After a week of unpacking & settling in again, starting the next building phase, and, most important, hanging out with the dogs, Henk-i, Harriet and Jolin arrive. Their first days we spend at home, showing off our surroundings. Though we didn’t manage to spot the promised baboons and green monkeys, we had an encounter with other game then goats, cows and donkeys while walking to the red rocks. This expedition, ten minutes by foot from our house, brought us kudus. Again, for Maud, and finally Bram believes she has seen those antelopes there before.
When we hit the road in our old Hilux our first goal is Khama Rhino Sanctuary near Serowe. That’s a sure hit for the tour guides cause those rhino are breeding like rats, and we always see lots of game there.
On our way up we get afraid we might have to catch a couple of donkeys to pull the car. The Hilux can hardly make it uphill, and the engine sounds like it will die pretty soon. So we phone our Serowe friend Thusi that once again we will be driving a car in need when we visit. And once again the solution is very simple and extremely embarrassing: engines need oil.
It has been years since we saw so many giraffes at Khama Rhino.
While Maud practices her driving skills on girl’s highways (meaning dirt roads), and Jolin has a go at balancing on the roof rack, we see loads of other game also. Hand raised black rhino Noddy adds to the ‘wild Africa’ experience by roaming our campsite at night.
Actually Botswana is like staying at the beach without the see: sand in your eyes, food, luggage – everywhere. Since we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn the days are warm, and a sea would be appreciated, but the nights are still nice crisp & cold.
Driving on to Lhekubu Island we have to cross the saltpans, which makes this outing only possible in winter. The summer rains will make the soil so soft that whole trucks can totally disappear… Even now there still is some water in the pans, so we just have to walk to the beach to cool down our feet.
Lhekubu Island is stunning: an isle formed by rocks in the middle of the pans, covered with baobabs. It’s peak season, so there are a lot of other tourists, but since they rather drive around the isle via the pans, we can walk all over it undisturbed.
After surviving two camps it’s time to move on to Maun and have a luxury stay with Pietje.
The relatives must be disappointed by now. We promised them nothing but palatshe or bogobe (maize- or sorghum pap) with mopane caterpillars, but even chef Klaas serves other stuff in his Cuisine Rouge.
This one is still way too small for a braai.
Maun is the starting point for an outing into the Okavango delta. The river and the delta are extremely full with water this year due to heavy rains in Angola. We’re poled over what we know as dry land to the island ‘Mama don’t cry’, where we set up camp.
Again no caterpillars but fresh tilapia caught by our poler & guide Freddy.
Freddy teaches us how to make a bush braai: dig a hole, fill it with red hot coals, and make a grid out of sticks over it.
Being poled around is really nice, but the absolutely fabulous part is the game walks. Sneaking up on zebra, wildebeest, elephant, giraffe, and etcetera is like a dream come true.
Though some sweeties we prefer to spot while driving around… While camping east of the delta we hire a guide to drive with us and hunt down highlights.
Finding those lions took so long that we drive back in the dark, which gives us the chance to spot some nocturnal game, like the African wildcat.
On our way back south we have a stop over at Nata Bird Sanctuary. The pelicans & flamingos are not around this time of the year, but we spot cranes, and the pans are always amazingly spacey.
Francistown – the second town of Botswana, close to the Zimbabwean border. We have our French fries & burgers at the busy bus station. How many of those big bags are on their way to help out the relatives in Zimbabwe?
Final stop over: Moremi Gorge, close to Palapye. It’s a un-Botswana like landscape: a lush green forest down the gorge, around the stream and pools and small waterfalls that flow from a spring high up.
Directed by our guide we go halfway up the gorge. The forbidding, straight-up rock wall at the other side houses the famous gorge-vultures, and a flock of other prey-birds and their preys.
Next stop: back home down south.
