Blissful Botswana and Vic Falls Safari
One of our consultants, Anne-Marie was lucky enough to spend her days exploring the best of Botswana. Here is her feedback:
Botswana and Vic Falls!!! How exciting!!! Now only to get rid of my fear of flying in five seater planes!
My first night in Botswana was spent at Maun Lodge due to a delay with my Air Botswana flight from Johannesburg. Light air charters don’t take off after 3pm due to safety precautions… and I had arrived well after the ‘safe’ time to fly over the Okavango Delta.
Maun Lodge is about a 15min drive from the airport and is perfect for a 1 night stay. The Lodge is clean, has friendly staff, MASSIVE portions of food and free wifi.
We departed Maun airport the following morning just after 9am in a plane only big enough for the pilot, another couple and me. Wow! What a relaxing flight, for the first time I didn’t have my eyes tightly shut praying to land. Flying over the Okavango Delta is a massive privilege which few people will ever experience and with that in mind the 20min flight was a breeze!
We landed at Xaxanaka landing strip where a ranger from Camp Moremi was waiting for us. The drive to the Camp took about 30min and we saw a few elephants along the way. We arrived at the camp just in time for the delicious brunch which was being served to the other guests who had returned from their morning game activities. After the brunch I was led to my accommodation for the night where I took some time to relax and chill out before the afternoon game drive.
On the game drive we very fortunate to spend about 30min with a leopard and her not so young cub. I say fortunate because leopards are notoriously shy and the mother would not usually have her cub as exposed as he or she was.
The activities at Camp Moremi include morning and afternoon game drives throughout the Moremi Game Reserve or exploring the Xaxanaka Lagoon by boat through the picturesque channels of the Okavango Delta.
The next day I hopped on another light air plane headed for Xugana Island Lodge. The ride was literally 10min and upon landing at the Xugana Airstrip we were escorted by motorboat on a short ride to Xugana Island Lodge.
The afternoon activity was a mokoro , done is safe and fairly shallow waters. The guide /polers are extremely adept and I felt very safe and secure meandering through the channels of the Xugana lagoon. About half way through our activity a storm started coming in and we unfortunately had to cut short our activity.
The next morning’s activity was a boat ride out to the Hippo Lagoon. And did we see hippos! In the lagoon there were about 10 bloats of hippopotami of up to 20 hippos per bloat. They move quite fast in the water, so we had to keep our distance!
After the morning activity, I was whisked by boat to the airstrip at Camp Okavango. The airstrip at Xugana was flooded from the evening storm, so I had to catch my flight from Camp Okavango.
Next stop: Savute Safari Lodge which is a 40min flight to the Savute airstrip which is in the Chobe National Park. Savute Safari Lodge was my favourite lodge out the 5 I visited. My accommodation was luxurious and overlooked the waters of the Savute Channel. I loved the large private viewing deck which spanned the width of my room. My highlight of the afternoon game drive was standing next to a mighty baobab which was said to be hundreds and hundreds years old.
During dinner at the lodge, we were entertained by three male elephants who had made their way down to the water hold right in front of the dining area. After dinner star gazing led by the camp manager was an education in itself.
I was very sad to leave Savute Safari Lodge after just one night!
The next morning I caught yet another and my last light air flight to Kasane airport which was almost an hour flight.
Upon landing I was greeted by a friendly representative from Elephant Valley Lodge where I would be spending the night. Elephant Valley Lodge is situated within the Kasane Forest Reserve and lies between the Chobe National Park in Botswana and the equally impressive Matetsi wildlife conservancy, south of the Kazangula border.
The lodge overlooks an extremely productive water hole. Activities include daily safaris and boat cruises into the Chobe National Park.
The evening game drive in the Chobe National Park was the best game drive I had ever been on for the simple fact that in one scene on my left an Elephant was chasing three lioness’ and on the right elephant were playing in the Chobe River with hippo and buffalo looking along! OUT OF THIS WORLD!
Chobe National Park has the biggest Elephant population in the world, so pretty much every which way you turn your head you WILL see an Elephant.
My last night in Botswana was spent at Chobe Game Lodge. The Chobe lodge is situated in the national park directly on the banks of the Chobe River.
The afternoon boat cruise turned into a sunset cruise… I really have no words to describe the feeling of drifting down the Chobe River with the perfect African sunset enfolding you! The evening boma dinner overlooking the Chobe was exquisite and the lodge’s choir made it an even more unforgettable experience.
The next morning I left Chobe Game Lodge and Botswana with a heavy heart , but onward to Victoria Falls I soldiered.
The road transfer from Botswana to Victoria Falls did not take more than 2 hours and although the border looks like something out of nightmare , myself and many tourists went through smooth sailing.
Seeing the Victoria Falls for the first time made me cry. I had learned about David Livingstone and the Falls as a very little girl and the story was always so intriguing to me. David Livingstone was well loved and respected by the locals and his heart is (literally) buried in Africa!
My stay at Ilala Lodge was short and sweet. The very best thing about Ilala lodge is its proximity to the Falls. You can literally see the spray from the falls from the dining area.
The very next morning I was up and at em for my trip back home to Cape Town.
Anne-Marie’s Images:
