Namibia - Day 18

 Flying from Victoria Falls to Johannesburg Via South African Airways then Qantas from Johannesburg to Sydney.  

The gang: Ambrose, Paul, Sandra, Peter, Jennie, Don, Rachel, Lorraine, Janet, Jan, Ian, Dorothy, Jane, Ron, Ellen, Chiara, Clayton and John.

Namibia - Day 17

 Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. 

Ronnie set off this morning for White water rafting on the Zambezi River. 

Some of the biggest white water Ronnie had ever been in rafting on the Zambezi River. 

           

 

Afternoon High Tea at Victoria Falls Hotel - spectacular Victoria Falls Bridge views & spray from  the Falls with Sandra and Paul.

Warthog at the hotel.

Baboon on the top of the roof waiting to steal food from the high tea. 

Mongoose on the grounds of the Lookout Cafe, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Elephant in the Victoria Falls area. 

In the afternoon we had High Tea at the Victoria Falls Hotel. Including gluten free cakes. It was built by the British in 1904 and was originally conceived as accommodation for workers on the Cape-to-Cairo railway. The Edwardian-style hotel was splendidly redecorated in 2013 to combine its traditional majesty with modern sophistication.

Stay: Sprayview Hotel

Namibia - Day 16

We went to the Victoria falls National Park to see the falls. 

Don, Ian, Dorothy, Lorraine, Ellen, Sandra and Jennie preparing to sing and dance with the locals. 

Victoria Falls is a waterfall on the Zambezi River Located on the border between Zambia and Simbabwe and is one of the world's largest waterfalls.  Not by height or width but based on its combined width of 1,708 metres and a height of 108 metres, resulting in the world's largest sheet of falling water. 

Scottish Missionary David Livingstone identified the falls in 1855 and name it after Queen Victoria.

Devil's Cataract Falls - 70m high and 30m across. 

View from Danger Point.  The falls are on one side in a tight canyon.

Victoria Falls Bridge joining Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

Lunch at The Lookout Café which had a fantaitic view of the second and third gorges of the Zambezi River. 

Mongoose in the grounds of the Lookout Cafe.

The Lookout Cafe had a great view of the zip lines that intrepid people tried.

Our intrepid zipliners -Rachel, Don, Ellen and John.

Stay: Sprayview Hotel

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

From the Okavango Delta in Botswana we travelled back into Namibia, through the Caprivi Strip & then back into Botswana into the Chobe National Park.  It was a lot of driving and took time negotiating the boarder crossings.        

                                                                                                                           

Herd of giraffe along the way: 

Had a late 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. 

Stayed at Cholbe River Safari Lodge

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. 

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

 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: 

We saw crocodile and hippos at a distance. 

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