We flew to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe from
Johannesburg on a very new and comfortable South African Airways flight. Leaving a sunny but slightly chilly Jo’burg,
we arrived to a warm and balmy afternoon in Victoria Falls. After obtaining our visa at the airport on
arrival we met our transfer and drove the 30 minutes to our hotel – The
Victoria Falls Hotel a mere 1km from the Falls.
We chose this colonial hotel because of its
proximity to everything but also because we love the classic style of these older
hotels with their history. Our room
overlooked the gardens and out towards the Falls (all you could see in the
distance was the “Smoke that Thunders” as the Falls are known locally.
We had pre-booked a sunset cruise on the
Zambezi River and were fortunate enough to have been recommended to take the
cruise on the Ra-Ikane a smaller, more intimate experience. Also, the boat has a shallower draft so you
can go further up the river than the other boats. We had a total of 8 people on board and the cruise was
accompanied by all-you-can-drink beers, wines, spirits or soft drinks as well
as lovely nibbles.
It was our first encounter with hippos,
water buffalo, crocodile and elephant and very beautiful. That evening we had dinner at the hotel
restaurant and were treated to some singing by the restaurant staff to
congratulate us on our wedding (our travel agent had told them we were on our
honeymoon!).
The next day, we walked to the Falls and
spent a couple of hours walking along the gorge taking photos and marvelling at
the power of the water rushing over the cleft in the earth. The spray rendered us rather wet but as the
day was sunny and hot, we soon dried out.
Back at the hotel we relaxed at the pool for a couple of hours before
embarking on our elephant trek. Although
this optional tour sounded a bit tacky, my brother and sister in law and family
had done it and said it was worthwhile.
We were very pleased in the end as we learned a great deal about African
elephants, had a glorious ride through bushland and even had the opportunity of
feeding our elephant at the end! We also
had the special treat of meeting Sylvester the cheetah!
The next day we were driven across the
border to Botswana where we boarded a small aircraft (4 people) for our flight
to Linyanti Bush Camp. The flight was
only about 30 minutes and we had great views of the land from our plane.
After a rather bumpy landing on the dirt
runway, we were met by our guide and tracker KG who drove us in the 4WD back to
camp. We had the most wonderful drive
through the bush and saw lots of elephant, giraffe, water buck, buffalo and
lots of different ‘boks’. We were
greeted by the staff singing a Botswana welcome song and then given some
afternoon tea in the lounge area. It
turned out that we were the only guests there for the three days of our visit
and so we were truly spoiled by the wonderful staff.
The camp is situated along a tributary of
the Linyanti River and consists of a central ‘lodge’ area, which contains the
dining table, some comfy sofas and chairs and the bar; 8 permanent tents nicely
spaced apart so there are no privacy issues and a pool with deck chairs. Our tent had its own ensuite, a king-sized
bed and lots of room to move around in.
We also had a lovely deck out the front overlooking the waterway.
The daily routine is similar in almost all
of the Botswana game lodges: wake up call at 5:30am (!!), breakfast at 6am
(usually a light meal) and then off on the first game drive at 6:30am. Back to the lodge by 11:30am for a good lunch
at noon, and then free time/siesta until 4pm when afternoon tea is served. The
next game drive is at 4:30pm and often includes sundowners (drinks) somewhere
at sunset with nibbles) and then back to the lodge by 7:30pm for dinner at 8pm. By the time dinner is over most people are
exhausted (as we were) and hit the sack early.
Most game lodges are also all-inclusive, so meals, drinks and even
laundry are part of the package. You can
imagine that after basically sitting all day, plus what felt like non-stop
eating and drinking, we felt like a couple of blimps after 10 days!
The game drives were wonderful – we never
knew what we were going to see but we were never disappointed. Linyanti treated us to more elephant in
wonderful surroundings than anywhere else. We also had a ride in a mokoro
(traditional canoe pushed by a pole), as well as a pontoon boat ride through
the tributaries, the latter showing us a couple of very large hippos!
The Linyanti Bush Camp staff could not do
enough for us and organized an intimtate candlelit dinner for the two of us by
the pool on our last night. It was
difficult to say goodbye to such lovely people but our stay came to an end on
the third day and we were driven back to the landing strip to catch our next
small plane flight to the Okavango Delta.
The ‘bush pilots’ (the people piloting the
small planes that carry people around the various game lodges/camps) are an
assortment of young men (we didn’t see any female pilots although no doubt
there are some) from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. They are all skilled
pilots and must have a lot of fun banking their flying hours while taxiing
people around the skies of Botswana.
We arrived at Kanana Camp in the Okavango
Delta after a night’s rain – this meant that the camp’s landing strip was
flooded and we were forced to land at a neighbouring camp’s airstrip. In spite of the fact that the neighbouring
camp was a mere 2km away, there was no road between the camps and a river
separating the two properties. The
solution? A very short helicopter ride
between the two camps! That was an
unexpected treat.
Kanana Camp is a deluxe ‘Ker and Downey’
camp and at the time of our arrival there were about 8 other guests staying
there. Once again, there was a main lodge for dining/lounging/gathering before
game drives and our individual tents spaced out nicely with views of the
water. As the climate has changed over
the years, the river on which the camp sits has receded somewhat and this was aggravated
by the dry ‘wet’ season they had just experienced. Our guide, Amos, was an older Botswana man
and who had previously been a game hunting guide (hunting has been banned
throughout Botswana since 2013) and was a very experienced tracker. It was here that we saw our first lions, got
close up to hippos, and saw more giraffe, elephant, buffalo and boks. The geography was quite different to that of
the Chobe area (Linyanti Camp) with more wide open spaces and grasslands. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to
do a ‘game walk’ with Amos leading us through the grassy fields to see game
from a distance (he was armed with a rifle just in case).
Two days and two nights was a short stay
here, but we were happy that it worked out that way, as it began to rain and we
were concerned about getting stuck at Kanana and missing out on our final camp
in the Kalahari.
Once again we took the helicopter ‘shuttle’
to the neighbouring landing strip and our small plane flew us to Camp Kalahari
at the Magkadigkadi Pans. As it was
rather overcast with low-hanging clouds, the pilot flew at a mere 350m off the ground which meant for
great game viewing along the way!
Fortunately by the time we arrived into
Camp Kalahari, a mere 15 minute drive from the landing strip, the weather had
cleared to a sunnier afternoon.
Following the same theme as the rest of the game parks, there was a
central lodge and our tent was a short walk away. No views from our tent here
as it’s one of the driest places in Botswana but still a lovely room and very
comfortable beds.
Due to the dryness of this area, it is more
of a migratory destination for animals and birds. This means that animals do not tend to stay
in the area unless there is water, and are also not used to humans/trucks, etc.
and are therefore rather skittish. No
‘up-close-and-personal’ viewing of game at this camp! In some ways we were rather disappointed with
the quality of the viewing because of this (there was no water in the Pans and
the migration had not yet begun), however we were rewarded with spotting some
rather rare and unique animals at dusk: aardvark, aardwolf, bat-eared foxes,
striped jackal, genet and a few others.
We also saw a plethora of birds, including flamingoes, secretary birds,
bustards, vultures, eagles and the beautiful if ubiquitous lilac-breasted
roller with its brilliant azure wings. Two of the highlights for us were the up-close-and-personal visits with the meerkats and the opportunity to meet with some of the San bushmen and learn a little of their lifestyle. Camp Kalahari and Jack's Camp collaborate in having someone stand near the three colonies of meerkats all day so as to get them used to human presence. This results in visitors being able to stand around and watch while the meerkats feed without interfering in the process and without the meerkats being scared away. The San bushmen live in a 'regular' camp nearby but are encouraged to dress in the traditional way and demonstrate their skills to visitors. It's not tacky or 'touristy' in any way and was very interesting to watch. The sad thing is that these people are being forced, by 'progress', to live a European lifestyle rather than what they have been doing for thousands of years. Their language and skills will soon be lost forever.
On our last day we saw ostrich and zebra
and that completed our ‘must see’ list!
No rhinos at any of the camps, but we did see one in a fenced compound
outside a petrol station in South Africa!
All too soon it was time to head back to
Jo’burg and we flew to Maun in a small plane to connect with a commercial South
African Airlines service to Jo’burg.
On the Ra-Ikane at Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls from Zimbabwe
The "Smoke that Thunders" from our hotel room
Feeding our elephant after our trek through the bush
One of the first elephants we saw at Linyanti in Botswana
The giraffe even came out to welcome us
Our bedroom at Linyanti Bush Camp
The male lion at Kanana Camp in Okavango
A herd of hippo near our stop for morning tea
Meerkats - up close and personal!
Two San bush women
