A Quick Safaria in the Botswana Delta

This will be our last post for a while as we head into the Namibian desert for 9 days...

Thursday, June 23, 2016 – Maun, Botswana - Moremi Game Reserve

A special start to the day, with scrambled eggs, bacon, mushrooms and grilled tomatoes instead of the usual cereal and yogurt.  Then we were off to Moremi Game Reserve in the "Delta" region of Botswana.  This is a very unique region since the "delta" is very large inland wetlands that has been set aside as a game preserve.

Crossing a wooden bridge in the Morimi game reserve

We switched guides for this part of the journey into the Okavango Delta.  Supposedly the Moremi contains lions, elephants, rhino, buffalo, cheetah and leopards but our luck was not very good on this safari trip.  We did see elephants, giraffe, zebras and several types of antelopes but in small numbers.   We were in a bush camp, in our tents but without any restrooms.  For dinner we had a fabulous braai (Botswanan Bar-b-que) with the mandatory “pap”; previously described as ugali or nshima.  The big build-up to coming out to Moremi was that we would be camping in the bush and hear the animals at night.  In fact, most likely we would have some animals walk through our camp.  Other than seeing buffalo dung, we did not hear or see anything… the quietest night of camping we have had since the start of the bike trip.  At dawn there was a small group of zebra feeding a short distance away from the camp.

Friday, June 24, 2016 – Return to Audi camp – Maun, Botswana.

Baby elephant suckling 

Another early morning start (5:30) wakeup.   I’m not sure if we are on holiday or not as we are up and moving as early as we would be back home when working.  After a morning safari in search of predators, we returned to Audi camp in Maun around 1:30 pm.  All we found were footprints – none of the big five.  We did hear of a “wild dog” sighting but were unsuccessful in finding them.  This trip seems over scheduled with an attempt to get in quantity instead of quality.  It is very difficult to think you can find elusive animals with a quick morning safari, knowing it’s over a three-hour drive to get back to camp in time for the remaining scheduled activities for the day.   After having been on the safari’s in Tanzania, this trip was a huge disappointment.  Our guide was very quick to explain that if we had more time (another day), he was sure he could have found the lions. 

Some of our group then signed up for a bush plane trip over the Delta but since we had flown over much of Tanzania we decided it was not worth the additional expense.  We did make a quick shopping trip into Maun buying a power adapter (unique to southern Africa), snacks, and CHOCOLATE!  Dinner was again at the camp restaurant which was very good.

At dinner we learned that one of our fellow travelers had lost their passport on the bush plane ride, so there was somewhat of a panic in hopes that it could be recovered in the morning.  The passports have been in and out of our backpacks multiple times with boarder crossings, buffalo fence crossings, multiple hotels, etc.  So it is always a concern that you haven't lost the darn thing.

Tandem covered with disenfectant - bushman sitting on the
in the background

The buffalo fence crossings are unique to Botswana.  They have a hoof and mouth disease problem which is spread by the wild African buffalo to the beef cattle which is one of the countries major industries.  To try to prevent the spread of the disease, they have built long fences across major sections of the country.  When you come to one of the fences you have exit the vehicle with all of your shoes and dip them in a pad soaked with disenfectant and drive your vehicle through a pool of disenfectant as well.  At one stop they even made out driver spray all of the bicycle tires with disenfectant which left a white residue all over our bikes.

Saturday, June 25, 2016 – Maun to Ghanzi (han-zee), Botswana

With the lost passport to recover, we had a reprieve from the 5:30AM wakeup call and were allowed to sleep in until 6:30.  After breakfast the guide contacted the bush flight office and notified them of the lost passport.  On our way to the airport he got the call that they had found it on the plane, so everyone breathed a sigh of relief. 

We are frequently greeted by cheers, big waves, thumbs-up and
smiles as we ride down the road.  The tandem gets a lot
of double-takes

On the edge of Maun, we dropped the bicycles for a very flat 120k (75 mile) ride through the Kalahari Desert.  The vegetation is mostly low growing trees that are extremely drought tolerance with massive thorns like locust trees.  This area has a lot of cattle farming.  The cattle roam free along with donkeys and horses.  There are plenty of sharp things on the ground as well and there were 7 flats among the 12 bicycles, some with more than 1 flat. 

It was a very nice day for riding and we really enjoyed the mild temperatures.  After riding we packed into the truck for a 200k transfer to Ghanzi where we had the option to rent a small bungalow with its own bathroom including wood fired hot water for the shower (called donkey showers here – don’t know why) and real beds.  For the grand sum of $40, we sprang for the upgrade.  It is really nice to be able to make the trek to the bathroom in the middle of the night without having to find your shoes, get out of your tent and not worry about dragging sand back into the tent on the return trip.

Sunday, June 26, 2016 – Ghanzi, Botswana to Windhoek, Namibia

Two women from the bushman group

Our day started off at about 7AM with breakfast and then a walk with the local bushman.  These are the indigenous people who live nearby and are trying to preserve their way of life and culture.  It was a cold morning, probably in the low 40’s and they were clad in only a few animal skins.  They gave a tour of some of the local plants that they use for medicinal purposes and for dying pelts to make them water proof.  The group of 3 men and 2 women ranged from over 70 to 20 years of age.  We also had a guide/interpreter who spoke the local language who would translate for us.  They were quite entertaining and very hospitable.  It isn’t very clear that they will not be able to maintain their culture since they live in a settlement on land provided by the government similar to a reservation in the US.  They are no longer allowed to hunt the native animals as is their tradition, so they have to buy the meat and pelts essential to their way of life.

Bushman showing us how to make fire... no flint, no match

After saying goodbye to the bushman, we packed into the truck and started our nearly 500k trek to Windhoek, Namibia.  After about 175k we crossed the Botswana border with Namibia where we had to clear immigration on both sides of the boarder.  Then it was back in the truck to push on.  After a quick lunch stop for lunch in Gobabis, we continued on our way to Windhoek.  Again a night of relative luxury, staying in a guesthouse.  Then onto the infamous Joe’s Beer Garden for dinner.  Ted had a sampling of various native meats including crocodile, kudu and oryx. 

After tonight we are headed into the Namibian Desert and will not have access to wifi for nine days.  We will try to post again whenever we get the chance.