With this blog post, we'll update you about our time in Zimbabwe (where we visited the Victoria Falls), our road trip in Botswana and our last days in South Africa. At this moment we are in Malawi, a beautiful country that we totally felt in love with. However, more about that in our next blog post!
Below you'll find the route that we travelled between the 14th - 27th of May.
Vic Falls: ZIM or ZAM?
Let's start where we finished our previous blog: our campsite in Katima Mulilo in Namibia. We decided to have an easy morning, and we enjoyed our breakfast next to the Zambezi river, realizing that we would see all this water falling down at the Vic Falls. Although we originally planned to go to Zambia to watch the Vic Falls, we decided in the end to go to Zimbabwe instead, since the owners of the camp site told us that the views from this side would be so much better. This time of the year there is a lot of water which means that there is a lot of mist coming from the waterfall. Because the viewpoints at the Zimbabwean side are a bit further from the falls, the overall view would be better.
We crossed the border between Namibia and Botswana first, then drove the Chobe transit route (to avoid that we had to pay the park fees), and then crossed the border with Zimbabwe: we were in three African countries in one day! Luckily it was not very busy and all the border crossings went quite smooth. Only the one to get into Zimbabwe was a bit of a hassle, but after paying quite some US dollars (including for 'importing' our car, third party insurance, fee to use the road, fee to leave the gate, etc.) ;-) everything was fine and we were good to go.
We stayed in Zimbabwe for three days and it was absolutely worth all the effort: it was an unforgettable experience. For many years it was on my bucket list, and we were both very excited to see the Seventh Natural Wonder of the World. We stayed at a nice camp site (Victoria Falls Restcamp) where two other Dutch couples stayed as well. We had a great time and shared experiences (they had already been in Botswana)!
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| Yes, visa of Zimbabwe in the pocket (US $50,-) |
The Vic Falls were absolutely amazing. It was so impressive to see so much water falling down (about one million liters of water per second)! Here you clearly see the power of nature. Since it was the end of raining season, we really needed our raincoat at some of the view points. But we were also lucky to have some great views when the wind blew away the mist, and we were able to make some nice pictures.
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| Entrance Vic Falls from Zimbabwean side |
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| Rain or mist? |
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| Beautiful viewpoints |
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| Getting weeeeeeet!!! |
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| Quick picture when the mist was blown away by the wind |
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| So much water! |
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| View from the side |
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| Enjoying a good cappuccino with the noise of the waterfall in the background |
When we left the National Park, we also walked to the bridge that is the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. After putting one foot in Zambia, we watched people bungee-jumping off the bridge and went to the Lookout Cafe for a very nice lunch (Erik had crocodile kebab - no joke!) with an amazing view in the canyon. After lunch, we went back to the camp site, because that morning we discovered a small hole in one of our tires. I was very happy we made it to the camp site and that we were not in a National Park with lions or leopards around us. Erik quickly took the tire off (like a professional!) and we gave it to one of the staff members of the camp site. Luckily he came back after two ours and he could get it fixed for US $4,-! Super deal! :)
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| Entering Zambia (without a stamp in our passport) |
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| Vic Falls in the background |
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| Entering Zimbabwe again |
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| View from the Lookout Cafe |
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| Having lunch |
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| Getting the tire off... |
Botswana: land of elephants
After the Vic Falls, we drove to Botswana. We were really surprised by Botswana. If we would have known that the country was so beautiful, we would definitely have rented our 4x4 for two more weeks! We didn't really know what to expect, since we didn't meet many people who visited Botswana and didn't do a lot of research. But now we can conclude: if you ever want to go on safari, please go to Botswana!! The National Parks in Botswana are more beautiful than the ones we have been to in Kenya, South Africa and Namibia. And so much wildlife, it's incredible! The lonely planet also explains that Botswana has "some of the best wildlife watching opportunities on earth." This is definitely true! The herds of elephants in Chobe NP are crazy, the amount of zebra's, wildebeast and buffalo's in Moremi NP is beyond imagination.
Botswana is a very wild country, meaning that camp sites - even in NP - are not fenced (with the risk of lions, elephants, hippo's and other wildlife walking around at the camp) and wildlife crossing the highway (you really have to keep in mind when driving that every moment an elephant or giraffe could cross the road - see pictures below). The people in Botswana very friendly and you could clearly see that Botswana was a much more developed country compared to for example Namibia. In Botswana we also met a lot of other 'overlanders' and by now we understand that this is a real 'sub-culture' and a way of living/traveling. Another surprising part of Botswana were the camp sites. Within the National Park, they were super expensive (up to US $50,- per person per night - without even hot water or toilet paper), but outside National Parks the camp sites were very nice (almost felt like a lodge - we'll show some pics below) and reasonably priced.
The first camp site we stayed at in Botswana was Senyati Safari Camp in Kasane. This was a very nice place, because each camp site had their own ablutions block (what a luxery!). In addition, the bar overlooked a waterhole, where elephants and other wildlife pass by during the evening for a drink. They even made a bunker, so you could get really close to the elephants (about 2-5 meters). We really enjoyed watching them during the night!
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| Elephants drinking water 2 meter away from us |
The next day we had put our alarm very early (at 5.30am) for an early morning game drive in Chobe National Park, but since it was still dark (and way too cold!) we decided to snooze for another 30 minutes. ;-) We entered the park via the Sedudu Gate and quickly saw many hippo's, elephants, monkeys, water buffalo's, predator birds, giraffes and zebra's. We were so lucky! After two hours or so we made ourselves a coffee - of course at a picnic site without a fence - and enjoyed the view over the river. After the picnic, we spotted a lioness (about 1.5 km from the picnic spot, crazy!!). She was sleeping in the grass, but she woke up when we passed by and we made some great pictures. Again we saw so many animals, it was just crazy. We drove, together with a couple from Germany that we met along the drive, all the way along the river (two cars is more safe - in case you get stuck you can help each other) and left the Park in the afternoon via the Ngoma Gate. The last few kilometers were really tough: very deep sand, but we managed again to safely drive to the gate without any problems! :-)
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| Sedudu Gate |
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| African Fish Eagle |
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| So happy with our binoculars |
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| Hippo family |
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| Aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters... |
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| Female Kudu |
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| Love these birds |
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| Giraffe |
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| Enjoying our (second) breakfast and a Slow Town coffee |
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| Lioness |
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| Good morning sweety |
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| Bye bye, it was so nice to meet you |
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| Absolutely amazing views (did you know that elephants can't swim?) |
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| Water buffalo |
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| Imapala's fighting |
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| Suricate |
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| So cool to see how giraffes drink :-) |
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| And more elephants |
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| Elephants fighting |
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| Another elephant family |
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| Lizard |
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| Crocodile |
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| Another one |
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| I just love giraffes |
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| They came so close to the car |
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| Hippo's: did you know that the red color is skin cancer? |
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| Kudu |
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| Vulture |
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| Kudu and vultures |
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| Giraffe passing the road |
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| Waterbucks |
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| So nice with the white circle on his but |
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| Quite impressive, right? |
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| Playing with the sand |
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| Ngoma Gate |
We decided to camp at the same camp site as the night before and we even got a better spot. From our tent, we could see the elephants, buffalo's and other animals drinking at the waterhole. When we arrived, Erik quickly made two fires: one to heat the water for the shower, another one to cook our food. The next morning we decided to drive in the direction of the Nxai Pan, via Nata. Again we had to stop for many animals that crossed the road, including giraffes and elephants. Also when we stopped for a picnic, we looked around every other minute. It is hard to believe, but elephants can walk so silent: you really can't hear them.
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| Good morning! |
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| Giraffe crossing the 'highway' |
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| Time for a picnic |
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| DISCLAIMER |
We stopped at a camp site called Planet Baobab, which was again a very nice camp! We were warmly welcomed with a glass of homemade ice tea. The reception, bar, ablution blocks and camp sites looked amazing. And it didn't only look amazing, we had one of the best showers here since the beginning of our trip in Africa! :)
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| Toilet |
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| Toilet/showers from the inside |
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| Bar: so cool isn't it? |
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| Camp site |
The next day we woke up early again, because we planned a game drive in Nxai National Park. It was a big adventure, because the road was in very poor condition and so extremely sandy! And... when we arrived at the waterhole, there was no wildlife at all (ok, besides one wild pig...)! It was a little disappointment, but then we decided to make the best out of it go to drive to the famous Baines Baobab. These trees became famous because the artist Thomas Baines pained them in 1862. In comparison with his painting, we learned that only one bench has broken off. This part of the national park was really beautiful with the white salt pan, grasslands and zebra's that we spotted.
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| Arriving at the salt pan |
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| Baines Baobab |
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| Salt pan! |
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| Baobabs |
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| Nice views over the grassland |
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| Our road :-) |
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| Quite a sandy road |
The movie below shows what it felt like to drive this sandy road:
When we left the Nxai Pan NP, we drove to a town called Maun. We stayed at the Old Bridge Backpackers. Again a very nice place, especially because the vibe in the bar was so nice, and we met a lot of cool people that were also traveling by car in Africa. We booked an overnight Mokoro (traditional canoe) trip in the Okavanga Delta, which was one of the highlights of our trip in Botswana. We also hired a tent, matrasses and a coolbox, did our shopping in the Spar supermarket in Maun for two days and we were ready to go! It was so nice and relaxing to glide across the shallow waters to explore the Delta.
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| Arriving at the village - departing point |
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| Putting all our lugguage in the Mokoro |
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| Keeping our balance |
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| So relaxing |
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| Our guide |
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| Usual mode of transportation |
After about two hours, we arrived at our 'camp'. Well, there was not much there, but we put up the tent that we rented, and made ourselves a nice sandwich for lunch. Afterwards, we took a short power nap before we went for an afternoon Makoro trip. However, it was a short boat ride, because there was a hippo in our way, and it would be too dangerous to pass it. Therefore, we made an afternoon hike to a baobab tree instead. When we came back, the hippo was still there and we could see the very big male hippo closely from the shore. We watched the sunset and then we went back to our camp.
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| Preparing a nice sandwich |
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| We even had a toilet ;-) |
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| Taking a nap |
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| Afternoon Mokoro trip |
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| Hike to a baobab tree |
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| Mission accomplished |
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| Hippo on our way |
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| Shalom big male hippo! |
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| Beautiful sunset |
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| Having fun on our trip back to the camp |
When we arrived back at our camp, we made a fire (for the barbecue) and opened our bottle of red wine. Really back to nature, we just love it! We cooked on the fire and went to bed early, because it was getting really cold during the night.
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| Enjoying a good glass of wine next to the fire |
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| Erik making a fire for the barbecue |
The next day we woke up early in the morning, because a game walk was on our programme. Just after sunrise we started walking with our guide. It was quite exciting, the instructions were: "Walk behind me, because for animals we then look like one. And if you see a lion, don't move." In addition, our guide told us that he heard lions close to our camp in the night: OMG! When we left our camp, we immediately saw zebra's and wildebeast. After two hours we also spotted a death elephant (who died because he was very old - and it still had its tusks). Our guide was very knowledgeable and told us a lot about footprints, animal dumb, habits and wildlife in general.
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| Sunrise |
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| Wildebeast |
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| Dead elephant |
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| Footprint of a hippo |
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| Impala's |
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| Zebra's watching us |
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| More zebra's |
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| We could come quite close |
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| Big group of wildebeast |
When we were back at our camp after four hours of walking (12 km), we made ourselves lunch. We heard from two girls who did the same walk with another guide that they saw three lions. It is crazy to realize that we have been so close to a couple of lions, while we were hiking (and so vulnerable!) Not sure if we should regret it that we haven't seen them, or that we should be happy about it. ;-) Afterwards, we packed our tent and went back in the
Mokoro to the village. Again, a very relaxing ride: it felt almost like meditation! On the way we saw many zebra's and beautiful birds.
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| On our way back to the village |
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| So relaxing |
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| Our camp site at the Old Bridge Backpackers |
The next morning we left the Old Bridge, and went for a two day safari to Moremi Game Reserve. On our way to the (South) gate of the reserve, we already spotted two ostrich with many little ones (so cute!) and a big herd of elephants. That was promising, because we were not yet in the reserve itself! The road was pretty bad, so we were a bit worried about the conditions in the reserve, but luckily the roads inside the reserve were more than okay. We drove from South Gate to Third Bridge and via Xanaxana Camp back to South Gate. We really enjoyed the game drive in Moremi and saw many animals. We camped in South Gate, and enjoyed a nice hot shower (thanks to the solar power!) and cooked a pasta before we went to sleep.
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| Ostrich with her babies |
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| Big group of elephants |
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| Elephants playing in the water |
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| Wildebeast, zebra, giraffe and hippo: all in one picture! |
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| Impala |
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| National bird of Botswana: Lilac-breasted roller |
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| Elephants blocking the road |
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| Quite an aggressive one |
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| Just before third bridge |
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| Crossing Third Bridge |
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| I still love giraffes |
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| Fourth Bridge |
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| Making dinner |
The next day we woke up early, just after sunrise, because we wanted to benefit from our 24h ticket that was valid until 11am. Since the early morning is also a good time for game viewing, we hoped for the best. After a coffee and our sandwich with nutella we started our game drive. And... we were so lucky!!!! Because - finally - we saw our first leopard! We didn't even expect it to be so close to our camp (about 700 m), so we didn't have our camera ready, but below you'll see the pictures that we took to prove that we have seen it! ;-) It is such an elegant animal, and it was just walking on the road in front of our car, before it hided in the bushes. After this very exciting moment, we decided to drive in the direction of the Black Pools, and we saw many animals on our way, including giraffe, zebra's, hippo's, impala's and elephants.
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| Leopard!! |
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| Another picture |
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| Impala's |
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| Sunrise |
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| Hippo |
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| Giraffe |
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| Zebra |
We made sure that we were back at the South Gate before 11am and then we continued driving to Maun. After fueling up the tank and some shopping in the supermarket, we had a quick lunch and continued driving all the way to Ghanzi. We didn't do too much shopping, because we expected some checkpoints for food- and mouth disease. They confiscate all dairy products, vegetables and meat, to avoid that this disease is spread in the country. We arrived around 5pm at the camp site in Ghanzi, where we ordered a game platter (oryx salami, springbok carpaccio and eland sausage) and a beer after a long day of driving. Afterwards, we had our pasta (leftovers) from the day before, I lighted a fire (it really was cold!) and we went to bed with the noise of antilopes in the back.
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| Checkpoint for food- and mouth disease |
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| Picnic along the way |
Next day was a long driving day again. We drove from Ghanzi to Kanye (about 600 km), which is close to the border with South Africa. Next day we entered South Africa again via the Skilpadshek (didn't see any skilpad's). ;-) It was a very quick border crossing again, although the name would suggest otherwise.
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| Very sad to leave beautiful Botswana |
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| Border crossing South Africa |
In South Africa, we had our last night of camping in Magaliesburg, about two hours from Johannesburg. When we arrived at our camp site, we cleaned our car, reorganized all our stuff and put it back in our backpacks, but above all removed all the Namibian/Botswanean dust of the past 6 weeks. In the night we made our last braai and finished all our firewood with a big fire.
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| Cleaning our car |
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| Cleaning our stuff - so much dust from the desert! |
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| Last braai in South Africa |
Next morning we drove to Johannesburg and returned our car with Britz. Apart from a new windscreen (because of the crack that was caused by a truck that passed by in Namibia), which was luckily not too expensive, everything was fine. Britz brought us to our Airbnb apartment in Jo'burg, which was very nicely located. It was a newly renovated area, kind of hipster/industrial with nice cafe's and restaurants. Our apartment was close to the Museum of African Design (MOAD) and of course we visited this museum as well. There was an exposition about education in Africa, really nice! Besides that, we enjoyed the African food in Patapata, the souvlaki in Soul Souvlaki and a very nice steak at an Argentinian restaurant. Although many people dislike Johannesburg, we really enjoyed this part of the city.
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| Wow, sleeping in a bed again after 6 weeks of camping! |
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| Art at some of the buildings |
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| Our apartment complex |
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| Visiting the hairdresser |
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| Such a nice neighbourhood |
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| Great coffee! |
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| And even better souvlaki! |
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| Hipster style shirtmaker |
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| MOAD |
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| Nice exposition |
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| Exposition about education |
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| Making ourselves shakshuka! |
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| Really nice! |
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| I also had a haircut :-) |
The 30th of May we left Johannesburg and flew to Blantyre, Malawi. We took an Uber to the airport and checked-in. We had quite some time, so we finished our Rands with a nice breakfast and a good coffee. We also finished our remaining data/credit on our phone by calling to our family back home. We had a very pleasant flight and arrived in Malawi only after two hours.
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| Checking-in our flight to Malawi |
We originally planned to go to Malawi via Mozambique, but since the political situation there is not very stable, and recently some tourist encountered problems, we decided to skip Mozambique and fly to Malawi instead.
We will tell you more about Malawi in our next blog, but we can already tell you that it is a beautiful country, with friendly people and amazing mountains.
Big hugs and kisses,
Erik & Annemarie
