| | Jan 2, 2006 - PART 1 - 20 Day Overland Safari - Vic Falls to Okavango Delta Botswana | (click to enlarge)
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 | On the ferry from Zambia to Chobe, Botswana
| | Setting up camp on our first day
| | Chobe River Cruise scenery, Botswana
| | African darter or snake bird on the banks of the Chobe River
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 | Crocodile on the Chobe River Bank
| | Eagle in the trees
| | Hippos in the Chobe River
| | Eric packing the luggage on the roof - a participating safari
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 | Warthogs inside Chobe National Park, Botswana
| | Mama and her baby inside Chobe National Park, Botswana
| | Right outside our vehicle window....
| | Black-backed Jackal
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 | Chantal and Monica fixing the roof tarp
| | Roadside picnic lunch, Namibia
| | Stephi and Anjou at our Kwando River Camp, Caprivi Strip Namibia
| | Sunset over the Kwando River, Caprivi Strip Namibia
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 | Rarely seen and endangered African Wild Dogs
| | Mud roads that almost bogged us down enroute to the Okavango Delta, Botswana
| | Boat transfer into the Okavango Delta, Botswana
| | Unpacking the truck at our Okavango Delta camp on New Years Eve
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 | Carl and Shirley on New Years Eve
| | Doing the Springbok dance and shots - New Years Eve
| | Springbok shot time - New Years Eve
| | Think Eric is wearing more of that shot than what he drank! - New Years Eve
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 | Happy New Years! Okavango Delta, Botswana
| | Happy New Years! Our safari gang plus a fellow Canadian in the middle of the Okavango Delta
| | Local kids performing for Shirley
| | All on board the 'cattle truck' to the mokoros - New Years Day
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 | Mokoros waiting to take us through the Okavango Delta
| | Traditional poler taking us through the Okavango Delta
| | New Years Day mokoro ride through the Okavango Delta
| | Poling through the narrow channels
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 | Water lilies in the Delta
| | In our mokoro, Okavango Delta Botswana
| | Papyrus blowing in the breeze
| | Okavango Delta
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 | | | Apparently this police boat is underused!
| | The gang leaving our Delta camp for the Swamp Stop
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| | 20-Day Overland Safari - Victoria Falls to Cape Town
HIGHLIGHTS: Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park, Western Caprivi, Okavango Delta, Etosha, Swakopmund, Sossusvlei, Fish River Canyon, Orange River, Cedarberg, Cape Town
COUNTRIES VISITED: Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa
SAFARI TYPE: Participating Mixed Camping and Basic Chalet
SAFARI GUIDE/DRIVER/COOK: Chantel, South African
TRANSLATOR (GERMAN/ENGLISH): Monika, German
PASSENGERS: Shirley - Australian (only with us for 14 days L rather than the full 20)
Stephi and Anjou - German (East Germany)
Audi and Elizabeth - German
Andreas - German
And us of course making a total of 8 passengers and 2 guides
The safari experienced was packed with so much I have had a challenge in working out how to record our experience and hundreds of pictures we have taken over the 20 days. So, what we have done is split it up into 4 different sections:
Part 1 - Victoria Falls, Zambia to Okavango Delta, Botswana
Part 2 - Kavango River, Caprivi Strip Namibia to Cape Town, South Africa
Part 3 - Sossusvlei, Namibia - World's Highest Sand Dunes and Awe Inspiring Views
Part 4 - An Unforgettable Touching Lifetime Experience
PART 1 - Victoria Falls, Zambia to Okavango Delta Botswana
ITINERARY
Day 1 - Depart Victoria Falls Zambia for Chobe National Park, Botswana
Day 2 - Western Caprivi, Namibia
Day 3 & 4 (New Years Eve and New Years Day) - Caprivi to Okavango Delta, Botswana
Our overland safari was an incredible experience and very different than the private safaris we had previously done in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. This safari was a group safari travelling together in one overland truck and trailer complete with all of our camping gear to allow us to shop locally cooking along the way.
Upon arrival in Zambia and meeting our energetic and friendly guide Chantel, we were surprised to learn we were going to have a translator with us on the tour, as the thought of having non-English speaking people on our safari had never even crossed our minds. Nevertheless, we set out to live together for the next 20 days as we shared the wonders of Southern Africa along with all the quirks and situations that arise when you throw10 strangers with different cultural backgrounds together in close living quarters.
With landscapes, sights and experiences changing daily, we thought for this section we would list in point form some of our highlights, most memorable moments and their corresponding photos. Two of the most incredible moments of the trip for us will be detailed in Part 3 and Part 4 to give them the attention and detail they deserve.
Here are our highlights from the first part of our trip:
· The excitement and anticipation of meeting our eight other travellers and getting to know them as we are spending the next 20 days together. We had already had some fun hypothesizing characters that might be on our safari with us...however, we found out we weren't too accurate at all!
· The start of our journey marked by the ferry crossing from Zambia to Botswana just outside Chobe National Park as we crossed with the locals and immediately felt we were somewhat off the popular tourist track
· Arriving in Botswana and stopping at a grocery store where we found a modern, fully stocked grocery store like we had not seen for months after all our travels in East Africa and the Seychelles - Botswana is certainly a more upscale African country
· Chobe River Cruise with crocodiles, birds, hippos and the threat of a torrential tropical storm as low, black clouds gathered and lightening flashes filled the skies
· Close encounter with numerous elephants including a mother and her really young baby and then a group of males with one in musk all lingering just outside our vehicle windows
· Frequent border crossings and attempting to tactfully asking the customs agents to stamp our passports on one of the pages that is almost full already as we are rapidly running out of room in our passports
· Watching a crocodile silently glide down the Kwando River just outside our chalet and then seeing one of the most magnificent sunsets reflecting in the river as again the low black rain clouds, thunder and lightening gather in the distance
· Enjoying our accommodations - both the quaint chalets which we luck out and seem to have each night of the torrential down pours and then camping again in tents as we do in summers back home
· Seeing the rare and endangered African Wild Dogs - you know when your guide is really excited about the viewing you are seeing something rare and special
· Chantel's excellent driving manoeuvring us through a thick mud road that bogged down other vehicles to get us to our Okavango Delta transfer on New Years Eve
· The most dramatic clouds and thunder storms we have ever encountered with big fluffy white clouds building up all day until they stacked together thick and incredibly low in the sky and then breaking out into spectacular thunder, lightening and down pours - the rainy season for the area!
· Rushing to beat the big storm as we unpack the truck and trailer and load our boat for transfer to deep into the Okavango Delta, one of the most remote places in Africa and then enjoying our speed boat ride through the papyrus lined delta banks to our New Years Eve and New Years Day camp
· New Years Eve party in the Okavango as we learn to do the Springbok Dance and Springbok shots...perhaps Eric got more on his face than in his mouth though!
· Having a good laugh with Shirley as we tease her about her camping excursion when she originally had booked a 5 Star Deluxe tour and was now sleeping on the ground, in a tent in the Okavango Delta - You are a trooper Shirley!!
· New Years Day mokoro ride through the Okavango Delta, an island walk, picnic lunch and then the adrenaline rush as we have a close encounter with a group of dangerous hippos on our return trip to camp
· Experiencing the most severe thunderstorms of our lives with thunder so incredibly loud it rocked the ground, a light show of equal power and a downpour of rain that filled everyone's tent - we nicknamed our group the Rain Gods as we have had more rain than Chantel has ever had on any of her safaris. The test to the name will be when we hit the Namibian desert!
· Listening to the local children singing for Shirley after she asked if they would sing a song for her
· Wondering how and when we were going to get out of the Delta since our boat transfer had apparently lost its propeller somewhere and the camp tried to arrange other boats to get us and our gear back to the Swamp Stop where our truck and trailer awaited us
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