Vic Falls, Zimbabwe - Trillionaires

What an experience crossing the Zimbabwe border. We had to pay R200 for Carbon tax, US55 for a visa for me, US40 for Third Party Insurance and another US40 for Commerical Vehicle Insurance. You are not sure who you can really trust as it all seems very suspect who is pocketing the cash but you can't do a thing about it if you want to come in so just have to fork over the cash! We have 100 trillion and a few hundred billion useless Zim dollars so they are desperate for US cash!!

Our first stop was lunch at the old colonial Victoria Falls Hotel which is like a living museum with thousands of framed memorabilia everywhere depicting the old colonial times and prized horns proudly on display from hunting trips. You can envision what it must have been like in these colonial times - ladies with sun shades walking through the gardens or taking the steam train to the falls. The hotel overlooks the stunning gorges of the falls. You hear the rumbling of the falls and see the spray hundreds of metres in the air and are lured along the 1km walk to the falls.

What a breathtaking place - the grandeur, the magnitude, the thunderous noise, the stunning rainbows, the volume of water, its speed, the spray from the falls soaring hundreds of metres in the air and unbelievably its ability to completely drench you...as if someone has just thrown a bucket of water on you and you have no idea where it was thrown from other than the dry area you just walked through now had you soaked. We found a path down 73 steps into the start of the falls and got even more drenched but what a feeling to feel like you are almost inside the falls!

We ditched the tent for the night and decided to enjoy the tranquility of Victoria Falls Hotel which was like a step back in history. We only realized today that it gave us a false illusion of what Zimbabwe is really like as we were completely protected from the mass of beggars and constant harrasment. The staff were so gentle and friendly and just cannot do enough. We were so loving our Zim experience that we wanted to rethink our plans to drive back to SA via Zim..until we asked a local who just had such sadness in his eyes as he told you how run down everything was now and just not worth going to. He just kept pondering what life once was to what it was now and that as long as there was a dictator in charge things were not going to be any different in his lifetime.

On our walk out of the falls we were approached by a guy called Gift who tried to sell us souvenirs. He had them lined in a row in the path so as soon as you approached his negogiations began of trying to sell us the the 3 items and the Zim $ he had. We were willing to buy 1 of the 3 but he just kept pushing and pushing. He then started asking for money for food and if we had any spare clothes and shoes. It is so tough to experience the human suffering that the people in Zimbabwe are facing. You realize how how fortunate we are, how much we have and how little we need and then how little they have and how little they are wanting. You just don't know what the right thing to do is as you can't buy from them all. There are a few tourists in Vic Falls on the Zim side so we are the locals only possible source of income so they are so desperate to make some type of exchange with you and they just don't give up until you are driving away.

Once we left the safety of the hotel today, we were harrassed everywhere we went. They stare at you through closed car windows and you cannot escape them unless you are in a moving vehicle. You don't want to be rude but you feel so overwhelmed and frustrated by the constant harassment. As a result we crossed the border today into Zambia to escape. We were harrased even leaving the country by an official who demanded papers from the police to allow us to take the vehicle from Zim. We had no idea what he was referring to and for a moment at the border I had a thought that we were not going to be able to escape!! Luckily the border exit opened and we were able to escape sadly saying to ourselves we will never return! What a contrast to the amazing experience we had at Vic Falls and its beautiful hotel and the friendliest staff ever! We had to pay to Zambia another US35 for Carbon Tax and US50 for a visa for me for along with a glare from the Immigration officials. Anyone associated with the UK over here isn't too popular with officials it seems!

We watched the Springbok win against the Lions so have a very happy Bokke fan! We are at a campsite on the Zambezi River and feel in a place of peace and tranquility again!

We are heading to see the Zambia side of Vic Falls in the morning and then crossing back to Botswana. We may go to Eastern Botswana to the Tuli Game Reserve to relax for a few days before heading back to Weenen on Saturday.

Ihaha Day 3 – As Hungry as a Vulture?

It’s like we are at a different Chobe today with not an elephant to be spotted! There was a strong wind this morning so I’ve concluded that has impacted the migratory patterns of the day. There has been the random buffalo, warthog and of course the good ol’ faithful impala that don’t count when you’re safari snobs like us :)

We spotted hundreds of vultures circling in the sky. Where there are vultures circling, there is something waiting to be nibbled at. As the expert trackers we have become (LOL!), we headed towards the vultures and spotted another hundred plus sitting by the river. There to the left in the bush was a fresh buffalo carcass and the vultures seem to have arrived on the scene before any other scavenger. It would seem he too died of natural causes, as he was too “intact” when we arrived in order to have been the victim of a lion kill.

At any one time, there are at least 20 vultures attacking the carcass, ripping bits and pieces out and putting their head under the skin and aggressively digging for something tastier. You can see where the references to vultures, food and huger comes from when you witness their eating manners and habits. There is constant squawking as they are feeding and fighting for their spot. On the sidelines in the tree above, there are about 10 vultures waiting their turn. After such a messy feast, they head to the river, rinse off and then spread their wings to dry! What a sight! During all this we have just had a hippo walk out of the river and into the bush. Inside the car it’s 34 degrees and there’s a cool breeze so I imagine we’ll be seeing him again soon as it’s hot out there and hippos are as sensitive to the sun as me! We’ve been hanging around hoping that it would be lion bait but no luck so far.

Not sure what’s with the buffalos dying of natural causes in Chobe? A park official (aka buffalo coroner) came by and determined that he died of natural causes and scared away the vultures remaining at the “all you can eat buffet”!

We have gone in search of swimming ellies and instead found a lioness under a tree and a herd of impala at the river. Ringside seats round #2!! The impala crossed into her path but warthogs came closer and she got so close to warthog for lunch but he did a quick right and she took a wide left and he escaped!! She then went for an afternoon siesta and we watched her again hunt for lechwe. She camaflouged herself in the long grass and was amazingly so close to the lechwe that she should have been able to put her paw out and stomp on him but again he got away!! Amazing that in one visit we witnessed four lion hunts!!

We arrived back in camp to herds of buffalo grazing and another spectacular sunset. The buffalos were around our campsite all night and this morning we had lions roaring at camp! Think they'd just had a great buffalo feast as all that remained of the buffalo carcass this morning was a rib cage and a leg down the road!!

We are in Kasane now, heading on a river sunset cruise along the Chobe River this afternoon. Spotted the red land rover and our Aussie friends driving by so hope to catch up with them later.

We are going to Vic Falls on the Zim side tomorrow and may venture onto the Zambian side the next day. The rest of the trip still to be determined. This is high speed internet so I hope to be back again before we head to Zim or after to upload some of our amazing photos to complete the stories.

Ihaha Day 2 – Buffalo & Elephants Galore

We were on the road by 6.45am and headed to see the state of the buffalo carcass (which they say died of natural causes) at the Old Serondela Campsite now referred to by us as the Serondela Zoo!! We got first sighting on three lion cubs out to play and then the gawkers arrived one by one so we moved on.

 We have driven about 20km alongside the edge of the Chobe River and had an absolutely amazing drive. It’s the only water source in the dry season so everything must come there to drink. Everywhere you look there is activity of birds or animals. Buffalo by the hundreds - for once something outnumbers the impala!

Our morning highlight is that we had private roadside seats at a lioness relaxing under a tree and then tracked her for about 20 minutes as she hunted a herd of impala. We eventually lost sight of the impala but imagining she treated herself to a tasty lunch. Amidst all that a herd of ellies came charging out of the bush to the river. Thousands of birds were sitting by the river and as soon as they we drove by, it was like a game of bird dominoes, hundreds by hundreds they took to flight and created mayhem in the sky.

NEWS FLASH…we have just been chased by an angry bull elephant. The elephant was drinking at the river and then came to scratch himself on a fallen tree in front of us. We videoed for a bit and then decided to hit the road. He did a 180 and came chasing us. Each time we speeded up so did he!!! Deon then decided to slow down and let him catch up again and so the game continued for about 2 minutes and then we left him in the dust..phew!. A little adrenalin rush for the morning!

And just around the corner, we are now watching a lioness hiding in the grass, watching every move of 4 warthog and a lechwe in front of her and another 4 warthog to her side. None of which have a clue she’s just up ahead. She has just crawled closer to the lechwe. A kill may be imminent. They still haven’t spotted her!!....Update….we watched her for over an hour and amazingly she kept crawling closer and closer to the lechwe and he never spotted her. His what seemed fatal mistakes were lying down for a bit, a good ol scratching session and then turning his back on her. She went in for the kill but the lechwe outran her. She didn’t give us the chase and tried again. It was like a stand off lechwe versus lioness with impala hissing on the sideline. What an amazing experience to witness.

We decided to treat ourselves to lunch in Kasane at Old House Restaurant that comes highly recommended by Lonely Planet, a friend in Bermuda who lived in Botswana for 10 years and it was on the GPS under “Food”. The place is nowhere to be found and we even went to the Botswana Tourism Office and they have never heard of it. Not even like it just closed down..but never heard of it’s existence ever. She points us to Kasane’s most upmarket restaurant, which is a version of KFC and with only one choice we had to try it. Just like KFC, better left a memory!

We are parked in the shade on the side of the Chobe waiting for a massive herd of hundreds of buffalo to cross the river and head back into the bush for the night. They look like they are in a huge traffic jam waiting for the leader to say go and start the walk home. We can see at least a hundred elephants starting their slow journey home – walking in family groups of about 20 and it seems a pattern of a mother followed by two calves in a long line.

On the way back into Chobe earlier, we saw ellies swimming across the river and drove through hundreds of elephants that had already crossed the river and were just coming out of the bush everywhere we looked – makes for some very cautious driving tactics as you don’t want to come between mother and baby. We saw little calves collapsed in the sand - must be tough to keep up with the big ones on this daily trek. Buffalos surrounded the entire campsite when we got to our place under the tree we call “home”. They grazed in front of us all evening and were there when we got up today.

Savute to Ihaha – The Place Where African Sunsets Became Famous

Less than 5 minutes in the Landy en route to Ihaha we had a steenbok fly across the road in front of us in hot pursuit by three hungry wild dogs! One second later on the roads and you realize you miss such chance encounters. I had my first off road driving experience in the thick sand roads – requiring deep concentration to keep the wheels in the tracks no matter how much the thick sand tried to redirect you otherwise. After 2 hours on the road, we passed our first vehicle!

Our camping spot at Ihaha is just a stones throw from the Chobe River. Such a beautiful tranquil spot to relax for the afternoon. The only noise you can hear is the bee-eater birds killing wasps against the trees. We have three warthog visitors grazing around us, two fisherman in a mokoro paddled by and lots of birds. The campsite rules are very simple…”You MUST sleep in a closed tent or vehicle, or lions or hyenas may eat you!” … Enjoy your stay in our park!!” Big gulp as you read that!!

I’m on the blog and Deon’s making dinner so we can go out for a late afternoon drive and be back by sunset. We got the heads up that there was a pride of lions eating a buffalo carcass so we headed there for a first lion encounter…along with far too many other safari vehicles loaded with tourists. We realize how spoilt we were having Savute almost to ourselves on our drives.

The female lion and her three cubs were tearing the flesh off the decaying and not too pleasant smelling carcass. Male lions were in the den in the bushes but they were camera shy however Deon pretended he saw them with half his body out the window and the zoom going wildly on the camera and all the heads on the safari vehicles turned our way to see what we were seeing. Vehicles even came our way to ask if we’d seen the male lion. I’m hiding inside the vehicle holding back the tears of laughter as Deon tells them he saw two males and they just ran off into the bush. His new tactic to decoy the tourists!

On escaping the masses, we came across hundreds of elephants drinking at the river…from the tiny winy to the massive and all the sizes in between. On the race back to camp before sunset we had stretches of road with masses of buffalo and elephant on either side as they migrated from the river back into the bush before nightfall. Sunset over the Chobe is so spectacular…every shade of pink, orange and red reflecting off the river. When they talk of African sunsets, this must be the place that was created.

We are sharing our campsite with a family of baboons. They were all waiting for us when we got back hoping for a random door left open to ransack our food box. We outsmarted them on this round. They retreated to bed in the tree above us and were up at 6 with us this morning jumping through the trees.

Savute – The Paparazzi and Wild Dogs

We were up early for a game drive and it’s been a quiet morning…one giraffe, one elephant, one wildebeest, a herd of buffalo with lots of little ones and of course a ton of impala. We are sitting at Marbou Pan….meant to be a good spot to watch animals drinking but none to be found, as there is a lot of water in other parts of the park..so a perfect spot for breakfast and catching up on the blog.

We took the “safari circuit” drive and saw more ellies, giraffe and wildebeest through changing scenery of open veld and more dense forest type areas so made our hunt for lion a little challenging. We had a much easier ellie sightings at a water pan when 4 bull ellies came by for a drink and siesta, constantly flapping their ears to cool themselves as by now it’s 30+ degrees. We were out from about 6 hours and only saw 3 vehicles so felt like we were the only ones at Savute!

Gates to the camp “close” at sunset so a late afternoon drive is a great time to catch the predators on the hunt. We had an unbelievable encounter with wild dogs on the hunt as three walked out of the bush and stopped in front of us sniffing and scouting the area and then the hunt began and they were off. Wild dogs hunt in packs and part of their strategy is that they encircle the prey from all directions. We were like the paparazzi with 4 other vehicles following the hunt and following them through the roads alongside the bush. Sunset arrived before the kill occurred so we don’t know what happened next but the excitement of the chase made for our highlight of the day.

We were huddled around the campfire in the darkness braaing chicken and chatting with Jaco, an SA guide we’d met earlier when I suddenly looked up and saw this absolutely massive bull elephant pass by us less than 8 metres away. We felt dwarfed in his presence and Jaco calmly suggested we stand near the Landy. The ellie didn’t seem fazed by us…Deon protected the chicken just in case. He headed to a nearby camping spot and you could see with the activity of the lights there they hadn’t spotted him yet. Jaco gave them a heads up whistle and gently shouted “elephant” and then you saw the mass scatter action of torches as they ran to safety. We heard from them this morning that they were just about to sit down for dinner when they heard Jaco call so there was a moment of chaos as they scrambled for last minute cover as they thought he was coming between them and their tent!  Not sure if it was the same one that walked through the campsite when we were braaing our lunch?

The books warn you to leave nothing out over night and to pack everything away as hyenas will take it away – braai grids and all. Our roof top tent ladder is wedged on top of two rolled sand ladders. Deon sprayed them last night with Baygon hoping to deter the hyenas. We woke this morning to find one missing sand ladder…which was fortunately not stolen…just been dragged to the other side of our campsite. Deon left some chicken bones so perhaps the hyena opted for those over a tasty sand ladder!!

Moremi to Savute Campsite – Through Mini Ponds

We left bright and early from camp, glared at our rowdy neighbours on our drive out and within 15 minutes had seen giraffe, elephant, wildebeest, zebra and impala. Wow! After crossing another two more wooden bridges, we saw a herd of waterbuck snorting at a leopard as he crossed their domain with his tail curled up. He retreated with dignity as they had safety in numbers. We have amazing video footage of a hippo rise out of the water and yawn reminding us who has the biggest teeth. By now we had maybe been in the car an hour!! Sure made up for last night already!!!  

The three days of rain earlier in June has caused driving mayhem in the national parks. I just found out on June 8 - 10 they had 250mm of rain..the most in living memory!! We've heard stories of vehicles ruined, being stuck in 60cm puddles and rescue not arriving for 48 hours!!

We have driven through hundreds of massive deep puddles…really mini ponds in some cases. Our once white landy is now covered in a thick layer of brown mud that is baked on!! There was one section where we had to cross a marsh area that was flooded…as we started to go in we could tell the water was too deep. We retreated to assess a plan B and found another less flooded option however as we approached that realized it too had deep patches. Lucky with Deon (aka Indiana Jones) at the helm we found a slightly shallower path and stayed afloat and enjoyed the rest of the 4x4 driving challenges that Moremi faced us with.

GPS is our friend again and safely showed us the way out of Moremi. We have a great map that has lots of reference points with GPS coordinates so we just made our way from point to point. There are very few signs to show you the way in the park and there always seems an option to go left, right or straight that’s not on the map so not sure how you’d ever find your way out without GPS.

Once we left North Gate at Moremi, we were at an area called Kwai, which is renowned for great viewing. The lady at the gate said there was only one road to Savute and many people had gone that way today so just follow the road. Within minutes, there was a left or a right? Luckily a safari vehicle overtook us and we followed them out of Kwai. He knew all the mini ponds to avoid thankfully! We had an amazing game drive along the way seeing hippo, elephant (wading through the river and on land), wildebeest, kudu, crocodile, buffalo, and a water monitor eating a big fish.

We got to our campsite at Savute late afternoon and saw massive ellie footprints under the tree that marked our spot. Savute is well known for big lion and elephant populations. There was a huge bull elephant in one of the campsites and its resident hiding behind his landrover!! Lion still remains only heard and not yet seen but we are still on the hunt. There is meant to be wild dog in the area so will add those to our tracking list.

The noises of the night at camp had us constantly scanning the area for eyes. Not really sure what I’d have done if I saw any!

Getting a reservation at campsites in Botswana in the busy season is almost impossible as they say they are all “fully booked”. We fortunately got 1 night at each of Third Bridge Campsite, Savute Campsite, then had a “homeless” night followed by 3 nights at Ihaha Campsite. We found out by a guard at an entrance gate that we could use our payment for one of our Ihaha nights and apply it to our homeless night and stay in the “Reserve Area” at Savute for an extra night and then pay the extra fees on the way out.

Each day we are baffled by all the empty camping spots at the “fully booked” campsites and can’t understand why they haven’t come up with a better system. The other mind blowing thing is the scrutiny with which the Park Officers review your paperwork as you go through the various gates and discuss it amongst each other and then eventually let us through. We can’t figure out why my Booking Confirmation doesn’t look like everyone else’s as they are all issued through their Dept of Wildlife. But we do know we got so lucky with 6 nights in the parks of camping!