Botswana

After only a short drive in Zimbabwe, we hit what would be the first of many border crossings on this trip. Compared to South America, these crossings were much more lax. They were more concerned about your occupation and how much money you planned on spending than what you were bringing in.

Home sweet home. With a few modifications to increase airflow

It was only another short drive once in Botswana to our destination for the evening. The first order of business was to become acquainted with our tents. These tents were tall and wide with built in mosquito netting. We also received mats for the tents to give a little cushion. Those that had already been on tour with nomad were experts in setting up their tents. It took us a bit longer initially but was overall simple to set up.

Panorama of the Chobe river 

Variety of wildlife spotted on the game drive

Elephant herd walking with their young

How a giraffe reaches the ground

After the camp was set up, we set off on our first activity which was more game driving, only this time in Chobe National Park. It's situated on the Chobe river so the scenery was completely different than our other drives. We piled into two 4x4s and set off. Our guide was OK but we got to see quite a bit. We got to see large herds of elephants roaming along the river. We'd seen elephants before but this setting made them very impressive. We also saw most of the Safari staples: zebra, giraffe and impala. We had our first encounter with a monitor lizard but the absolute highlight of the drive was the leopard. We almost didn't see it!! We were on our way out trying to beat the rain we could see in the distance when our guide slammed on the brakes and did a u-turn. The vehicle behind us had spotted the leopard in the bushes right by the road that we had just driven past!! It was an absolutely beautiful animal and cooperated with all the photo takers (though I really missed not having my giant lens!). 

Leopard! 4/5 now complete

Not sure who is stalking who

We left on a great high after seeing the leopard and went straight into a river cruise along the Chobe to get a different perspective of the animals. We got to see some hippos, buffalo and a crocodile, but the highlight was a herd of elephants drinking and playing in the water. It would have been nice if we could have played in the water as it was very hot on the boat with minimal shade. The folding chairs in the boat started out well set up but quickly became a chaotic mess as people tried to avoid the sun.

Elephants relaxing at the water

Washing themselves off

Getting a drink

It was a great day to truly start the tour and we returned to camp for some dinner and our nightly edition of "The Norman Show" which covered the next day's activities and times. Since this was the season premiere, it ran a bit longer as he outlined how the tour was going to work.

The next morning we were roused from our sleep by the sound of rain! The intensity kept picking up and by the time we tried to take our tent down, we had a small stream running underneath. It was a chaotic morning of people scrambling to take their tents down in the train and mud (the rain stopped as soon as we left). In the chaos of all of this, someone fell and hurt their wrist. We all piled into Whitney and headed to town so the injured wrist could be tended to.

We got many different kinds of stops on the tour. Most were for fuel, shopping, lunch and the toilet. Sometimes it would just be a gas station, other times we would stop in small towns. And sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you'd just have to stop. If you needed one of those stops, you'd walk to the front, stick your head through the opening to the cab and tell Norman you needed a bushy bushy. 

We had an extra long stop, while the injured family member (That's how Norman referred to the group) was being tended to so we did the natural thing you'd do in Africa: find the Cafe with wifi. Although in this case the wifi was a great help. Jess excused herself to use the toilet and about 5 minutes in, I got a message that simply read "Please can you rescue me from the toilet". Turns out the door stuck and there was no knob on the inside. After the daring rescue, we found out it was only a fractured wrist and we all set off for our evening destination. It was another border crossing as we stayed in Namibia along a thin strip of land that runs along the top of Botswana (the original intent was that it have Namibia access to the Indian ocean but it actually didn't). We got our wet tent unpacked and hoped it would dry overnight.We were located right on he river side up on a steep bank with warning sides for crocodiles. We were assured we were safe despite the doubts of our resident crocodile expert (the Australian). We awoke in the morning with all famil members still intact!

Our Okavango campsite

The bathroom "door"

Overlooking the delta

Fauna composition of grass and papyrus

Typical channel to navigate

The next day we were back in Botswana headed to the Okavango Delta. We split from our accommodated family members as their portion of this two night excursion was different (some members on the tour were in accommodations everywhere and the rest of us were camping). It was nice to have a dry tent and these had cots! We took an afternoon nature walk around the property and then set off for a boat cruise of this section of the delta. It was very cool scenery as it was a bit swamp like. We saw lots of birds and even a few crocodiles. We had an amazing dinner at the camp but had to make it an early night as the mosquitoes were quite vicious.

Our mokoros. These were fiberglass. Traditional ones were carved from trees.

The next day we took the boat once again and headed out to meet our guides for the day. Today we were traveling by mokoro. These were the old canoes that the tribes in the region would use to get around. They were driven with large poles, just like the gondolas of Venice though Venetians never had to worry about hippos! 

A wild Jess sighting. Survival rates for these encounters are typically low.

Our mokoro train

Cutting though the reeds

It was a very cool experience to be at​ water level gliding through reeds. We only had one hippo scare as we stumbled upon one, but my mokoro was at the back (I was guarding the beer) so it was only terrifying for the first couple (Jess was in the first couple). We also spotted a few elephants in the distance. About halfway through our ride, the rain rolled in and was here to stay. We made it to another island where we were​ scheduled to take a walk and have a leisurely lunch, but we cut the walk short and all ate quickly. We were rained on the entire mokoro and boat ride back. At least we were we able to get a hot shower when we returned to camp. The pop up tent that provided shade at the bar quickly became a drying rack for everyone. When it came time for the sunset cruise, everyone turned it down because no one had anymore dry clothes if it rained again! Instead we all hung out under the cover with our wet clothes, had some libations and learned of our horoscopes thanks to South African Cosmo. After another filling dinner and excellent post-dinner conversation, we were off to bed, ready to re-unite with the rest of the group and Whitney tomorrow. 

The next morning we set off towards Maun. It was a very easy day. Only a few hours of driving with a half full family and we reached out destination. It was a nice hotel with a campsite. We were able to lounge by the pool. At most every site we were at, the camping folks had an option to upgrade to accommodated. At this stop, there were a few that chose the option (we held out upgrading until the following night). They ended up with a chalet that quicky became the laundry house. Drying lines were running all over the place as people tried to dry their still wet clothes from the delta. 

Explaining how a root was used to dye animal hide 

One of their many useful plants

The next day we had an hour in the town of Maun while a small part of the group did a scenic flight. During this time, we stumbled into a Woolworth's food. It was the only time in Africa I would find 100% orange juice. Must of the time, it would be orange juice with an asterisk noting up to 50% of other juices. After the flight we set off towards the town of Ghanzi. This was our last night in Botswana. Since the upgrade was very affordable ($30), we upgraded to have back to back nights in accommodation (in bigger towns, we were all accommodated). In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to do a nature walk with some of the San people. They are a tribe which still has some members that still choose to live the ways of their ancestors. On the walk we learned how they would use different plants and roots in their everyday life. We had a very dramatic acting out of how a certain leaf would help cure diarrhea!! After our dinner, the San people then entertained us with their traditional dances. They had different dances for different events. They had dances for healing, hunting and celebration. The last dance included audience participation, but good luck finding the videos! After a comfortable nights rest, we said goodbye to Botswana.

Botswana was a lovely country. While the driving was a bit boring because the landscape was very flat, the areas of Chobe and the Okavango Delta were very unique and really great to see. The people we encountered were very friendly and always wanted to know if we were having a good time in their country. They were very proud of their country, which had never been colonized (it was only briefly a British protectorate) and really made for an awesome visit.

-Nick