somehow, Paul always came out only drinking one time. We are still convinced he counts the cards or something. After the birthday girl was put to bed, we called it an early night, excited for the Okavango Delta the next day!

We left Swakopmund at about lunchtime on Monday as we hadn't far to go to get to our next campsite in Spitzkoppe, named for the limestone rock formations of the area. The campsite is run by the locals and is a bush campsite. In other words no showers and a drop toilet. While some people headed off on a two hour bushman walk myself and Alan climbed one of the rocks to watch the sun set. Some others joined us just before the sun went down. It was yet another beautiful sunset.

The ...

... convoy, riding in the back of a pick-up for 10+ hours to reach Zambia, instead of paying for a typical bus.

TYPICAL IN THIS REGION – Roadside donkeys, boer bulls, seasonal floods, sand everywhere, unrestricted wild animals, 4WD Safari Vehicles, and Lechwe.

BOTSWANA – Expect the Unexpected

We woke up at our budget hostel very early the next morning, to the sounds of screaming kids and howling dogs, but determined ...

The border crossing into Botswana was also quite simple! A few statistics about Botswana: they were granted independence peacefully from Britain in 1966. The year after they discovered diamonds in the country (I bet that the Brits were bummed!). Around British independence, Botswana had a very low GDP and education rates were paltry. Since the discovery of diamonds, the country has radically transformed and is now ...

... than usual so there was water everywhere. We stayed two nights and went on a few walks though the most exciting thing we saw was an Elephant. On the last night we went in the Mokoros to the Hippo pond and saw some more Elephants on the way as well.

We got back to Maun mid afternoon and then went for a flight over the Delta in the ...

... right and centre. Mum ended up in just her jeans and bra whilst Oliver had the entire back of his shorts ripped off... not too sure how that happened but he is busy trying to gaffa tape and stitch them back together. I fortunately managed to escape any of the pool antics and stayed dry throughout the night. Martin, Jamie, Jay and Barsby weren't so lucky, although Barsby did somehow end up in the pool with a girl getting up close and personal so maybe he was lucky.



Maun, Botswana oliveramber

... bathes at the waters edge.

At Xakao the basket weavers set out their work for me to take pictures and ask questions. It's enough for me to go on, and with facts and figures supplied by the training and development coordinator, I head back to my hostel room at the TOCaDI compound ready to work. The room is swarming with mosquitoes, though, and I can tell by smudge marks on the walls that I'm not the first to be subjected to this torture.

My ...