Botswana 🇧🇼

We decided that our Safari Leader competencies weren’t up to scratch and continued with our trip, as planned, to country number two – Botswana. This involved taking our first mode of public transport in Africa. We left with fellow traveller Clara and made our way to a bus station on the outskirts of Windhoek, to find it teeming with people. We arrived to a rickety minibus (complete with trailer) already over-flowing with bags of rice, boxes of fruit and cases of tools. Our bags joined this eclectic cargo, cushioned by a spare car bonnet and encased by a thin piece of tarpaulin. We took our seats with twelve other passengers with more packs of toilet roll and extra petrol for company and started our twelve hour journey. This seemed minuscule compared to the 30+ hour journey some of our fellow travellers were taking to Zimbabwe.

We bumped along for about 5 hours until we hit our first overland border and crossed into Botswana. This seemed to energise the group and we all got a picture at the crossing.

We set off again, this time with communal music on full blast – think reggae covers of modern pop including the likes of Adele, Westlife and Ed Sheehan for the next five hours.

We reached Old Bridge Backpackers in the town of Maun bleary eyed around midnight to the sound of what we learned later were hippos crashing into the water. We awoke the next morning to a hot Botswana sun. Kelsey went to get breakfast, with a clear plan for Tom to follow. About an hour later when Tom hadn’t appeared, Kelsey returned to our room to find that she had padlocked Tom inside the room, with no means of escape. With Tom unlocked from confinement and after breakfast attempt two, the rest of the day was spent catching up on washing (wandering isn’t all sunsets after all), Michelle Obama’s audio book and a surprisingly good Indian restaurant we found in town.

The next day we set off early to see the Okavango Delta – one of the main reasons for our visit to Botswana.

We were taken on a two hour journey to a Mokoro Station, with an “African massage” en route – (N.B – African massage is the local term to describe the massage you receive when travelling on a bumpy road). We picked up Carlson, our Mokoro captain for the day and set off in our boat in the baking sun through the reeds, rushes and lily pads. Carlson was no more than eighteen but we put our trust in him to keep us safe along the crocodile infested waters. The Delta was stunningly beautiful. After an hour of serene floating, we docked ready for a safari walk on dry land. When we asked Carlson, do the animals ever hunt humans around these parts, his response was, “No…but a man from the village was chased and killed by an elephant just last week.”

With a little trepadation but full trust in Carlson, we set off on our walk. We saw countless giraffes, elephants, wildebeest, zebra, impale and hippos, learning how the giraffe, wildebeest and zebra work together to fend off predators. We rested for lunch watching a mother and son elephant take a mud bath and two giraffes play-fighting in the distance.

After this sheltered break, we started our criss-cross journey back. We were stopped only by passing elephants and buffalo drinking from the Delta, who powerfully darted away from us as we approached. To be within touching distance of these animals (if you had a really long arm) was incredible. Once we returned, after a flop from all the sun, we took an early dinner and met a great Dutch couple who we shared woes about Brexit and travel stories.

Our final day in Maun consisted of a great lunch at Tshilli Farm and the first sight of smashed avocado on the menu. After a wander around the local markets, we had an early dinner at our hostel ready for our second bus, this time overnight to take us north to Kasane. We arrived at the bus station, a hive of activity and colour at 9pm. Our drive this time started with a prayer that we would arrive safely, kindly explained to us by our brilliant driver. This was a refreshing change from the usual public transport announcements in the UK declaring that the card machine isn’t working, the train will be late and the only paninis left at the buffet cart are Tuna Mayonnaise.

The bus pushed on through the night, only being stopped abruptly by passing elephants. A young guy in front of us (who had enjoyed a few too many beers) felt the full force of this as he lurched out of his seat, fried chicken in hand. We then encountered a security checkpoint where Tom was told to take all of his shoes out of his bag to cross the checkpoint, for reasons which remain a little unclear.

We arrived at our next hostel, Elephant Trail, at 4.30am and flopped / napped until one of the hosts came to greet us at 7.30am in her dressing gown. We loved Elephant Trail as they found a place for our weary heads so early in the morning and we slept until lunch.

After a long power nap, we took a boat Safari on Chobe National Park which was fantastic. Our safari leader David seemed to love crocodiles in particular and it appeared we saw one at every turn, pearly whites on show. By the end of the trip we certainly felt that we had filled our crocodile quota.