Botswana, Zam, Zim and Mozambique
Trip Start
Mar 29, 2009
1
6
Trip End
Jun 26, 2009
Praia do Tofo,
Inhambane,
Mozambique
Sunday, June 28, 2009
It's been a while, and we’re home since yesterday, but for completeness sake (and to show lots of cool pics!) we share the last month and a half of our Southern African holiday with you.
We posted our last update in Maun, Botswana, just before heading to the Makgadikgadi salt pans. First we headed towards a bird sanctuary near Nata, where it became clear that the pans were not completely dried up. The upper layer of the pan consisted of a dry, white crust, but we soon discovered that it hid a thick layer of black, sticky mud underneath (just like it says in the guidebooks, actually…).
After 7000km our tyres were worn down significantly, which didn’t help much when retrieving the car from the mud. But with our barbeque grid underneath the rear left wheel, and all our remaining firewood underneath the others we got out. That night we had to cook on gas...
We drove on to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, where we spent some of our most memorable nights. We had to bring lots of extra petrol, wood, water and food, as it is a very isolated park. There are no facilities and no fences, so you basically sleep with the animals. Key thing here is to make a fire ('bush t.v.’), eat and get into your tent before it gets dark, because that is when the lions start hunting. There was a pride of about 8 roaming around our campsite, plus a single male. To hear the lion’s roar at night truly puts you on your place as a human being.
Tucked-away deep in a sleeping bag that is, as it it’s freezing cold in the Kalahari…
On our way back to Maun we saw a dead horse next to the road.
Apple meets Hornbill
It attracted hundreds of vultures, a little hungry (/angry) dog and – as we found out when opening our window to make some pictures – thousands of flies. The minibus that drove into the horse stood abandoned on the other side of the road. We praised ourselves lucky not to have had any accidents while driving, though we had come close to hitting a stressed giraffe, a racing wildebeest, some confused oryx and lots of stupid domestic animals. Tens of birds were less fortunate though, one of which was squashed at just 40km/h (that kind of bird won’t make it far in evolution).As for other cars, we only experienced one minor incident when reversing into a taxi at a petrol station. It attracted a lot of attention, but we soon started bargaining and agreed on paying about 30 NOK / €3,40 for the small scratch on his bumper.
We handed our bakkie in after about 8000km, feeling sorry for the guys that had to clean and fix it. Kilo’s of dust, boxes of juice and milk, wine, washing-up liquid and all sorts of other ranz had accumulated over the 37 days we had been driving around with it, and it sure needed some new tyres and new locks (they were full of dust). We guessed some other new parts were needed in places where funny noises started to come from.
Being ordinary backpackers again, it was time to indulge in some luxury. We stepped into a small aircraft and flew over almost the entire Okavango Delta. It was a nice scenic flight, spotting elephants, hippos, giraffe, etc.
Blikschade
and watching the delta from the air before landing near the beautifully located Kwetsani Lodge. Here we spent four days and did a safari every morning and afternoon with super guides that led us to leopards, lions, elephants and lots of birds. We stayed in a chalet on stilts, had a pool with a view and the food was just the best.In the Moremi Game Reserve we had a somewhat more economical accommodation, still with a fly-in though, and spent our activities in a mokoro. These dug-out canoes were more stable than we expected, as long as you stay away from the hippo’s. We gave it a go ourselves and guided our guide through the delta ("you see that tree? It’s a nice tree ‘ey??"). We also did two walking safari’s, which was a new experience for us. Apart from the occasional elephant and lots of antelope and birds we mostly identified animal’s droppings and can now tell you the difference between a male and female giraffe’s shite.
We took two local buses to get from Maun to Kasane. There had not been many occasions where we could take local transport (mostly because it did not exist), so we were quite keen to travel a bit more with the locals. As expected this involved hours of waiting and moving slowly with too many people in a dodgy bus. But it was nice to hear where people were heading, how they like their country and what keeps them busy. The new president had apparently made himself very impopular by increasing the price of beer.
There were elephants everywhere along the road, and our bus closely passed a herd of about 30 of them, clearly irritating three of the biggest individuals.
Buffalo with hitch-hiker in Chobe NP
Fortunately we were going too fast for them to catch up.When crossing the Zambezi on a little motorboat to get into Zambia it was like stepping into a completely different world. We suddenly had the feeling that we stepped into ‘real Africa’. There were dozens of trucks blocking each other’s way, people shouting to each other, salesmen trying to sell their stuff (“I like your shoes, let’s trrrrrade them for this wooden hippo”). The usual organised chaos that is so typical to Africa. Namibia and Botswana had been amazing, but a bit sterile in terms of human activity as there’s hardly anybody living in those gigantic countries.
We would have loved to see more of Zambia, but we were heading east and would stay only a few days in Livingstone, to see the Victoria Falls. There had not been as much water since 1963, so there was plenty of mist. We took a helicopter ride through the gorges and over the Vic Falls. It was a bit of a different make than the Sikorsky (aka ‘the bus’) Arjen was used to when working offshore, so it allowed for plenty of manoeuvring, climbing and plunging. The views of the falls were awesome.
The lady had decided to book a ‘high tea’ at Livingstone Island. This little island is right on the very edge of the falls, on the upper Zambezi. It offered some great views of the colourful rainbows in the mist, and down into the deep. And yes, the scones and wines were nice as well :- )
In Livingstone we finally came across the culinary delicacy we had been chasing for two months: mopane worms.
Bush chalet Kwetsani - Okavango
These huge caterpillars tasted, well, interesting…Before heading to Africa we met many people who knew nothing about Zimbabwe, but did try to scare us off. Victoria Falls may not be your average Zimbabwean city, but we have not been in many places where we felt safer than in Victoria Falls and the people were extremely friendly. That said, the city is located right in the middle of a national park, so you have to be careful walking around in the dark as elephants and buffalo roam through town, as it is warmer there at night.
We were lucky to be in Victoria Falls during full moon and see the lunar rainbow, the result of the reflected sunlight going through the mist. It was quite special, but did not beat the colourful rainbows that were visible all day. (God, how spoiled can you get…).
From Victoria Falls we flew to Jo’burg and took a local ‘minibustaxi’ to Maputo, Mozambiques capital. We planned to stay there for a couple of days, but the weather was shite and we’d seen enough of the city in a day, so we decided to take another bus and head north to Tofo. On our first day in Tofo we walked into the dive shop of Liquid Adventures, and were talked into a snorkelling trip and a dive that same day. Scuba diving was our main reason to come to Mozambique, apart from the beaches, good food and palm-tree-atmosphere, so there were plenty of dives to come.
During the snorkelling trip we were the luckiest people of the planet. There were tens of manta rays and we came across 5 or 6 whale sharks.
Bush cooking
The manta rays often made a looping, showing their white bellies, before plunging into the dark. Some of them allowed us to swim behind them for tens of meters. The whale sharks were not shy either, and more easily to follow. Staying at very shallow depths they showed up beautifully in the sun. From the boat we saw devil rays jumping out of the water, making pirouettes in the sky. An amazing trip…The scuba diving on the Tofo Reef was awesome as well, coming across manta rays on most of our dives, but also white-tip reef sharks, grey reef sharks, leopard sharks, loads of rays (devil-, eagle-, fantail-), sailfish, barracuda, etc. In addition, the macro-life had plenty to offer with colourful anemone, clownfish, nudibranches, cleaner shrimp, and so on. On our way to the various dive sites we often saw humpback whales breaching the surface, or showing their big tails before disappearing under water.
We decided to stay in Tofo until the end of our trip. It was just too nice to leave and we didn’t have the immediate need to travel further north and explore new places. Also, we were not feeling 100% ok. We both had a bad cold and our stomachs started to protest a little. Still not bad after more than 2.5 months without any health issue at all.
Eline spent most of the time doing some serious ‘avslappen’ on the beach after difficulties equalising her ear during the descent of a dive. Arjen started a 5-day Rescue Diving course, which was a lot of fun and very useful. It refreshed emergency response skills, learned how to deal with divers who are panicked, out of air, shoot up towards the surface, have cramps or, as in the final scenario dive, are unconsciously laying at the bottom of the sea. So if you find yourself in such a situation you know who to call…
After two mid-winter nights in Johannesburg (where it was freezing at night!) we had to head back to Stavanger. But the sun is shining and the strawberries are sweet this year. It’s good to be home.
Hope to see you soon!
Stor klem, veel liefs,
Eline en Arjen
