The two weeks on our overland tour have been an incredible adventure, and an absolute whirlwind of an experience. It’s been a busy fortnight so I’ll TRY to keep words to a minimum and share as many photos as our internet will allow. Here’s my 14 day tour diary:
Day 1 – Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)
Today we met our tour companions who have come from across the world and visited the Victoria Falls National Park. The falls are 1.7km wide, over 100m high and are known to some people in Africa as “Mosi-oa-Tunya”, which means “The Smoke that Thunders”. It is a truly awe-inspiring place.
Day 2 – Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) to Kasane (Botswana)
We set off in our truck (called Mike) and crossed the border into Botswana. After stopping for supplies we set up our tents for the first time by the Chobe River, had lunch and relaxed by the pool. In the afternoon we went on a sunset cruise on the Chobe River and were treated to incredible sightings of animals (elephant, hippo, buffalo and many more) and the African sunset.
Day 3 – Kasane (Botswana) to Caprivi Strip (Namibia)
We started the day before sunrise and drove into the Chobe national park for a morning game drive. We saw lions from a long distance eating a buffalo, as well as baboons, vultures and more. The real highlight was an amazing sighting of a leopard and a cub as we were heading for the exit. Leopards had been avoiding us everywhere we had been in Africa so it was incredible to finally see one! After that we packed up and crossed into Namibia, took a long drive through the Caprivi Strip (saw a Wild Dog on the way!) and arrived at the Okavango River after dark.
Day 4 – Caprivi Strip (Namibia) to Okavango Delta (Botswana)
We woke up by the Okavango River and had breakfast whilst watching Hippos and Giant kingfishers. We then ventured into the Okavango Delta, a large area of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana which is seasonally flooded by the Okavango River, creating a gigantic swamp. We arrived at a camp with tents set up ready for us and took a sunset trip in mokoros (small wooden boats driven by a man with a pole) to see the delta and one of its many islands. On our way back we sat for a while to watch a group of 11 hippos and a very large crocodile just metres from our boats.
Day 5 – Okavango Delta (Botswana)
A full day on the Delta! We explored an island and learnt to read signs of where animals have been from our guide, saw a rare bird called the Pel’s Fishing Owl, a nightjar, and lots of other little bits of wildlife. In the afternoon we had a series of little races on the mokoros which led to many of us getting wet! We later went out on a speedboat to see more of the Delta and saw an incredible amount of birds, and best of all, a group of elephants crossing the water very close to us. We watched the sun set over some hippos.
Day 6 – Okavango Delta (Botswana) to Maun (Botswana)
We started the day by taking a speedboat ride across the Delta panhandle to meet our truck again. We then drove for the rest of the day to reach Maun, where we stayed the night at a local campsite.
Day 7 – Maun (Botswana) to Ghanzi (Botswana)
We set off for Maun Airport and took a scenic flight over the Okavango Delta before leaving it behind. It was incredible to see the Delta from above, taking in the scale of the swamps and islands. We also saw a lot of animals! Elephants, springbok, giraffe, hippos and crocodiles just to name a few. Several people felt pretty unwell after flying in such a small plane (especially Ruby!). Afterwards we drove to Ghanzi, where we stayed at a bushman camp. The bushmen took us for a walk and told us how their ancestors used to live purely from the things which grow and live in the bush, such as plants and animals.
Day 8 – Ghanzi (Botswana) to Windhoek (Namibia)
Today we had a long drive, crossing the border into Namibia and staying the night in a hotel in their capital city of Windhoek. We also stopped for a look in their independence museum, and had dinner out a Joe’s Beer House.
Day 9 – Windhoek (Namibia) to Etosha (Namibia)
Another long drive which took us north to the Etosha National Park, one of the best places to see wild animals in Southern Africa. Upon arrival in the late afternoon we set up our tents and headed straight out to a nearby waterhole to see what was drinking. We were amazed to arrive and see Black Rhino there! We also visited the floodlit waterhole at our campsite where we could see animals drinking at night, most excitingly we saw an Aardvark, which are very rare to see because they only come out at night J
Day 10 – Etosha (Namibia)
A full day of driving around Etosha looking for animals! It was a long day but we saw a lot of beautiful animals and also the Etosha Pan, a large area that reaches as far as the eye can see in all directions which floods and dries out every year. We ended the evening by watching giraffe, elephants, jackals and black rhinos drinking at the waterhole.
Day 11 – Etosha (Namibia) to Outjo (Namibia)
We got up early (4am) and went down to the waterhole for a bit, then went on a sunrise game drive. We were really lucky, and quickly came across a pair of lions! After our drive we visited the waterhole one last time to see huge numbers of antelope drinking together, an amazing sight. We then left Etosha, seeing one last large congregation of elephants and other animals as we left. We drove a short way to Outjo, where we set up camp, then spent the afternoon relaxing and playing football with a resident dog.
Day 12 – Outjo (Namibia) to Khorixas (Namibia)
We stopped off near Outjo in the morning to visit a local Himba tribe. It was very interesting to see how they still live with their traditional techniques and beliefs. We stopped in the afternoon at a petrified forest. Wood becomes petrified when it is buried deep underground, absorbs minerals and is exposed to high pressures, turning the wood to stone! It was cool to see the rocks which still look exactly like tree trunks with year lines and bark.
Day 13 – Khorixas (Namibia) to Swakopmund (Namibia)
Today we made one unplanned stop to help an Italian couple who had crashed and turned their car upside down. Afterwards we drove on to Spitzkoppe, a beautiful area of mountains, some of which you can walk up for amazing views. There were also lots of dassies and I even caught a glimpse of a wild monitor lizard! We had dinner out with the rest of our tour group, who we have to say goodbye to tomorrow as they will be continuing on to Cape Town.
Day 14 – Swakopmund (Namibia)
Our final day of tour was in Swakopmund, we moved hotels in the morning, then wandered through town and checked out the beach. At 2pm we were picked up and taken to do our sky dives! It’s hard to describe, but it felt brilliant to do it and the scenery was sensational. After I landed, Ruby had a slight crash landing and had to be taken to hospital for some x-rays on her back, fortunately there was no lasting damage, but she is going to have a lot of pain over the next week or so. After some mad rushing about at the hospital and back at the skydive club, we finally made it back into town and found our other tour members had left a message to meet them where they had gone for dinner. This gave us a chance to say bye to them all and wish them well for the rest of the trip! We slept well and got up early the next morning to make our way towards Malawi for the next stage of our adventure!
I did my sky dive to raise money for the Kasungu elephant foundation, and any donations are still greatly appreciated! Knowing we were doing it for a good cause eased my fear at the time and will soothe Ruby’s pain now too! We have now arrived in Kasungu and can already see the damage that can be caused to wildlife by poaching, and the animals here are still at great risk. Without the work of the foundation and the anti-poaching unit the elephants in this park could be wiped out in just 2 to 3 years (numbers have already dropped from 2,500 elephants to less than 50 in the last forty years), so it’s great to see the amount of hard work they do and the dedication they have towards protecting the wildlife here. I will be sure to follow up with more information in the next few weeks.
Donations: http://www.youcaring.com/kasungu-elephants-foundation-384822
More info: http://www.kasunguelephants.org/en
Thank you!
A huge thanks to everyone on our tour, our guides Amen and Lazarus, our cook Banabas and everyone else we met along the way for making the tour such a great experience. If anyone is interested, our tour was through Nomad Adventure Tours (“Desert and Delta” tour) – http://nomadtours.co.za/
Lambey in Africa 