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Friday, October 6th, Chobe Safari Lodge, Chobe, Botswana
On the road outside of Maun, we pass back over the sand covered road (the road melts here between 11:30 & 16:00, so the sand stops the tar from flying away under the tyres), and there is suddenly a southerly wind flying through the window. It is so hot, it leaves me breathless. Once again, there are chickens, goats, beef on the hoof and donkeys wandering by the side and on the road all the way up. Our trip west and then north from Maun toward the Namibian border takes us to Etsha 6 (there are lots of Etsha's, from 1 to 13).En route, we pass through three or four check points, all requiring us to stop, but nothing else. Some are to prevent various cattle lung diseases, others, who can say. We pass on our way merrily. Our goal was to get to Makewa Lodge, which has all the bits of touring facilities that we are after, but you have to be taken by boat the last kilometre. To do this, it's best to contact them first, before you head out to the rendezvous. We arrive at their mainland head office, and as luck, or whatever will have it, the phone is on the blink. This area appears to exist without any cogent form of organisation. In short, this is totally Africa. Hundreds of K's of nothing but bush, sand, dust and then small villages with maybe an ice powered cool box containing questionable refreshments. Wrecks litter all the roads here, and there are on average by the side of the road, the consequences of these long animal infested roads, and poor driving ability and judgement. This is simply the freshest evidence. Stopping once at Gumare, 250Km from Maun for a few cold pops, - it's very easy to dehydrate in these hot, humid and dusty conditions, we end up in Etsha 6. This was once on the border of the delta, now it's at least 6 - 8 Km from the water. There is next to nothing here. Although it's not Sunday, it's still a national holiday, nothing in the "town" of Etsha 6 is functioning (does this sound familiar?). We try for an hour or so to contact the lodge, from their head office this side of the delta, but after several concerted efforts, with poor phone lines, we eventually have to give up on Makewa, and find somewhere to stay for the night. Another 100Km North, just south of the Caprivi border with Namibia is Drotsky's Cabins, a somewhat upmarket fishing lodge on the Okavango river. We have driven 300Km to get this far. 400 Km - another long days drive.
Come morning, and we have a pile of choices. The owner here says the Caprivi Strip in Namibia (the thin tounge of land between Botswana and Angola which occasionally is known for the sport of tourist hunting), is fairly safe these days, you need to take a military escorted convoy for 180Km across the strip toward the Eastern end. "No Problem" we are told. There is also a small game park just inside Namibia, proverbially teeming with stuff. In the end, we decide to head back to the Etsha's to seek a few nights in the delta camp. Well, we can only say we tried, for two hours we patiently got hold of the lodge, and tried to call multiple times. The phone lines were up and down, and eventually, around 1:00PM, we've had a collective "enough", and head back to Maun. After doing this "lets see if we can" approach to travel, finally our luck hides from us.
We check into the Sadia hotel in Maun which has a clean pool, and we organise ourselves for our remaining few days. We dine at the Sports Bar again - great pasta here FYI. And yes, for all/ any of you who have made it this far in our travelogue, we are all putting on weight - and it's not very pretty! Wednesday, 4th. October, RCI has managed to get a half arsed week (two "halves" Monday to Saturday, and Friday to Sunday!) in Vic Falls, this gives us a few extra days to while away in Botswana. So, maybe a trip to the Delta for the missus & kids? Seems like they are happy to swim, all the urgency & "once in a life time" adventure bit being apathied out of them. Maybe they just didn't think they would enjoy it after my editorial on the subject. Maun is simply not hooked up for tourists, only as a base for touring. Now all you can do here is book trips etc and wait. We use the pool, do some schoolwork with the kids and catch some cancer rays. Dinner is once again at the Sports Bar Edward, the chef at the Sadia, who is here on a contract from Zimbabwe, inquires about the possibility of buying the LandCruiser once we are finished our trip. I tell him how much it would cost, then how much would need to be paid in taxes to "import" it. It comes to be about $US20,000.00. This appears to be too much, so he asks if we can load him into it when we ship it back, he can stay with us in Toronto and cook for us until he finds a job there. We all think it's a great idea. Come Thursday 4th., and we are off to Nata (unfortunately without Edward). It appears that somehow or other, going to or from the restaurant last night was enough to get a cracked windscreen - I'm cursed this way you know - that's the 4th. In 18 months! We stock up with liquids for the trip - very important in this heat, and head out east. It's a 300Km trip, and once again we pass through the Kalahari - this time through game reserves on either side of the road. There are more fences/ game/ cattle grids and at one the van is actually searched. I think he was looking for chickens, but finding none present in bulk, happily waves us through the check point. The roads are generally better than in the western sector, but not quite as good as Namibia. The surface is smooth, but much coarser and I know this will really rip the tyres down pretty quickly. 200Km out of Maun, we check out Gweta, miles from nowhere. It looks, on the map to be a suitable place to hang out, but we drive in, and drive out again, not even a café here. More scrub, bushes and heat, but the road is still tarred and we happily make Nata, our next overnight stop. Nata Lodge makes a welcome change from Maun, well thought out, professional, (the pool however needs looking into with a bit of technology). We opt for the tented option, and while away the afternoon with a shandy or two and some chips (fries to you) around the pool. This lodge is obviously for travellers on business. It's a day's drive from Jo'burg (800Km?), and most of the guests are not tourists. At dusk, the bushbabies climb down from the trees for snacks thoughtfully provided by the bar as we sit underneath with our bottle of white wine. Shy and skittish, it's very hard to get a good look at them. Friday, 5th, The family in the tent next to us is on the road early (5:30), so we are awake, and up earlier than normal. By 9:15 we have checked out, been and done the local Nata Game Sanctuary, 10Km south of the lodge. The most surprising thing to me, is that there is a huge lake here - this is a very dry area. Hardly any animals or even birds are here though. It only takes us an hour to get around, and we only see about 10 animals and 5 bird species. This is our final leg toward Vic Falls, and it will be the third "side" of the rectangle from Drotsky's Cabins. That is, from here, we head north again for the 300Km back up to the latitude we were at 4 days ago. We will have travelled 1000Km to avoid the Caprivi treck of 300km - we do however expect to arrive in Kasane alive this route.. The landscape is pretty familiar, except where it has been turned into mass farmland and crop cultivation areas. After 200Km, the fork off to the east to a Zim border post, where I saw a pride of lions lounging 20 odd years ago, is now a gas station. We arrive at Chobe Safari Lodge at 2:00PM, and book into a 2 bed chalet for the night. Much to your surprise no doubt, we spend the rest of the day in the pool, and catching up with laundry etc. I seek out my old haunts - this was one of my stop overs when heading South, I was refused entry into Rhodesia in 1976 (I only had US$75.00 in my pocket), and stayed here for a week or so, and also in 1978 on my way back up to Kenya
We seek out the towns pie shop, and take the economical route to food. At 2:00PM the heat, although actually being bearable, feels not to be. The lodge is right on the banks of the Chobe river. LARGE coloured signs tell you to stay away from the river bank as there have been several spottings of LARGE crocs on the river banks. This is definitely the tourist set here. I hear English, South African and Kiwi accents, German, French, Italian all around. It's obviously a location for Europeans to "do" Africa in total comfort. There are also several rotund grannies here (various nationalities). From the banks, next to the swimming pool, you can see on the Chobe reserve 1 Km away across the river, the herds of elephant, Cape Buffalo, and just out in the river, see and hear the hippo's grunting through the afternoon heat.
It's like a long piece of pig grizzle that just will not allow teeth through it. Fairly tasteless, and very crunchy. Hmmmm, I stop at one in case I become hooked. Come Saturday, 6th, as we overheard some of the overlanders complaining that they have not had much sleep because of all the lion and elephant noises all night, we move into the campsite which has a once had-been fence which abuts onto the actual Chobe reserve. We are lucky enough to get a shady site, right next to the river (lucky as long as no hippo's or crocs want to share this area with us), and camp. My Economists are rapidly being used up, (I'm now only 5 weeks behind with what has been happening in the world - we did not miss much it seems), so the afternoon is passed in the pool and in reading.
As it's a camping night, we celebrate our October camping early (at one a month so far), so we live off of rice and canned berriani as the stars come out. An unexpectedly quiet night passes with no one being eaten, or even severely maimed. Sunday 7th., and it's time for another country - Zimbabwe. We have been told many times that there is no, or at least limited amounts of Diesel in Zim, so we shake the Cruiser until we can get no more fuel in the tank, and say farewell to Botswana, although, personally, I'm glad to be leaving (once again, this is a familiar feeling). I wonder if Zim will be another casualty of African advancement. Distance travelled this entry: 1450 Km. Distance moved on trip this entry: 1250 Km |
Our final act, before we head out from Maun on Oct 2nd, is to leave a message for RCI (the time share agency) in Jo'burg, to book us
into Vic Falls for a week, once done, we head out.
The lodge is 
Returning to Maun, we see two women getting off a bus, they are in typical Herero garb, so we buy a couple of 
Once again, there appears to be little correlation between my memory, of what it was then and current reality.
This being Friday, there is a heavy duty braii and buffet here. - very expensive (we think), but probably North American levels of
pricing, so not desperately so. Lots of veg, some of which we have not seen for a few weeks, meat, of course including Kudu and
Impala. There is also something I'd describe as "neither"(or should it be both?), this delicacy being
As a final "that's it" for Botswana, I'm induced, against my better judgement, to go with the others on a sunset 
