Victoria Falls and Botswana

Hello, everyone...
Well, I just got back from a seven-day, 3,000km journey with Aunt Gert, Nina, and Eric to Victoria Falls and Botswana. The trip was at times exhilirating, stressful, magnificent, expensive, and educational- but always fun. There is a lot to tell about the trip so I wil start from the first day and just start typing away. Who knows how long this entry might be... but I will throw in a few pictures to keep you interested.
We left last Friday around 11am in the Nissan Almera Aunt Gert rented. The car was a little 4-door sedan with good gas mileage and AC. It also had a radio but in this part of Africa, there isn't much choice- if any- in regards to music channels, especially outside the cities. I drove the whole way and Aunt Gert was in the front seat with me alternating between navigating and sleeping. So we headed north the first day and our destination was a lodge just north of Grootfontein about 4 hours drive from Windhoek but along the way we stopped at the Waterberg Plateau. Here is where the adventure began. This is a giant plateau in the middle of nowhere with hiking trails to the top of the plateau with an beautiful view out into the vast expanse of Africa. The experience of looking out over so much open land was similar to my trip last year at Spitzkoppe- only this time we lost a hiker. On the way up the trail Erica and I got ahead of Nina and Aunt Gert and after waiting for them at the top for 30 minutes, we walked back to the car thinking we would find them there. After an hour of waiting we began to get concerned and when Aunt Gert returned without Nina we became even more anxious. As it turns out, Aunt Gert turned around and left Nina to go off looking for me and Erica and Nina took the wrong trail, got scared off the trail by a Kudu, and she ended up lost. By 6pm the sun was setting over the plateau and so we went to the lodge and asked for help finding Nina and I accompanied 4 guys back up the plateau in search of Nina. After shouting and searching for nearly an hour we finally heard her faint voice in the distance and brought her back down the plateau. She was exhausted and a little shaken, but fortunately she was fine despite two large blisters on the back of her ankles from walking so far. We thanked the guides and set off for the lodge in the dark. Common knowledge says it is not safe to drive at night because of the wild animals running across the road but we set out anyway with the impression that the lodge was only about 70km away but the "shortcut" we were told about turned out to be mainly a dirt road filled with cattle and what we were hoping would be an hour drive turned into four hours. It was a tense and stressful drive but we finally arrived around midnight. The camp we stayed at was pretty cool. It was on a two story bungalow and it really had a lot of African charm. The woman that ran the place was a white Trekker from Namibia and she was very accomadating. It felt good to be in a nice bed and I slept well the first night and in the morning we had a delicious egg and bacon breakfast.
We then set out further north to a place called Ngepi Camp which was another five hour drive. This place was just south of Divundu near the Botswana coast in the Caprivi Strip. Northern Namibia is where you really begin to feel like you are in Africa as there are hut villages lining the highway and cattle has the right of way. We went through a torrential downpour in Rundu but finally made it to Ngepi by early afternoon. This was one of my favorite places of the trip. The lodge was set along the banks of the Okavango River with a beautiful sundowner deck. The lodge we stayed in was a thatched hut, with no doors and an outdoor bathroom. The place has a lot of charm and the people that run the place were a lot of fun to be around. In the afternoon we went for a boat ride along the river in search of hippos. We managed to see one or two poke their heads out from underwater but the river was so full of water that it was hard to see wildlif except for birds. The guide was a local villager named Christopher who grew up on the river nearby and he had a lot of interesting tidbits about the river's history and the culture of the villagers in the area. My impression seeing the hut villages was one of sympathy for the people who had to live so primitavely but as Christopher implied, and from the insight of others throughout the trip, it seems the villagers actually really enjoy their rural lifestyle and in many ways I can see why. When we returned we had a nice dinner of rice and beef then Erica, Nina, and I spent a few hours at the bar talking. Both of the girls are really sweet and I enjoyed their company throughout the trip. I slept well that night as well- it is just a really relaxing, exciting experience. In the morning we got up really early to watch the sunrise over the river. Beautiful!
We then set out for Kasane, Botswana and with no hassle crossed the border. It was exciting entering a new country and the real excitement came in the hour long drive along the Chobe National Park. As we were driving down the highway there in front of us crossed a group of elephants!! It was a thrill to see these massive creatures crossing right in front of me and my adrenaline was pumping. We didn't get out of the car but just watched as they crossed. The bull elephant passed last and as the group entered the bush, the bull turned back towards the car and started moving towards us threatening to charge. It was an amazing sight. We saw a couple other elephants further along. Seeing the hippos and elephants in person is such a fascinating experience. The place we stayed in Kasane was pretty expensive and high end and we really just spent the day relaxing at the hotel- it made sense to me considering it cost so much, it wasn't worth it to leave and sightsee. The all-you-can-eat buffet was good.
On Monday we got up and took a taxi to the ferry at the border. Our rental company wouldn't allow us to drive into Zambia so we had to rely on taxis for the next few days. The ferry crossing into Zambia is interesting crossing over the Chobe river and going to customs on the other side. Zambia, though nice and friendly and politically stable, is in a bit of disrepair in comparison to Namibia. We caught a taxi on the other side of the river for US$30 and were in Livingstone, Zambia within an hour. Livingstone is right on the border with Zimbabwe and it is the place to see Victoria Falls on the Zambian side. The local name for the falls is Mosi-a-tunya (or something like that) and it means "The Smoke that Thunders." After checkng in at the backpacker's lodge Fawlty Towers we went straight to the falls. The roar of the water is immense and the sight of the falls was awe-inspiring. It has the same overwhelming feeling that the Grand Canyon gives. We walked along the trails, got drenched with water, and spent some hours just taking in the experience. The water level is high this time of year and the water seems so powerful. There is a lot to do in the area as far as tourist activties but the rates are high. There is bungess jumping, whitewater rafting, gorge swinging, safaris, walking with lions and so much more but because of time and finances and the cloudy, rainy weather, we didn't do the higher risk activities. Monday night we ate at a local African restaurant. They served authentic African food and we even had worms as an appetizer. It was a nice, relaxing evening. Fawlty Towers is dirt cheap but it really has a dorm room feel, complete with ragged couches and cockroaches. All in all, it served its purpose though.
Tuesday was a rainy day and in the early part of the day we walked through Livingstone and went to the local museum. Livingstone is bustling, but the roads are in disrepair and the whole city has a colonial feel. Most of the buildings seem like they were built by the British and after independence in the 1960's the British pulled out and little work seems to have been done to maintain the place ever since. The Zambians were all friendly though. In the late afternoon we went on a river cruise on the Zambezi River. Despite the rainy weather, the cruise was a beautiful opportunity to see more wildlife and the river. Just sitting on the boat as it coasted along and taking in the sights and the exotic nature of the place was great. We saw some more hippos and elephants. At night we went to a local restaurant in town for dinner. Aunt Gert was funny in Zambia. She has struggled her whole visit with currency and value and dealing with Zambian Kwachas was even more difficult. The exchange rate is about 4,200:1 so the high math got to her. Add to this the fact she couldn't remember the name of the currency. Erica and I got a big laugh when she inadvertantly referred to the money as Kwanzas and another time as Crotches.
Wednesday we left Fawlty Towers early and took a taxi to the border. Along the way our taxi driver, Kapheus, was stopped by the police at some checkpoint and after he was told to drop us off and return to the cops, he instead drove about 1km to a parking lot, switched cars with a friend, took his license and changed shirts, then drove us the rest of the way explaining that he didn't want to cops to catch on. For all I know there was a warrant out for him, but from the back of the taxi it all seemed quite amusing. At the border we had to recross the Chobe but the water level had risen and so we had to take off our shoes and wade ankle deep through the murky water to the ferry. We crossed the border and picked up the car in Kasane and took the highway south towards Maun. The drive to Maun was long and the first stretch of highway was filled with potholes and we got a flat tire. We finally pulled into Maun in the late afternoon exhausted. The only reasonable rates in the town were at this place called the Rhino Executive Lodge. It was a bit outside of town and still partially underconstruction. The intial vibe was a little disconcerting but we spent the evening at the bar and it actually turned out to be my favorite evening of the trip. It was Nina's 23rd birthday so had dinner at the lodge then surprised her with a cake and a handbag she had wanted. The staff sang her "Happy Birthday" and we spent the night drinking and talking with the locals at the bar. I had a particularly nice conversation with the manager, Paul, a 50-year old white African who grew up in Tanganyika, moved to Swaziland, and was now in Botswana. He had some fascinating stories and some interesting insight into Africa.
On Thursday we woke up with the intention of driving 10 hours back to Windhoek but instead were convinced into taking a Mokoro (Canoe) trip into the Okavango Delta. The delta is where the Okavango River empties out into central Botswana and is a huge ecosystem. The ride to the delta was 30 minutes off roading but well worth it. Our guide, Pandli, and his mother brought us deep into the delta for a few hours. The entire experience was very serene and peaceful. It was the real African wildlife as the canoe flowed through the marsh and grass reeds of the delta. Pandli was a great guide with interesting insight into the region. On the way back we saw some more elephants and Pandli, Erica, and I got out of the car and walked through the bush towards them. We spent about 20 minutes just observing the bull as he ate grass and trees 30 meters from us! The whole Mokoro adventure was great. We returned to the lodge and set out around 4pm for Windhoek. Driving through Botswana was pretty. It is mostly flat and open cattle land, but enjoyable. There isn't much to see in Western Botswana, but the drive was still quite nice. There is a little town called Ghanzi we stopped at around sunset which is nice and I would have liked to have seen more- maybe next time. The sunset over western Botswana was one of the more memorable moments of the trip. We were driving West as the sun set and after it disappeared over the horizon, the sky turned a burnt orange and the trees were blackened by the light and across the vast horizon you could see rays of sun soaring across the sky. By about 11:30pm we were still 200km from Windhoek and I was seeing double so we pulled off into Gobabis, Namibia for the night. Aunt Gert was low on laundry so she washed a pair of underwear and hung it on the screen door to dry over night. In the morning I asked her why she hung it there and she said, "I was thinking that if some man wanted to come into the room and ravish me he would see the size of my underwear and think twice!" Aunt Gert's opendmindedness and spontaneity really made the trip memorable, I am greatful for having her along. The trip was fantastic and this long account is only a glimpse into the exciting journey. The pictures are as follows: Me and Aunt Gert on the Zambezi; Aunt Gert sleeping; the Waterberg Plateau from on top; me in the room at Ngepi; the charging bull near Chobe; Victoria Falls; our guide in Maun with Erica, Nina, Me, and Aunt Gert; fixing the flat tire in Botswana; Pandli, Nina, and Aunt Gert in the mokoro on the Okavango Delta; and a sunset over the Chobe river. It is now 1:20am and I need to be up at 7:30 to get ready for soccer so I don't think I will get around to editing this post. I think I put down most of the general info- though I did leave some fun stories out, you get the idea! Hope all is well with you... good night!