2.9.06 Okavango Delta (Botswana), Vic Falls and S. Luangwa (Zambia), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) Hello everyone! Hope you are well and having an excellent summer. I know you are still recovering from the lengthy account of last time, but we’ve got more to tell you already! Firstly though I must let you know that Jas got an email to say he made it through to the semi finals of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition! Isn’t that brilliant! He was really really pleased, as was I, and the news has spurred him on, and showed him (as we all tell him) that his photos are very definitely excellent! When we left you we were at Kasane after visiting Chobe NP and were on our way back down to Maun for a delta trip. Nothing difficult about that, just a 6 hour drive from one to another. Well it can be difficult if you haven’t got any diesel! Yep we had planned our diesel consumption through the park, safari drives and all, (an important task here as you don’t want to find you’re on empty whilst in the middle of a game drive!) and were planning to fill up again in Kasane. Everything was going to plan until we arrived at the garage and were told there was no diesel and they did not know exactly when the fuel tanker would be arriving, ‘maybe tomorrow, maybe not’ was all the attendant could tell us! This obviously put a stop to any further movement for the time being and meant we had to stay put until fuel arrived. Fortunately the campsite we were staying in was very nice, part of a posh hotel, so we could at least enjoy their facilities for as long as we needed. The tanker did show up the next afternoon and we could get on our way with out too much of a delay, but it just reminded us that nothing is guaranteed out here! Once at Maun we met a very nice lady (Susan) who organises trips in to the delta and with her mother writes guide books for travelling around Botswana, so she was the person to ask about a lot of things! We wanted to go deep in to the delta as the further you go in the more amazing it is. Most of the mokoro trips don’t go too far because as you can imagine it’s a long old slog for the poler and you can’t get too far too fast by hand! So we were looking in to going in on a motor boat and Susan knew exactly who would do it and booked us a 4 day trip with Martin and his motorboat. We were told that Martin has been doing trips for the last 7 years for Prince Harry and a few other royals!!! He has lived in the Delta all his life and knows it inside out and apparently Harry won’t go with anyone else and even his girlfriend Chelsey goes too!! OK so I thought this is probably not quite the truth, but it sounds good, still I thought I’d ask anyway and guess what, he does and he was telling us all about it!!! Can you imagine that, we were being taken on a delta trip by the very person who takes Prince Harry! It’s a pretty basic trip though and apparently Harry and the rest are perfectly happy with the limited facilities and the log drop toilet etc! So we knew we must be in for a great time if Martin can boast those credentials! The trip was fantastic. We glided effortlessly around the delta tributaries and saw giraffe, elephants, red lechwe, waterbuck, loads of herons and storks, fish eagles, marsh harriers, pied and malachite kingfishers, and many other lovely things. We came across a baby crocodile lying on the reeds and Martin casually said to Jas ‘Go on pick it up’ and without even thinking Jas lent over the side of the boat and grabbed it. It was only about a foot long and wouldn’t have done us any harm, but it still had very powerful jaws and really sharp teeth! We all had a hold of it and it was quite cool feeling it’s scales and staring in to it’s little evil eyes. We camped on one of the many little islands found in the delta and it was lovely. As the trip included all our food and drink, and Martin brought his helper, Makadi, along and they put up our tent, did all the cooking and sorting things out (eg. digging the toilet) we felt as if were being really spoilt and having a holiday in our holiday! We spent the evening chatting, drinking and listening to the hippos in the lagoon in front of us, bliss! The next day we went further in to the delta and did some fishing. Well if you can call it fishing! We were pretty good at casting our lines but were sadly lacking in the art of actually hooking a fish! Even with Martin’s words of encouragement, ‘You’d better catch something, this is our tea tonight!’, we still couldn’t quite follow through! We stopped at one of the permanent camps in the delta – would you believe there are over 50 in the delta - called Gunn’s Camp for a drink, and it was a lovely place. A great place to stay for a few nights, but at their rates we were happy to be bush camping! We saw another couple of posh lodges along the way, they really look stunning and are in the most lovely sites. Some of them you can only get to by flying in, which astounds me that you can actually have a landing strip in the delta. These are for the more wealthy tourists though and not quite in our budget this time round, but still nice to see how the other half lives! We moved on further to find another island to camp on that night and found a beautiful one with a steep bank on one side where lots of kingfishers had made their nests. There were about 30 birds all flying around and fishing, it was lovely to watch. It reminded us that we were still on a mission to catch our own fish, but by now Martin was making alternative arrangements for tea (ie. defrosting the chicken he’d brought with us), still he took us to one last place just as dusk was approaching to have one last go. Apparently the best times to fish are early morning and late afternoon, so with time on our side and Martin’s superior knowledge of the best spots to fish, we surely could between us make a catch! Well the long wait was certainly worth it! This place was teaming with fish and Jas and I couldn’t believe when within minutes we both had catches and (more importantly) successfully kept them on the lines and in to the boat! We were thrilled, two lovely big bream were on the menu for tea! We cast our lines again and without hesitation the fish were tugging and we were reeling them in. I tell you, honestly, we couldn’t get them in the boat quick enough, it was excellent. We were astounded that we were doing so well and it was quite addictive, the more you caught the more you wanted to catch! Jas then caught a huge catfish, which was putting up a real battle and definitely did not want to see the inside of the boat. Following several minutes of good fighting by Jas and the fish, the brut force of Jas forced the fish to yield and we had it on the boat and had to take a picture of his prize! We did put it back though as we had so many bream to eat already. In the end Jas and I had caught 27 fish!!! Martin was as amazed as we were considering we were first time fishers, and had quickly put the chicken back in the freezer! We dined on fresh (very fresh!) fillets of bream, which Martin cooked to perfection, with chips and salad. It was a feast and the best meal we’d had since our trip began, maybe it was made all the more tasty for the fact that we had caught it! The rest of the fish Martin was going to take back to Maun for his friends! We went for a walk around one of the bigger islands in the morning and although we didn’t actually see any big animals, we found all their tracks and came across a small herd of red lechwe. We lazed around a bit until the fishing hour came around again and then out we went hoping for a repeat of the night before. As I said before, nothing is guaranteed and the fishes just weren’t in the mood for us this time. We only caught a few and they were too small really so we put them back. We did find a lovely fish eagle and when we caught another couple of fish we threw them out for the eagle and he swooped down and picked them up. I didn’t think we would see that at such close range, Jas took some pictures and I managed a bit of video too. After another great tea we were treated to a night boat drive. The delta tributaries are even more active at night and using the spot light we could see hundreds of fish below us of many different types, along with frogs, and the best bit, a huge crocodile! Now when you see crocs in the daylight on the banks, the general course of action is to spot it and then as you approach it, watch it quickly slide in to the water. You don’t really get to see the whole thing for very long and once below the surface of the water you loose it completely. The beauty of being in the boat at night is that although they still rush in to the shelter of the water, you can get right up close and shine the light on them and see them in all there glory as they swim around under the boat. It was amazing and reassuringly safe! It was a lovely evening and we stayed on our island for another night and fell asleep to sounds of lions roaring! We reluctantly left the delta the next day. We had such a lovely time and Martin and Makadi were excellent companions who looked after us really well. We felt so relaxed and comfortable that we really could have stayed for another week! But we needed to get on, and have promised ourselves if we ever come back we will do it again. Martin does a longer trip all the way through the delta and we fancy that next time! So onwards we go up to the top of Botswana to cross the Zambezi river in to Zambia. The river is the border and the control posts are on either side, naturally. They use a ferry system to cross, with two ferries working side by side. They chug along quite happily, with pedestrians, cars, 4x4’s and huge big lorries all squashed on together! The crossing itself only takes about 15 minutes, the problem is queuing to wait to get on the ferry as they aren’t very big! Depending on how unlucky you are you can be waiting a couple of hours! Fortunately for us we arrived at just the right time, not much small traffic and we went straight on to the next ferry. We were feeling smug about how quickly we were getting through it all, but were soon brought back down to earth by the border control in Zambia which was very laborious and ended up taking about 2 hours!!! It’s about an hours drive from the border to Livingstone and Victoria Falls. We found a nice backpackers called Jollyboys to stay at for a couple of days. We went to the David Livingstone Museum, and although it was not very big it was interesting, and I now know who actually said ‘Doctor Livingstone I presume’! Of course the main attraction is the falls and we made an effort to get up early to see them, before all the rest of the tourists start herding in! They are stunning and you are easily captivated by the huge cascades of water. It’s also very nice to see the bridge between the Zambian and Zimbabwian sides of the falls. It’s pretty old and has a lovely structure which looks very picturesque nestled between the two sides of the gorge. From the falls we were heading up to Dar es Salaam to meet my friend Helen who is coming out for two weeks. We stopped at South Luangwa NP along the way for 7 days to check out some more wildlife. It’s one of our favourite parks and we came here with Tor and Karen when we were living in Malawi, and in October we’ll be back with Kevin and Zoe (friends from Luton) who are coming to visit us for 10 days (looking forward to seeing you, the park is great, you are going to love it!). I was writing some of this by the river whilst watching 7 elephants going across and having a play in the water, not that I am trying to make you jealous or anything! We met up with our Swiss friends Markus and Tanja again which was great and had some fun and games with more elephant encounters during the night. One night the SA couple next to us had a bit of a to do with a young bull elephant. We had been told upon arrival at the camp that the elephants were getting quite cheeky and to avoid giving them any temptation to play up we had to put all our food in a building away from our vehicles. Well this couple had done so, but had accidently left a couple of Tupperware boxes with biscuits in the back of their 4x4. So I awake in the night to the breaking of branches and chomping of leaves knowing that an ele cannot be far away. I, being unflustered by this nightly occurrence now, roll over and try to sleep again. Still I can hear the ele and realising that he’s getting closer, decide to carefully peer through the front of the tent, you can never see too many eles! Through the mosquito netting I see the ele walk in front of the tent with what seems to be a mission in his stride. Wow I think, that’s close, but already I am lying down again. Moments later I hear the loudest crack and banging very close by. I immediately stick my head out of the tent to see around the side and can clearly see the ele breaking in to the canopy on the back of the SA’s truck. The noise soon woke them and they began trying to shoo the ele away from the tree house they were in above it. But no, ele was far more interested in locating the goodies in the truck and wasn’t about to give up that easily. I have woken Jas by now and we are both watching in amazement as the ele picks things out and tosses them aside, banging its tusks against the truck. The SA’s are making a lot of noise now and the guy is throwing things at the ele to get rid of it. At one point the ele backed away, almost in to our truck and you can imagine I wasn’t too pleased about that! It wasn’t long before the night guards came and managed to move the ele out of the camp. The SA’s came down to inspect the damage and luckily it wasn’t too bad, but they got a bit of a telling off from the managers of the camp for not making sure there was no food in the truck! A couple of nights later Markus and Tanja had a small brain failure and forgot to close the back of their canopy before they went to bed, AND had their coffee and sugar in there for the next morning! No prizes for guessing who we had visiting us later that night! Yep another ele was more than happy to help himself to these offerings, especially with an open door invitation! The first we knew about it was when we heard Tanja screaming out ‘Help, help, elephant, someone help!’. Jas and I sprang up and looked out the tent (these rooftop tents are great, you get the best views of everything!) and saw the ele with it’s trunk right inside their trunk, as it were! He was having a good old rummage, not content with coffee and sugar, and was giving the truck a bit of a shake. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot we could do to help from our tent, but the night guards were on the scene very quickly again and took care of the matter with out any problems. You can imagine that Markus and Tanja were a bit shaken by such an intimate encounter, but were also mortified that they had been so foolish as to leave the canopy open with stuff inside! Nevertheless, this served as an interesting insight in to the preferred tastes of this elephant, as he had devoured the pot of sugar, but left the coffee untouched with just a smear of elephant spit to prove that he had tried it but not liked it! So for future reference, an elephant will not be interested in stealing your morning coffee unless it’s got some sugar in it! We saw lots of animals in the park, the usual suspects as we say, plus two lovely male lions who were having an afternoon nap under a bush. One of them was lying down like dogs do, with his legs in the air and his tummy ready for a tickle! It was a funny sight and really made us giggle when one leg started to twitch and jerk, just like dogs’ do when they are dreaming of chasing cats. I think we can safely assume the lion was dreaming of chasing an impala or warthog around the bush! At Flatdogs you can go on night drives and as we hadn’t been on any so far, we jumped at the chance. You get a totally different experience going around the bush at night and also see different animals. Our guide was very happy when he found a leopard in a tree, and so were we! It was pretty well hidden so not very good for photos, but still very lovely to see. We also saw several genets, porcupines, hippos out for a nightime stroll, elephants, and herds of impala. Our stay at S.L. was excellent and we are looking forward to our return trip in October. Then we decided to go up through Malawi in to Tan. because Zambia has got very expensive and diesel is twice the price compared to anywhere else. So we popped over in to Mal. and spent a couple of days by the lake in our favourite place Cool Runnings, which we used to frequent in VSO days. We arrived after dark one night and found to our great surprise that the Onian’s family were there too (the one’s we did Van Zyl’s Pass with)! It was a fantastic re-union, we were regaling each other with all that we had done since we had parted ways. What a coincidence that we would both be there at the same time! They were just staying there one more night before they left for Lusaka, and we had at the very last minute decided to stay there with Markus and Tanja for a night before starting the long trek up to Dar. Fate that’s what you call it! We chatted long in to the night and joined the kids for a swim the next morning before they left. It was really great to see them again and catch up (have a fantastic time with the rest of your trip, we’ll see you next year!). We then stayed another night at CR which was our last night with Markus and Tanja. They were going to go south in Mal and on to Mozambique and we were going up to Tan. It was very sad to say goodbye to them also, we had a brilliant time with them and have already planned a trip to Switzerland to see them again! Now we are in Dar and waiting for Helen, but her flight has been cancelled!!! Some problem with the baggage carousel in Heathrow, would you believe! She has got another flight in a couple of days luckily (looking forward to having you here with us soon Helen!) and hopefully she’ll be able to get a later flight back. We are not in any hurry, so it’s not a problem this end and have found a lovely beach campsite with bar and great food to hang around at whilst we wait for her! The plan when she is here is to go to Ruaha NP and do some major animal watching. It’s supposed to be a real gem of a park which not too many people go to which will be very good. Then spend a few days in Zanzibar which I am really looking forward to. We’ve heard lots about it and I can’t wait to see it for myself. I thought each blog I’d throw in a little interesting fact about things we have seen whilst travelling along. Obviously African countries generally have a different way about them and it’s wonderful to see examples of these as we are moving around. So here’s the first one….. donkeys were one of the things we were first aware of. In Namibia and Botswana they are everywhere, you could never go for more than a few metres before encountering some! They look kind of sweet grazing at the side of the road, but boy are they stupid, with no road sense what so ever! Donkey populations here are in serious need of ‘The Green Cross Code’ schooling! They are used mostly for pulling carts around and ridden for herding cattle, but sadly no joyrides along sandy beaches! However, move in to Zambia and Malawi and the lack of donkeys is what draws your attention. Why should they suddenly become such a rarity? Well if what we have been told is to be believed, then it’s not good…… apparently they were taken in to Zam and Mal, but they were used for food and nothing else, poor things, so not many are left to see! As you realise the donkeys are no more, what you do find is an excess of bicycles! My, my what a lot of them, and what’s needed here are a few cycling proficiency tests! No lights, no gears and sometimes no brakes, it’s scary! Where as in Nam and Bots your main concern when driving was not to bump the backside of a donkey, now we are in fear of slamming in to a cyclist! Well that’s all of our titbits for today, next blog will hopefully start with Helen’s arrival!! So our love to you all and we trust all is as it should be with you. Cheerio for now, Kate and Jas xx