Namibia - Day 15

Exited Botswana and crossed the Zimbabwean border and arrived at Victoria Falls. Had lunch at The Three Monkeys. It looked great but still no aperol. 

Then we settled into the Cresta Sprayview hotel. 

We went to the BOMA (place of eating) dinner and drum show. The drummers were fabulous and the lead guy was great at getting everyone involved as we were each given acdrum. The chocolate moose was fabulous but we avoided the crocodile tail. 

Stay: Cresta Sprayview Hotel

Namibia - Day 14

 Morning game drive at Chobe NP

Sunset game-viewing cruise on the Chobe River.

Stay: Chobe Safari Lodge on the river banks. 

Namibia - Day 13

Travelled through the Caprivi Strip in Namibia & back into Botswana via the Chobe NP.                                 Herd of giraffe along to way: 

Had lunch at the Chobe River Safari lodge and they brought out the gluten free option - fish cakes covered in breadcrumbs and glued together with gluten. No where we’ve been so far (except the Tug restaurant has known what gluten free is. 

                          Stay: Chobe Safari Lodge on the river bank. 

Namibia - Day 12

Another day in the Okavango Delta on a boat navigating the waterways and then for a short time in a mokoro.

A mokoro is traditionally a canoe carved out from a sausage tree or an ebony tree used by the local people known as the Bayei people of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. However, the government has prohibited the cutting down of trees and they are now made from fibreglass. They are long and narrow allowing them to navigate through the shallow waters, reeds, and lily pads of the delta.  They are propelled by a 'poler' who stands at the rear of the boat and uses a pole to push against the riverbed. See yesterdays post for a picture of a sausage tree. 

Ron and me in our mokoro: 

Our mokoro and the daylily necklace made for me bu our poler and Ronnie’s lily hat. Day lilies open during the day and start out blue and turn white after they are pollinated and last a few days. Night lilies are yellow and open at night. But a few were a little confused by the weather and opened during the day too. 

Ronnie with a traditional lily pad had made by our poker. They use them to keep cool while fishing: 

On the way back we saw African Darters in silhouette: 

And a huge crocodile who was sitting dead still on the bank until we got so close he must have felt threatened and he moved with lightening speed under our boat. Lesson learnt - crocodiles move amazingly fast. 

Namibia - Day 11

We travelled further into the Caprivi region (the panhandle region of Namibia) and crossed the border from Namibia to Botswana. This requires forms to exit Namibia and forms to enter Botswana and an African-time wait at each crossing!

Along the way we saw: 

A herd of cattle: 

A dead cow being transported: 

A common form of transport. There are quite a few donkeys in this area.: 

Thatched roofed round houses which have a timber frame coated in mud or cow dung topped with a thatch of grass or reeds. They have to be maintained as the birds steal the grass: 

Woman carrying a watermelon on her head: 

We arrived at Swamp Stop on the Okavango River. 

 In the late afternoon we took a cruise in the Okavango River. The Okavango originates in Angola but can’t reach the sea so ends in a delta in the Kalahari desert! 

The first thing our guide showed us was the crocodile that lived on the banks of our campsite!  Daylily: 

A sausage tree at our campsite. Named because of the seed pods which on this particular variety of sausage tree look like a salami: 

We saw crocodile and hippos. 

Stayed at Swamp Stop on the Okovango River with a crocodile below our campsite and hippos munching grass at night. 

Namibia - Day 10

We travel to Rundu on the banks of the Kavango River. 

On the way we saw a typical Namibian butcher shop:

Willow tree: 

I was really concerned by the rough sand road heading into the n’Kwazi campsite but once we got to the compound it was fabulous. 

We had a local drummers and dancers entertain us: 

Our camp is at n’Kwazi overlooking the Kavango River. 

Namibia - Day 9

Etosha National Park

Travelled thru the Park from W to E. Saw a pride of lions - 2 males and 3 females, hartebeest, giraffe, Laughing dove, Vultures, Secretary birds, Spotted hyena, Little green, South African shell duck, giraffe, oryx, impala - male (spiral horns) and female (no horns)

Guinea fowl close up: 

Guinea towel: 

Herd of springbok: 

We managed to see a h spotted hyaena in the distance and a few vultures as there had been a recent kill, probably by lions, which was too far away to see. There is a pecking order and the vultures come after the hyaena and were sitting in trees away from the kill site. White-backed vulture: 

Wildebeest: 

Lappet-faced vulture: 

Wildebeest on the run: 

Southern yellow-billed hornbill: 

An easily recognised bird (from the book we bought) because of its forked tail. The forked tail drongo:

Red- billed hornbill: 

Male lion: 

Salt pan: 

Giraffe: 

Southern Oryx:

Ostrich:

Ostrich:

Ostrich: 

Black-winged stilts: 

Two black-backed Jackals eating a recent kill close to the road. We figured it might have been hit by a vehicle and staggered a few metres before dying because jackals aren’t usually first on the scene. 

We were lucky to see a herd of illusive Red Hartebeest: 

On a 4x4 night game drive they used infrared lights to detect animals without scaring them. 

It started out well: 

Our driver wasn’t great though. He belted around at speed and then slammed his foot on the brakes and wondered why the animal we’d seen had disappeared. 

Black and white photo of a Small spotted Genet which is like a cross between a cat and a mongoose. It nested in the hollow of this tree: 

Elephants fighting at a waterhole: 

They were still fighting when we left:

Stay: Namutoni Restcamp in Park