29 July Monday
Yesterday we arrived in
Last night we went out to Joes Beers beer house a must do in Windhoek its an interesting bar with all sorts of stuff hanging off walls and ceiling, the place was real crowded and we were all too tired to make the most of it but it was a nice dinner.
Today we said good bye to three of our team two Swiss girls that Karen had made friends with and Eddy a young fella and we did some shopping while Dave the driver waited for his papers to come through so he could cross the border.
We crossed the border from
It was a long drive without too much of wild life to see other than our cute warthog families who were in many places and the odd bunch of baboons. The road was good and sealed with long straights and with scrub lining the roads.
People here walk for miles and its strange
to see a person walking along a desolate piece of road. The population of
Our accommodation at Ghanzi was in little houses build on a traditional style with thatched roof mud walls and the bathroom was under the stars surrounded by a fence made of the same reeds used on the roof it was very nice but we passed on a shower as it was cold water.
Dinner was the BBQ at the truck with dancers from the local tribe in traditional dress. They were very enthusiastic and got the group up to dance with them. It’s strange that many people don’t give money to these groups at the end of the show as in this case we were with people from another truck and if everyone gave then it would have been a decent amount for the tribe.
30 July Tuesday
The road continues much the same as yesterday. Our breakfast was at the truck outside and it was cold so a fire was lit. Then it was off in the truck towards Maun, straight sealed roads with scrub on both side of the road. Every so often we were slowed to 60 km/h for areas where stock and people were crossing the road. It appeared that homes were in the bush in these areas. Donkeys and cattle were wandering aimlessly; as were people. Other people with donkeys and carts were carrying stuff like firewood. Ladies in colourful clothes carrying stuff on their heads and kids would rush out of the trees to wave to us.
Our site in Maun is cabins again and very cute, the ladies revelled in the shower. We went to town in the truck and Karen was very frustrated at not being able to send her email again and could not contact Jerry and the kids, she even tried phone to no avail.
Tonight we are preparing for the flight
31 July Wednesday
0630 Breakfast at the truck and then off to the airport, it was interesting seeing they way things happened like the town it was all a little disorganised but our guide worked her way through it and after some time we got on a six seat plane and flew for 20 minutes over the delta to a small dirt runway, landed with a bump and we were there. We were met by some guys who directed us to a tin runabout boat tied to a tree.
Once in the boat we travelled through then water ways stopping to check out a crock that was lying on some weeds.
He was smaller than the Australian crocks
we have seen but bigger than alligators in the
We were split into two groups, some went on the runabouts and we went in canoes,. The guides were in each canoe and punted them along with a long poll that had a fork at the bottom. This was a nice experience and saw a number of bird’s elephant’s, antelope and giraffes.
Went for a walk on an island and saw buffalo, so to get a closer view we had to get down wind of them however they spotted us so we took pictures. After a while the buffalos made a minor fake charge and the turned around and walked off. During the walk and boat ride we saw numerous birds, antelope and Elephants.
When we got back it was happy hour that turned
into a number of drinks on the house by the manager of the resort
When we arrived the manager and his sister gave us a briefing on the resort and the dangers of walking around at night as all manner of wild animals were in the camp including snakes.
It was about 9pm when we finished dinner and our guide showed us to our Tents as we are not permitted to walk alone. Karen had been given a tent some distance from the rest of us and her guide encounter an elephant on the way to her tent and they had to take a diversion around the elephant. Karen did not sleep well as the elephant was smashing stuff near her tent and knocking trees over to feed. The noise was compounded by baboons that were doing their thing through the camp and Lions were also roaring some way off.
These are not your normal sort of tent you get for camping these are a much more salubrious job built on a deck with bathroom under the stars, toilet and beautifully fitted out room and beds. The view was just like all the African movies you have ever seen with the sun set, birds, animals and trees passing by, mind boggling!
We also we treated that night to the full on African jungle noise including the elephant banging around Karen’s tent. I felt that we were all safe as the elephants would not walk onto anything that is not a sure footing and his 6 ton bulk would have gone through the deck.
1 August Thursday
This morning our guide came to bring us to the dinning room for breakfast. After which it was our turn to go out in the runabouts and the others to go out in the Canoes.
The boat trip turned out to be a real bonus as we stopped very close to a bunch of hippo’s who were as curious about us as we were about them and they came close to our boat but did not attack however one showed his teeth by opening his mouth to warn us.
After seeing some magic birds and all the usual animals we came across another bunch of hippo’s and another real close encounter with a couple of elephants that were on the river bank.
Back for lunch and then another boat trip on the runabouts to a different part of the park where we saw more animals and birds. The Fish eagle and the grey heron were magnificent as were some other birds of various sizes.
Karen required a short break from the boat so we stopped on this island and found another bunch of Water buffalo with babies. The guides had packed afternoon tea and wine, all went down very well and the boat was rocking with a bunch of people all singing their heads off in a very merry mood.
On arrival back at the resort the managers were there to meet us and were shocked by the state of this unruly bunch but as Alvin was keen on a party they invited us back to the bar and when our guide went to record the drinks he said forget it. The party would have continued had not the dinner drum sounded.
Dinner was very nicely presented and more free wine. After that it was time to sleep with the racket of the jungle around us we felt like we were in a movie.
2 August Friday
We woke to another awesome sight of the sun rising over the trees and river. Breakfast and caught the boat back to the airstrip. Loved the fire service a few buckets painted red with sand inside hanging on the fence.
Awesome flight back to Maun snapping the
delta below with animals doing their thing. We had a laugh at the airport the
pilot dropped us off at the end of the runway and we had to walk a mile to get
to the terminal. (
The drive to planet Baobab was uneventful other than we have to go through a foot and mouth check and get our shoes dipped as well as the truck driving through a dip also.
Planet Baobab is the most unbelievable place with these houses built to a authentic style of Rakalanga huts, round with thatched roofs and African designs on the outside. With these houses painted in patterns and pastel colours it surreal.
This place is built around the most bizarre trees that you are likely to see the Baobab are like hug sweet potato or a tree upside down with their roots for branches, they are not wood and will not burn, the largest is 2400 years old and really weird as it is in a Luna landscape on a salt plane.
The interiors were amazing, our beds were single and different, they reminded Karen of when she was a child staying at Mums house in the bunks granddad made.
