Nov 27, 2012 - Maun

Heute sind wir Richtung Okawango Delta gefahren. Auf dem Weg haben wir total viele tote Kühe am Straßenrand gesehen. Wie wir erfahren, dass es so trocken ist, dass viele Kühe im Moment verdursten. Am Nachmittag waren wir in Maun und haben einen Flug über das Okawango Delta gemacht, in einem Flugzeug für 5 Personen. Da haben wir die Tiere mal von oben gesehen. Wir haben Büffel, Nilpferde, Elefanten, Giraffen und Löwen gesehen.

Sep 14, 2012 - Sept. 14 , Kasane airport

Kasane Airport...........well airport is perhaps an overstatement but a step up from the landing strips of previous flights in Botswana. We had a discussion with the manager last night as they wanted us to get up at 5 am and go on a game drive until 8:30 am as an English couple had to leave at 10 am. Since our flight to Jo'burg wasn't leaving until 3 pm we were not receptive to accommodating someone else's departure time thus giving up 4 to 5 hours of game driving and spending idle time at the Camp. It was agreed that we would get a wake up...

Sep 13, 2012 - Sept. 13 - Muchenje, Botswana

Success....today was a day of lions, leopards and elephants. We were awakened at 5:45 am and left the resort at 6 a.m. It wasn't too long before we noticed a leopard walking among the bushes about 100 yards away. We lost him/her quickly, but about ten minutes later we encountered some lions lolling close to our path. We took the obligatory photographs and started driving away when we noticed an Impala walking directly into the path of the lions. It stopped and turned but one of the lionesses immediately gave chase. They disappeared behind a...

Sep 12, 2012 - September 12 - Stanleys camp and Muchenje

As Paula mentioned yesterday we ran into some unusual situations. Imagine large tracts of flooded plains which we had crossed repeatedly, actually motoring through the deep waters for long stretches. The plains are made up of excess rain water and reeds, so there was no real problem with crocs etc. The one we attempted to cross to reach the lions was about 100 yards long and at least that much in width. We had managed to cross the waters about 80% when we got undeniably stuck and an SOS was sent to the camp. By the time another Landrover...

Sep 11, 2012 - September 11, 2012 Stanley's Camp

Yesterday we managed an early morning game drive before climbing into the Cessna to fly to Stanley's Camp, which took about 20 minutes. Flying above the floodplains of the Delta at an altitude of about 2500 feet was interesting, also giving us an opportunity to observe elephants and hippos from the air. We were met by our super smiling, friendly guide "ON", who undoubtedly has been through a number of jokes including ON during the day and OFF during the night, and ON and ON......We just had enough time to recharge batteries and have lunch....

Sep 11, 2012 - September 11th - continued

I'll start where Els stopped yesterday: This afternoon we made a boat trip in the swamp near the camp. Half an hour only, which turned out to be more than enough, as there was not much more to be seen than 3 frogs, several dragon flies and lots of mosquitos......... After this boat trip in a Mokoro, we were picked up by our guide ON, for another game drive before dinner. The real fanatics amongst us, the ones who love this safari-thing so much, they could do it for months.... had heard there were lions spotted somewhere "nearby". so off we...

Sep 10, 2012 - September 9, 2012 - Okuti Camp

I forgot to tell you a very important factor yesterday in that the temperature is the complete opposite of what we have experienced in S. Africa. On Arrival in Maun it was 28 degrees and during the day even higher at the camp. The evening cooled off a bit but it was a welcome reprieve. We had an interrupted nights sleep as an elephant decided to come and visit our abode. I heard him rustling in the water adjacent to our room for more than half an hour and finally figured that he was too close for comfort. I was afraid that he was going to...

Sep 10, 2012 - September 8, 2012 Botswana

On Saturday September 8th we flew in a Cessna 206 to our first camp which took about 25 minutes. We were met by our guide Salomon and started our first game drive of the day. Some of the wildlife we encountered included waterbuck, zebra, crocodiles, lots of impala, vervet monkeys, Kudus and of course elephants. We followed a family of four elephant for a while after wich Salomon stopped at a secluded place and magically set up a table, complete with tablecloth I might add, and served us wine and snacks. We were accompanied by a delightful...

Jul 7, 2012 - Day 12 - Nunda Lodge to Maun in Botswana

Peter, Dylan and Thomas did their first ever Tiger Fishing - We got 3 all small ones but a great experience. We did not have to leave early this morning as the trip was just 450 KM to Maun - We left Nunda at about 10.00 Drive through Park next to the Botswana Border and crossed into Botswana by Mid day. Fairly easy Border post. In Botswana we were asked to remove our hats in the Immigration office to show respect to the President - funny things these guys come up with to get attention !. We discovered during the drive to Maun an oil leak in...

Jun 24, 2012 - Day 157 to 160 - Maun...A Birthday and a Bombshell

Rolling into town filthy, tired and road weary, we opted to rent a chalet at Sitatunga camp in Maun to have a break from the tent and enjoy sleeping in a bed. I handed over three large garbage bags of washing to the campsite reception desk - pillow cases, towels, fleeces...virtually every article of clothing (including the clothes we were wearing) needed some serious dirt removal.  Our chalet had an outdoor shower with a rain setting on the shower head and enough hot water to wash away the dirt of Chobe and Moremi. After I'd scrubbed myself...

Apr 7, 2012 - Botswana

Botswana We only went to safari camps in Botswana which I kind of regret since it is an interesting country from the stand point that it is doing very well with almost no help from the outside world (which may be a big reason for its success). We booked a lot of our Africa trip through a company that specializes in African travel, which has been mostly great, but is occasionally annoying. The majority of tourists who come to Africa come for the wildlife and the beaches and mostly avoid the cities. Which is understandable since a lot of the...

Apr 6, 2012 - Audrey's lion blog

Audrey’s blog on Lions A couple days ago we were staying in a camp called Tau Pan, in Botswana. One morning we woke up to the sound of a lion grunting in the distance. The lions that live near by haven’t been seen in a couple of weeks so we thought we might get lucky enough to see one drinking by the water hole. Unfortunately when we went up to get tea and coffee there was no sign of any lions. My mom said, “I wish a lion would just walk up to the waterhole.” Then suddenly our guide, Parks (short for a sentence of a name), jumped up and...