In Conclusion - (Probably)

As we come to the end of this little adventure, we look back with a degree of surprise as to what we have just done.  This has not been like the previous trips with motorhomes to other parts of the globe as these were all to a familiar culture; this has been different.

Apart from the small matter of the heat there is the fact that this is not within our comfort zone. It is a different world which seems almost like stepping back in time to a world of privilege or servitude, depending upon which side of the balance you happen to be.  We have stayed in camps with a varied level of amenity,

but while we may curse the lack of air/con in the sleeping part of the vehicle, we stillhave access to pools in which we can cool down – but it should be pointed out that most of them were a lot smaller than this..

We drive quickly in convoy as there are a lot of miles to be covered and we glimpse the communities of the people who live here.   Some of these buildings appear to have walls or roofs of corrugated iron, but the material is actually a relatively lightweight corrugated tin which reflects the sunlight and probably keeps the internal temperature a little lower as a result..

Our South African guide does not slow down or stop for us to look at the local communities as we are here to look at wildlife and there is something that makes one reluctant take invasive photos. 

That is reflected in the quality of these photos as they are taken as we drive past.  These are the communities of people who live in poor conditions and yet keep their yards immaculately.  We passed a quiet demonstration in the town of Maun where a group of people on one side of a crossroads were sweeping up the ground in a symbolic protest about cleaning up corruption; diagonally opposite them was a herd of grazing cattle while the steady traffic flow kept moving through it all.

Cars sit outside dwellings that are little more than mud huts with pretty thatched roofs while the tourist can retreat to a modernised imitation with full air/con like this,

before heading off again on the open, and very straight road,

The monotony of the flat straight highway is punctuated by people working at the roadside, or children who are playing.  They will often smile and wave as we drive by, sharing the same planet, but living in another world. 

Instant Delta

The Okavango Delta is one of the largest deltae in the world, but, uniquely, it does not flow into the sea, the water running off into a variety of rivers and underground reservoirs. As such, it provides one of the richest habitats in the Moremi National Park of all the conservation areas in southern Africa.

To get there, we had to leave at 6am and had a 2 hour drive to get to the park where there were lots of elephants.

The harsh reality is that there are too many and that they not only damage the landscape, but also trample the fields of farmers who are in a subsistence economy.  The landscape of dead trees is caused by the elephants who will strip the bark for food which effectively kills the tree and leaves a landscape like this.

We quickly come across more wild dogs which are sunning themselves in the road.  There are plenty of impala about so they may well have had breakfast already.

There are all sorts of birds; the hornbills are very common and there is a variety of species - some of which seem happier than others.

The Saddle Billed Stork looks impressive:

from both sides.

And there are loads of birds of prey.

Kite

Eagle

Fish Eagle

Vulture

But it’s when you see the hippo, you realise that there is a problem and why there is a scarcity of animals which is not just attributable to the season – the grass is high and, if they are there, they are difficult to see.

These hippo are keeping cool in a pond of weed as the delta is as exceptionally dry.  

This should be a river going past our campsite, but you can see that the boats are high and dry and the cattle are grazing on the riverbed.

This hippo was not happy at the intrusion.

So we made our way back homewords, passing more herds of elephant, some of whom took more interest than others.

and you were left with the feeling that the Okavango needed someone to add a little water so that there are more pools like this.

The following evening, it rained quite hard - with nature's son et lumiere - for about 15 minutes, but it probably needs that for about 15 days.

Makgadikgadi Pans

The Scots find this easier to pronounce than the English; kg is pronounced 'ch' as in loch.

More salt pans that can be seen from outer space and best visited early in the day,

as there is no place to hide from the sun.  There are wildebeest grazing quite freely because there are no big cats here as the water is too brackish for them, but there are plenty of birds and jackal.

Little birds like this sitting on a nest.

And big birds like this

who kindly moved off the nest so that we could see what he was up to.

Then there was the spectacular in the form of the Crowned Crane,

and the more compact Bee Eater,

not to mention the crowds of flamingoes.

Inland Voyage

Having had the experience of the wild dogs in the morning, we chilled out with the Warthogs for a few hours before setting off on a late afternoon cruise to watch the wildlife from the water.

It was a lot cooler and the guide was well informed with all sorts of detail about what we were seeing. The Black Heron who stands in water and then creates a shadow with his wings so that the prey think that his yellow feet are fish!

On a rock there is a small crocodile which is only about 4 feet long but still doesn’t look very friendly.

Hippo graze.

A solitary male elephant comes down for a drink.

And a water buffalo takes a roll in the mud to cool down.

The water buffalo who are grazing host birds which remove parisites.

And a group of crocodile in a pool snack on the carcase of a diseased elephant as the vultures stand by.

And finally, a herd of elephants with a baby come down to drink as well, the baby being protected as it cannot yet use its trunk to drink.

And by this time, we need a drink too.

Harsh Reality

There are many cute things to be seen around the Lodges and campsites.  Monkeys everywhere, but they tend to keep their distance.  Baboons are not uncommon, but are definitely the delinquents when it comes to respect for property; you don't leave windows open.  The most novel 'pets' on a campsite have been a family of warthogs who didn't look very appealing, but on the other hand, they seemed to keep the site fairly clean.

The game drive can be very unpredictable.  We left at 6am as usual in the game vehicle and soon we were watching springbok grazing quietly and frolicking about in the bush.

We travelled on and saw a variety of other animals and birds before starting to make our way back and then came across a pack of about 12 wild painted dogs.

They were making their way with intent on either side of the track and were quite unconcerned about our presence.  Our guide knew that they had got the scent of the springbok and were looking for breakfast and was very quickly manoeuvring our vehicle to get ahead of the dogs to where we might have a good view.

The kill took place out of sight - much to someone's relief - b ut the spectacle then became that of the game drive vehicles all jockeying for position to get the best view for their passengers.

The traffic chaos was quite amazing as there were no rules; you didn't have to stay on the track; you could drive in any direction along the track; driving at right angles in front of another vehicle was considered reasonable and nobody seemed to swear!

Most importantly, no vehicle came into contact with any other, but it was unexpected to find that there can be a rush hour in the middle of a game park.

Eating

Our catering arrangements were always a bit of an unknown when we set off.  We knew that we had the facilities to cook in the van, but we had little idea about the availability of shops or supermarkets.  We know now – and there are a few complicating issues.

Like the temperature.  The sunrise is at 6am and the sunset a little before 8pm; unless it is overcast, it is hot from 9am onwards which makes the idea of cooking at all a lot less appealing.  The fact that the cooking is all done in a corner of the van with restricted ventilation is another discouraging feature; but that all presupposes the assumption that you have ingredients which motivate you to cook!

In some of the bigger towns, there are some reasonable supermarkets which carry a wide range of goods and which would allow you to continue with comparatively ‘normal’ eating habits.  However, once you are away from the main commercial centres, the range of goods in the supermarket is much reduced -  especially fruit.  Caravanners like us who make the most of cook-in sauces etc find that these are unobtainable and the meat can come from cuts from the animal which might never see its way to the counter in the northern hemisphere.

So this evening’s meal was mince with a tin of vegetables and rice followed by some yoghurtish stuff and tinned fruit; but it’s not all bad news, eating out is a lot cheaper than at home and the ostrich stew is to be recommended!

Livingstone

The Zambezi is very wide, but also very shallow which means that you can find Hippo right out in the middle of the stream.  They don't actually swim, they just walk underwater and poke their heads up to breathe.  Apparently they are related to whales!

But that is the reason why the Victoria Falls are so wide:

At this time of year, the falls may not be at their most dramatic in terms of the volume of water but they are still fairly impressive!