🙂 Discovered paradise.
🙁 Everything is perfect.
We had transferred from Victoria Falls to Kasane by public transport – a bus. We arrived in Kasane and booked into Chobe Safari Lodge which is a beautiful setting right next to the river. We were in a rondavel and a big storm blew in. After an early morning game drive where we saw loads of hippo out of the water we went to try and arrange transport to Maun – fortunately a lovely Councillor generously offered to give us a lift.
We saw lion, elephant and giraffe en route – most unexpected! We booked our trip to depart the next day with Gunn safari. We set up a tent for US$10 in the grounds of the Sadia Hotel – bizarre as we had access to the room to use the bathroom and shower … but saved us a small fortune! Delicious meal and a beer before bed. A disco blasted until 04h30 so we had no sleep at all. We had done a small shop and then met Stuart our pilot at the landing strip. We boarded a small single engine plane and spotted a herd of elephant from the air. Paul took the controls for a period of time… yikes! I bought some lovely baskets when we landed. A cheeky bull elephant decided to come a little too close to camp for comfort so Alex took pots and banged them together until the cheeky chap high tailed it back into the water and away from camp – what a welcome!
Our hosts Simon and Alex met us and introduced us to Ra -Simon who would be our poler – a giant of a man with huge arms and who had the biggest smile. We headed straight out in the mokoro… very peaceful… bids, fish and buck… Arrived after an hour of poling and enjoyed lunch whilst listening to the call of fish eagles. We stocked up on a couple of beers and resumed poling at 15h30. Hopped off and did a walk. Very hot and no wind. Found hippos in a pool who initially reacted quite aggressively. We saw so much game: Elephant, Baboons, ground hornbills, wildebeest, buck, warthog and a tortoise! a HUGE croc with a smaller one on the opposite bank. AMAZING!!
We headed back to camp – Ra Simon’s net had captured two small fish. Fantastic sunset with lions roaring and hyenas laughing. Curried meatballs were delicious! We felt as though we had died and gone to heaven – this is paradise.
Up at 06h30 after quite an eventful evening! We had woken up to the sound of loud rumbling – when we unzipped our tent we saw large grey masses all around us – a herd of elephants! We quickly zipped up and then of course needed the loo but were too scared to move! We could see their tracks all around our tent including baby prints! Cooked breakfast and then set off at 07h15 and it was already hot! Saw fresh leopard and lion tracks. It was so hot that we needed to have a swim to cool off in the river! We headed out in the mokoro and found an elephant bathing right in front of us – magnificent. Then we came across another elephant who shook his head aggressively at us!
Had another stunning sunset and dinner. Lions roaring, hyenas calling and elephants in the water outside our tent – wonderful! Asleep by 20h00. Another magnificent day followed and we rested most of the day as it was hellishly hot. We did some fishing and dipped in the waterWe had a short walk but it was so hot that everything must have been flat in the shade!
Up at 05h30 and did a long walk. Saw a honey badger but no photo. Had breakfast and took down our tent and headed back to Gunn. Chatted to Simon and Alex and their 7week old baby called Fraser. had a few beers with them. Paul went fishing and caught pike. We went for a long walk in search o f lion but despise finding tracks were unsuccessful. Lovely dinner and early night. Elephants right outside our tent grazing. Lions roaring very nearby. Had a chilled morning after breakfast writing diary and letters. Delicious lunch – SO hot. paid our bill and gave Ra Simon a tip and bought baskets. Bumpy flight back but we did see plenty of game from the ai. Collected our stored bags from Swamp Air to find that our walking sunglasses were stolen grrrr… Boarded flight to Namibia (scary and bumpy due to heat) …. we WILL be back to the Okovango – it is magnificent.
Go to: Okavango 1998
Go to: Okavango 2010
