The Botswana adventure: Animals anyone?

Today (Sunday October 26th) started early again as we needed to make it to our next destination on time - we were off to the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana.

Before we leave, we took a Bushmen walk and drive out to a campsite where two young men in traditional clothing met us. These nomadic people guided us around their habitat and showed us how they used to catch birds, make fire, find water from tree roots and play traditional games.

We then faced a 3,5-hour road trip to Maun, ‘road’ being a bit of an exaggeration for the sand track that we had to follow for the first 3 hours! Pete proved to be a true 4x4 master as he flexed his muscles to keep the very heavy Land Rover on track and got a serious workout at the same time.

We arrived on time at exactly 11.30am in Maun where two cheerful ladies, along with our new guide Tony, awaited us. We left our trusted Land Rover behind and climbed into an open-air safari jeep for the 3 hour trip to our lodge in the Khwai development, just north of the Moremi National Park.

Going down the road at 50 kph with a hot wind blowing in our faces, followed by over 2 hours of eating sand, we all looked pretty rugged upon arrival. As we were pulling a trailer with our luggage, poor Tony got into trouble in the deep sand and the jeep got stuck. The sand was well over 100 degrees, so it was a tough job getting both jeep and trailer out, and our feet suffered. However, Pete had some good suggestions and finally got us on our way.

However, the bumpy ride was worth it. It finished with us crossing the Bridge over the river Khwai, in time for an afternoon game drive. After having settled into our very comfortable tents overlooking the game park (no fences, so any animal could come up for a visit!!) we set off again.