So, the holidays are drawing to a close and the fast pace of the city is kicking back in more than ever with 2010 already here. It’s quite a system shock to be back in town and I’m doing my best to adjust as quickly as possible; After Botswana, Cape Town is just way too fast paced I tell you!
The trip was absolutely amazing, it’s really hard to go into great detail as there is so much to capture, so I’ve decided to split it up into several sections:
The trip to Botswana
We started off with a flight from Cape Town to JHB with a night at the OR Tambo Protea Hotel, which was pleasant and we experienced a wonderful JHB thunder storm, Emporers Palace and the Garden of Lights. The hotel has just started up again, so there was no alcohol license, we were lucky to have taken a bottle of wine, which we enjoyed over dinner, followed by choc brownies in bed ;)
The next day we set forth to Gaberone, upon landing in Gaberone it was boiling hot, none of my cards would work on the ATMs, my mobile wouldn’t work and there were no taxi’s, at this point I can honestly say I was ready to turn around and go back home, it’s hard to explain what the scenario was like – horrible! Anyway, we made a plan and managed to book a room at a decent hotel for a few hours before heading back to the airport where Air Botswana was ready to take us to Maun.
We arrived in Maun, and were escorted to Maun Lodge, which was a breathe of fresh air – The people were friendly and helpful, the barman, Ebbn, was a legend and we had a delicious dinner. Early night and early start prepared us for our first flight in a charter to Xakanaxa Camp (Okavango Delta). It was a smooth flight and we met some others who we were going to be staying with.
Xakanaxa Camp – Okavango Delta
Where to start? Basically, if you’re looking for the ultimate safari experience in Africa, I would recommend this place. The service is 5 star, the food is 5 star, the accommodation is 5 star and the game tours are 5 star. We were shown to our luxury tent, which was situated right in the bush and to give you an idea, we were given a list of instructions explaining how to be safe – for example, you can’t walk around at night without your guide, because the animals roam the camp – they had 20 hyena’s in the camp the night before we arrived, right next to the tents! We were assigned a guide, whose name was Water and I think this was a gift from above, he was absolutely AMAZING! If you ever go, make sure you ask for him! Our day followed this schedule:
- 5h30 – wake
- 6h00 – breakfast
- 6h30 – 11h00 – game drive / boat ride
- 11h30 – brunch
- 12h00 – 15h00 – free time
- 15h30 – Tea time
- 16h00 – 19h00 – game drive / boat ride
- 20h00 – dinner time
- 21h00 – 22h00ish – free time
It’s the perfect schedule to be honest and they don’t mind if you want to sleep in one of the days, we so did ;) The game drives were fantastic, this is a bad time of the year to see game, but that didn’t stop Water from showing us some of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen including a pack of wild dogs hunting down and catching an impala to a leopard waiting in a tree and then attacking some impala to tens of elephants playing in the water. We also experienced a romantic dinner in the bush, which Fe kindly arranged as a surprise for me, truly awesome! There is actually so much that I could write, so instead at the bottom of this post, there are some links to photographs, rather have a look at those!
Garden Lodge – Kasane
After 3 nights of living in the bush it was time for us to head off to The Garden Lodge, a place my father suggested we visit. The Garden Lodge is situated in Kasane, which is in the north of Botswana. To get from Xakanaxa to Garden Lodge, it was time for our second charter. Right, I’m not going to exaggerate now – the charter was absolutely AWFUL – Dodging storms to huge bumps up and down to the plane flying sideways, I’ve never experienced anything so scary before in my life. Put it this way, when we arrived in Sane, the pilot said he was relieved that the flight was over! *I cringe at the memory* Anyway, we arrived safely, caught a ride to Garden Lodge and had some time to lie down, honestly, the flight made the rest of the day a bit of a waste as it took our systems several hours to relax again. It was the 31st, after a boat ride, some champers and food, I was asleep by 22h00 and was woken just prior to midnight to flight some fireworks and celebrate the arrival of 2010.
The Garden Lodge was wonderful, nice and laid back, truly a relaxing experience. We went on game drives and boat trips with our guides Bevan and Kelvin, which were wonderful, Bevan managed to position us so that we could see lions, I think we were the only 2 people to see lions in a long time as they’d been hiding. I didn’t manage to get a photograph of them unfortunately, as they ran out to catch an impala and an elephant saw this and charged them scaring them off, so it was a brief view and we heard then roar, but alas, no photograph. The boat trips at Garden Lodge, on the Chobe River, were awesome, we thoroughly enjoyed these and our guide Bevan understood us when we said we were tired of seeing elephants, giraffes and hippos, so he zoomed us down the river just to enjoy the environment and fresh air. Bevan also drove us to the banks of Namibia, so I could say that I’d been to Namibia ;)
From a place like Xakanaxa to Garden Lodge was a wonderful plan and I’d suggest this as a schedule if you ever go. Once again, Garden Lodge’s service was brilliant and the people incredibly friendly!
Victoria Falls
Due to all the game viewing we had done, we decided that we’d visit Victoria Falls, which was 70km from Garden Lodge, so they arranged a driver for us and we set forth. Had a slight issue at the border as my temporary passport said I was visiting Botswana, fortunately I had my British Passport, so we made it through. Vic Falls is truly amazing, in fact, the areas of Zimbabwe we visited are just so beautiful! I have a ton of photos of the falls, so please do take a look at them. It was especially exciting for me, as my Mother was born in Zimbabwe and has always talked about Vic Falls and the Victoria Falls Hotel, which we visited and had some lunch. Staying at the Vic Falls Hotel must be an amazing experience, all the colonial architecture has been perfectly maintained! On our way out of Zim, we stopped at the market, which was a whole experience in itself, wow, you think Green Market Square is hectic, I’ve got news for you!
Trip Back
It was sad to leave Botswana and I wish I could have stayed at The Garden Lodge a few more days, but that’s how it goes. We had 4 flights on the way home: Sane – Manu, Manu – Gaberone, Gaberone – JHB, JHB – CPT – I wouldn’t suggest this, sheesh, absolutely exhausting!
Anyway, what a wonderful trip it’s been, I will treasure the memories forever and I’m super amped to visit more countries in Africa as soon as possible. As a post-engagement holiday, it was a dream come true.
As I mentioned, I have about 300 photos, here are the links:
A huge thank you to Lettie (Xakanaxa), Water (Xakanaxa), Kristin (Garden Lodge), Florian (Garden Lodge), Bevan (Garden Lodge) and all the other staff that made our trip what it was – amazing. Also a huge wave to Patience, son and Bee – I hope I get to meet you wonderful people again one day!
As someone who has done a fair amount of traveling, I can honestly say this is a trip of a lifetime! If you have the opportunity I highly recommend taking a holiday in Botswana. It is a little ‘rustic’ in terms of the pace people operate at, and it isn’t like South Africa in terms of technology, but that it one of the beauties about it. You feel calmed and rejuvenated. I had a fantastic time, which was made all that more special because it was an adventure spent with Christopher.
Ah wow guys, looks like such an amazing holiday! Hoping to get to Okavango Delta this year, and wish I could back to Zim one day.
Going to look at pics now. :-)
If you hit up the Delta, make sure you visit Xakanaxa, pricy, but most definitely worth every cent!
Cool, think the plan is do to Okavango safari with the family – my dad has a contact who does boat safaris. Have to see what the deal is, really want to get out of SA for a bit this year!
Boat safari’s are very cool, we did some good trips in Kasane (North Botswana) which we thoroughly enjoyed!
I love boats, so a three or four day boat adventure would kick ass.
Hell ya! On the Chobe River, there was a big house boat parked on the one bank – The rooms have sliding doors, so you can walk out onto the “island” and sun tan :)http://imod.co.za/wp-admin/index.php#comments-form
Sounds heavenly!
I told Fe I was moving to Botswana, you can imagine her reaction :P
Hahaha, I’m sure she was thrilled. ;-)
Not many courts in Botswana :P