Botswana

Following a masochistic five months dominated by a full time plus three-extra course study and exam schedule, I was desperate to hit the road. Besides a five week stint in Johannesburg to look forward to, I was ready to delve into some authentic Africana. I was intrigued by Zambia and wanted to see Victoria Falls…and even more so by Botswana. Since I was alone on this trip, I decided a small scale tour was the way to go. So I hooked up with a couple of Russians and a driver, and off we went. The overland border was little more than an hour’s drive from Livingstone, over relatively well paved roads (by African standards), running though national parks and traditional villages where maize farmers still live in thatched straw and mud huts. Village schools were basically four wooden poles held together by a thatched roof – almost like miniature pavilions. In the dry months I’m sure this is fine, but when the rainy season arrives I’m not clear how this set up can possibly work. At least they elevate the houses a little so that the floors don’t turn to mud. The border proved chaotic as expected, with rampant squawking chickens, hundreds of hawkers selling colourful blankets, fruit and wood carvings, and trucks trying not to run down the masses of humanity running wild. The tiny immigration office was also a seething mass of sweaty bodies, bearing no real semblance to a line. Please don’t judge me for being happy when I realized that there were two lines, the efficient one of which was for ‘vips’ aka tourists. After getting our stamps, we fought through the throngs down to water’s edge – turns out a little ferry needed to be taken across to reach Botswana. In fact, this little ferry corner sits on the edges of four countries - in one direction you see Namibia, the next, Zimbabwe, then of course Botswana and Zambia.

Besides the little metal speed boats, there is a truck barge that transports giant trucks one at a time across the waters – not the utmost in efficiency but quaint nonetheless. Waiting to hop on our ferry, we were descended upon by the most obnoxious, aggressive souvenir hawkers imaginable. The captain and our driver had to help us fight them off. Luckily the arrival of some new white faces provided adequate distraction. One four minute ride across the Zambesi later, we were picked up in a safari vehicle and subjected to a second round of Botswana entry border frenzy. Finally safely into the country, we headed for the northern town of Kasane on the Chobe River. En route we passed roadside herds of chickens, goats, scrawny cows and elephants. I had heard that tourism in Botswana was two things: very focused on sustainability (excellent!)and very expensive, so I was only a little surprised when we arrived at our beautiful waterfront thatched roof luxury lodge (I had earned this after roughing it in Zambia) to find an ocean of white faces. I haven’t seen this many Americans since I was last in America and it was actually a little disconcerting. Day one included a boat trip up the Chobe, such a beautiful and peaceful region, and the midwinter temperatures of 28 degrees were very much to my liking. We boarded a tiny safari boat with some friendly Australians and annoying Italians who made it their mission to try their damndest to tip the boat into the croc infected waters. Chobe is a massive 11,500 square kilometre national park, uninhabited and ruled by animals. And unlike game drives in South Africa – which don’t get me wrong, are great – it is a lot wilder, a lot more adventurous …and just a lot more ‘African’, except for all the Americans. Cruising up river we found exotic birds including African eagles, spoon bills, a giant humming bird, herons and really colourful fishers.

It didn’t take long before we found our first hippo, soon to be followed by literally hundreds more, the females lying along the shore in squishy piles of ten to twenty resembling a pile of rocks from a distance, while singular large males stood guard over their harems twitching their tiny little ears, exposing their pink mouths through lazy yawns…and fanning their poop everywhere with their little tails. I have never seen so many hippos, or been so close to them in their natural habitat. By day they are usually pretty reclusive – I think Chobe is one of the few places in the world you can get so close and actually see such a large quantity hippos in the wild. Along the edges of the water lurked giant water monitor lizards, lazing in the sun or crawling through the high grass in search of bird eggs. On a swampy island in the middle of the estuary giant Cape buffalo grazed. Massive, prehistoric crocodiles lay in the sun, seeking camouflage for their scaly bodies in the reeds, fast asleep with their mouths hanging open to display jagged teeth all the better to eat you with, and baby crocs lay along the sandy beaches.

Herds of sable antelopes ran along the shore, as well as springboks and other small antelopes. We also passed families of wart hogs come to drink at river’s edge. The absolute highlight was encountering a giant bull elephant having play time in the water. He was almost fully submerged, and would roll over occasionally so that only his huge feet showed, then a trunk would appear and spray…then ears would flap. One giant eye watched us at a distance of about five metres, the other observed his elephant friend waiting patiently at the shore line, pacing back and forth. Apparently the elephants and really big hippos are the only animals that can safely cross to the island free from threat of croc attack.

The opportunity to get so close to these animals in the water in a tiny boat is such a special experience. What wasn’t so special was the Italian tourists’ inability to heed the guide’s warning that we must keep our weight balanced at all times to avoid tipping over into utterly croc and hippo infested waters – there were some close calls. The next morning we jumped into an open safari vehicle and headed to the Chobe National Park entrance for a game drive. As we drove through Kasane, we saw co-inhabitants giant baboons playing at the national bank, and had to make stops along the way to let rogue elephants cross the street. In Botswana, the national parks have no fences, meaning that animals are free to wander across parks, streets, cities and national borders – and they do. I do wonder what the result of this policy is where lions and leopards are concerned. Luckily unlike in neighbouring Namibia poaching is not a problem, but this is partly because they have shipped out the last of their rhinos to sanctuaries for protection. The threat against rhinos in Africa is so dire and so heartbreaking. Despite their endangered status, their horns are still in huge demand for traditional Chinese virility ‘medicines’ – and poachers are only too eager to comply by killing these beautiful creatures. This situation is nothing less than sickening and disgusting. The massive park is exquisite, featuring very different scenery to Namibia or South Africa. The trails are red sand (making for very bumpy rides and sore tailbones), and everything is golden in colour…it’s just so…African! The trees drip with birds’ nests, and there are paths that lead from the main trail made specifically by elephants – they like to make and maintain their own walkways. A family of giant baboons greeted us at the entrance and it didn’t take long before we came across a flock of Kudu grazing. We also saw many giraffes and were able to watch antelopes run at full speed from a perceived predator. From a hilltop we observed what looked like giant boulders in the water below, but were actually a cluster of more than forty hippos. Our best find was a herd of hundreds of elephants – stretching as far as the eye could see. We stopped just a few metres from two matriarchs with a young male and a tiny baby who our guide reckoned was less than four months old. Baby elephants are almost unbearably cute. We sat quietly and watched them as they watched us back with only minimal interest, ripping up grass with their trunks. The baby ran from elephant to elephant, adorably getting underfoot and trying to emulate the grownups but only able to rip one stem of grass up at a time. Eventually he gave up and ran to his mother to breast feed.

Unfortunately for me, this is the point where my camera decided to run out of batteries. We didn’t encounter any of the predators, namely lions or leopards, but I wasn’t disappointed because I have seen them before and because Chobe is one of the most beautiful, magical places I have seen in my life – it could never disappoint. If you ever get the chance to go, I would recommend this over Kruger any day. Botswana is so much wilder, so much more authentic…leaving here was so incredibly difficult to do!