THE JAMES’AFRICAN SAFARI – JULY 2002

Well finally I have disciplined myself enough to sit down and give you an account of our fantastic Africa ,Oz, New Zealand and Fiji holiday. I think after this holiday, Kelly and I are convinced more than ever NEVER to sell our beloved Land Rover (Sandy).

I appreciate that you must be thinking that this is only a vehicle, how could one possibly attach such human emotion to, what is after all only a 4X4 …….but those of you in the know will appreciate the inseparable relationship that one develops with an off- road vehicle. It basically becomes your home and without it, life in the bush would undoubtedly become untenable. Kelly and I hope that we will always have our Landy in SA, irrespective of where we decide to live, as this will always be our annual connection to home.

This was our second major trip to Botswana and Namibia and we are sold on both countries, particularly Bots. Last year we were fortunate enough to put an eight-week trip together with Sam, a friend of ours who also lives in the UK. The holiday was fantastic, so upon our return we decided we’d waste no time in putting another one together. As Kelly’s folks are great lovers of the bush we were eager for them to share the experience with us, so, after touching down in SA with only a few days to prepare for our trip, Kelly, mom, dad, ‘Sandy’ and I were ready to depart for Botswana. Picture the scene, a fully laden Landy with a roof top tent, a green ‘trommel’ loaded with every possible spare part that fell within our ‘mechanical capabilities’, thanks to my very knowledgeable brother, four 20L Jerry cans and of course the spare tyre, all on the roof. We put the annual Moria Pilgrimage to shame !!!!! Little did we realise that our departure would endure a hiccup or two. Fortunately, Rowyn had picked up that our vehicle licence had expired, we had been awaiting one in the post, but it had not arrived. This meant a deviation to the licensing department, which meant we were running late. After two hours we were finally ready to roll!!!!

After making good time on good roads we reached the border at Martin’s Drift, which was unbelievably smooth on both sides.

The Limpopo River was a shade of green but was still alive with birds going about their business. Botswana, under the effective governance of Festus Mogae, has really cleaned up its act in a big way, perhaps something that SA could learn. Clean, spacious modern buildings with a very welcoming and friendly attitude and an anti-corruption policy that ‘skriks for niks’ have replaced their once ineffective, bureaucratic, unhygienic border posts. Somehow one enters a completely different Africa when one travels in Botswana. I have found that having some knowledge of Sepedi has stood me in good stead, as the ‘local lingo’ is Setswana, a language that finds its roots in Sepedi. It really helps to chat to the locals in their language. We continued our journey on the road to Nata Lodge, our stop over between Francistown and Kasane.

One has to be alert at the wheel on this stretch of the journey, as one has to prepare for all eventualities – goats, cows, dogs, donkeys and locals ! Strangely enough the cows and donkeys prefer to try this trick at dusk, making driving an interesting challenge. I must say that Kelly handled that vehicle like he has driven a Landy all his life, we were all so impressed. Our first stopover was fantastic. Nata Lodge has been renovated into luxury chalets and makes a fabulous slow introduction into ‘roughing it’.

It was a welcome break after a very long day .We do our very best to observe the rule of avoiding to travel at night in Africa. Nata Lodge is unique in terms of its wildlife visitors; it has some of the rarer bird species and hosts a vast population of bushbabies. They are too dear for words and something not often seen in the wild.

After a sumptuous breakfast under Jackalberry trees we hit the road North on our way to the Chobe River. It had been many, many years since mom and dad had last visited Chobe and they continually remarked on how the area had developed and could not get over the way Kasane had now become quite a major town close to the Zimbabwe border. Again we ‘roughed it’ and stayed in the Chobe River Lodge for four days.

People must have wondered whether the roof top tent was purely for aesthetic purposes ! The adjoining Chobe National Park has the highest concentration of elephant in the world and our boat trip on the Chobe River did not disappoint ion this department. The locals are so ‘nonchalant’ about the whole affair, it is really an everyday occurrence for them but one they are not blasé about, there is always a healthy respect for these beautiful beasts, a mutual, unspoken understanding.

Taking a cruise on the Chobe River, no…I know what you are thinking not the booze cruises from the good old Zim days, for those of you who remember those, I mean a civilized cruise here. We were able to view the ellys from close proximity as they swam the channel that joins the mainland to the islands in the river.

This is an incredible example of teamwork as they link trunks and tails whilst crossing. One can approach them by boat, and they do not perceive you as a threat as you are approaching them from the water. The concentration of wildlife and birdlife in this part of the world is simply astonishing. The comfort and luxury at the lodge were lulling us into a false sense of security as we were supposed to be heading out into Africa and away from this sort of thing ….. well, things were about to change.

After stocking up on all the necessary provisions at a local store, we now had to leave this Eden behind to head for Savuti, a camp deep in the Chobe National Park. The drive was rough, but incredibly beautiful, as the roads are not well maintained.

Botswana operates on a high value, low-impact, tourism so things are basically left as natural as possible and one is charged handsomely for the privilege. Savuti is a bush camp with very little in the way of facilities. There are absolutely NO game fences so it is not advisable to get out of one’s vehicle at night for any reason. You either need to resort to a port-a-loo, please ask mom and dad for further details, or you hold on and wait for daybreak. Anything from lions to impala roam around the camp at night. Meeting one of these in the dark could be nasty. We certainly had a few close encounters here. One does learn through one’s mistakes though, like setting up camp too close to a well worn game trail which turned out to be a bad move on our part. A terrifying encounter with an elephant twice the size of Sandy meant that we were happy to back off out of its way and find a more suitable campsite. Although we were terrified, mom and dad said that this was the best wildlife experience that they had ever had. During the night the campsite was taken over by another huge elephant and then by a pride of Lion who proceeded to make their presence felt. It is magical to drift off to sleep with the distant cackle of Hyenas and the majestic roaring of the King !

Leaving Savuti was a real “downer” as it had been truly magical. Time was marching on and this meant heading for our next leg of the trip. Our next destination was Maun. This proved to be a long and arduous trip as we skirted Moremi National Park [below Chobe] to avoid paying another day of scandalous

park fees. The game really came out to meet us and we were rewarded with many fine sightings. The birding too was magnificent and our list was becoming rather long at this point. After what seemed like an eternity, we arrived in the modern small town of Maun, at the foot of the mighty Okavango Swamps. As we had spent the last few days bush camping, we thought we’d find some comfy ‘digs’. We stayed in a quaint camp on the Lethlakane River called Okavango River Lodge. It was a sort of ‘watering-hole’ for all and sundry - especially expats of any sort!!! A wonderful braai under the African sky was the perfect end to the day.

We stocked-up in Maun and drove on to Shakawe, situated on the panhandle of the swamps. There we stayed in paradise - ‘Drotsky’s Cabins’. The wooden, A frame chalets are delightful and are set on the edge of the Okavango River. Drotsky’s is extremely comfortable but is nevertheless geared for the real bush lover.

We again did another river cruise with fishing included. The water birds were incredible as was the fishing. Dad caught a tiger fish that stretched from his one shoulder to the other (dad does have broad shoulders so this is no fisherman’s story) I assure you. Kelly struck luck later that afternoon and managed to hook quite a big tiger himself, it was a successful day for the “pap-swaaiers”. A knowledgeable guide who called Fish Eagles by mimicking them really made our day and his knowledge of the birds and animals here was amazing.

After 4 glorious days we bid our fond farewells to Jan and Eileen for another year and we pressed on through the Mohembo border crossing into Namibia.

One of the quirkiest game reserves we have ever been stretches from this border post into Namibia along the Kavango River.

There is only a single road of 8 km but the concentration of animals was astounding. We spotted big herds of Sable and Roan Antelope and elephants, warthogs, giraffe, zebra, impala and a myriad other animals and birds. It is quite simply not to be missed ! The trip from the border post to Etosha via Grootfontein was going to be a challenging one to say the least. We were running short of time and we still needed to stop off in Grootfontein to do a hasty shop. Mom wisely suggested we divide up the duties and go our separate ways to save time, this was effective. We were going to be late for our entrance to Etosha National Park but thanks to daylight saving in Namibia (1 hour) we arrived at Namutoni gate with minutes to spare.

We settled into our hut and proceeded to enjoy our stay in Etosha National Park. We had set aside a week in Etosha, as well as staying as Namutoni we also spent time at Halali and Okaukuejo. It was a pleasurable stay and certainly a lot tamer than our Savuti experience.

We had many great sightings in Etosha and the Pan itself seemed to stretch forever. We found the animals and bush to be in amazing condition and had the most wonderful accommodation all over the park. At Okaukuejo we had a chalet that looked on to the floodlit waterhole. Around the braai that night we spotted elephants, hyena, jackal, lion and the rare Black Rhino all in the space of 2 hours at “our” waterhole.

After a week we headed for Kamanjab where we again replenished our reserves before embarking on our adventure into the Kaokoveld and Damaraland. We crossed over the Grootberg pass, the emphasis being on ‘Groot’.

This steep, and dusty winding road leads down into the valley where one could not comprehend the existence of an oasis called Palmwag. The Kaokoveld is known for its desert beauty, it is stark, dry and occasionally punctuated with the striking ‘kokerboom’, or quiver tree. The San people used to make their quivers from this tree, hence the name.

A stay at Palmwag Lodge afforded us the opportunity to prepare for our trip into the very remote Hoanib River Valley. Mom and dad were excited at the prospect of seeing the few remaining desert elephants that roam the area, religiously guarding the little water they have to survive on. The point of entry into this dry river bed is unclear from the main road and needs careful negotiation. After a second attempt we were successful and found ourselves heading into our next African Eden. Members of the public are permitted to drive in the riverbed but again certain rules must be observed. Soon we found ourselves traversing the sandy riverbed. This takes time and a lot of skill on the driver’s part. Tyre deflation is essential otherwise disproportionate consumption of fuel results - something one does not want to get wrong in this remote part of the world.

We travelled some 20 km’s down the river bed and found a perfect campsite on an open grassy plain, positioned a fair way from the river. One may not camp in the riverbed for obvious reasons, but also to give the elephants a fair chance to roam and graze at night without being disturbed. Needless to say we spent two glorious nights in this ‘camp site’, packing up our Landy in the day to explore further down the Hoanib River bed. The Hoanib River, when it flows, ultimately terminates at the point where the Skeleton Coast meets the Atlantic. It is this point that we were hoping to find but due to limited water and having only one 4x4 we thought it unwise to traverse this last section. It is our intention to return to this area, hopefully with two 4x4’ s and more than sufficient water……..so watch this space!!!

After spending two days in the riverbed and having had numerous sightings of the rare desert elephants, it was time to start thinking about the return trip home. The ellys are unique in that there are roughly 60 left in the world. They are just a little smaller than their grassland relative and are careful not to destroy any foliage, as this is after all their precious food source. We saw a number of bull elephants and a cow with her two adolescents and a calf, which had just made its entrance into the world.

As we ascended out of the riverbed we all felt somewhat melancholic. Africa does the strangest things to one - she weaves her magic and there is no escaping it. To quote from an author I recently read ….’It is as though we are born and our umbilical cords are firmly implanted into the soil of Africa, never to be severed!’ Well, we had to partially unsever ourselves as we drove the long but trouble free journey on the Trans Kalahari Highway, back to South Africa. A stop-off in Windhoek and another in remote Kang was all that was left so that we could return to SA with the most wonderful memories.

I trust that this has given you some insight into the wonderful trip/s on which we have been so very fortunate to embark !

Australia and beyond will be compiled soon …………….