Thursday 9 May 2013
The End (for now!)
The last two days of the trip were just returning to the Johannesburg. My flight was on the 29th and I arrived back in England on a cold Tuesday morning at around 7am with a slightly more tanned face and a lot more stamps in my passport! Its feels very strange to be back and I do miss sunny Botswana and its incredibly relaxed pace of life. People keep asking me what the highlight was, what did i enjoy the most etc etc. At the moment I cannot pick just one part that was my favourite. The whole tour at the end was amazing but I really enjoyed just being in another country, learning about it's culture and meeting new people. And yes, while I have loved being back in my own bed and having home cooked food again, I would love to just pop off to some other random country but sadly that would mean coming back in summer and having absolutely no money for university which would be pretty stupid! So instead I will just dream and research countries to visit for the future so watch this space....
Tour contin. Days 12-14 Victoria Falls!
And so on we went to one of the seven wonders of the world: crossing the Botswana/Zimbabwe border and on to the slightly tourist-y yet charming town of Victoria Falls! Before we reached the border we had a rather crazy moment. The Botswana police asked our driver to pull the car over to the side of the road to just check out papers (they often have these). Suddenly our driver put his foot down and we were off, only just able to hear the police shout after us as soon we were a cloud of dust! He drove, at what felt like, 100mph for the next few minutes until he reached the next town. We were all very confused but it was then that we found out our papers had expired in February! The police did not bother to follow us which I guess was a good thing but it would be pretty fun to say I have been involved in a car chase!
We had two full days (day 13 and 14) in Victoria Falls and so this meant we were able to fully explore the town, the Falls and take part in the extra activities (and also relax by the pool at the lodge!). One of the best parts was also the fact it wasn't camping, we had actual beds! AND A PILLOW ( for the first time in about 12 days!)
In terms of activities I did the Lion Walk and Elephant safari on day 13. For this I was picked up at 6am and taken to the place for the lion walk. This is a re-development programme where the lion cubs are brought up being able to interact with humans. Then, when they are too old, they are put back into a managed wild environment where they are able to get back their wild instincts where they have to hunt for their food etc. Then the cubs these lions produce (which have had no human contact) are put back into the actual wild. So we got to sit and stroke the lions and then walk with them for about 45minutes. After seeing these animals in the wild I was a little bit wary but it was a great experience and when I was stroking them I couldn't help liken them to a house cat due to their soft coat! This was until one bared their teeth at me slightly, reminding me that they of course were not!
The Elephant safari in late afternoon was one of the highlights of the tour. Elephants are by far my favourite animal so this was really special. When we first met the elephants, we were on an elevated platform at their eye level and so got to get very close and stroke their trunk (which feels extremely rough!) Then we had an hours long ride on an elephant in the bush even seeing some giraffes and buffalo (this was the first time I was not wary/scared of the buffalo because I was high up on a very large elephant!) We had a really great guide who told us an awful lot about elephants, most of which I cannot remember! One fact I do remember is that elephants have 6 sets of teeth in their lifetime and when their last fall out it sort of sentences them to death as they can no longer chew their food so they starve to death. Pretty sad really! We also got to feed our elephant after the walk which was great-you could either throw it in his mouth or say 'trunk down' then put your hand out flat and he sucked it up like a hoover!
The next day me and the other girls on the tour went to visit the Falls. I cant even really begin to describe how big, loud and wet it is! Its not even possible to get round your head how much water is going over every second. Some of the water that hits the bottom of the gorge then comes back up and falls on you so when you are near the main part you are walking through torrential rain yet the sky is bright blue! Its all very surreal. It's so pretty as well with lots of rainbows and because of all the rain it has its own eco-climate, almost like a rainforest. After this we had lunch and then went out the park and walked to the bridge which links Zimbabwe and Zambia together (I can now officially say I have been in Zambia!). We then proceeded to watch one of the girls on our tour-Malene, do the bungee jump off the bridge. She still chose to do it even though we found out that two months ago it snapped and the girl managed to swim to the edge of the river...
That evening the whole of our tour group and our guide Ed went to this, albeit slightly tourist-y, but very fun restaurent called The Boma. Upon entering you get dressed in 'traditional African robes' and get your face painted in traditional tribal patterns. It was a buffet and included many traditional delicacies to try. One of which was the mopani worm. These are normally either baked or fried and covered in salt and are about 2 inches long (and they don't taste too bad!) As well as the worm I tried kudu, warthog and buffalo meat. After the food there was a drumming session and then a spot of dancing after. Finally it ended with the waitors singing to you. It was a very good end to a great few days in Victoria Falls.
Lion Walk!
Elephant Safari!
We had two full days (day 13 and 14) in Victoria Falls and so this meant we were able to fully explore the town, the Falls and take part in the extra activities (and also relax by the pool at the lodge!). One of the best parts was also the fact it wasn't camping, we had actual beds! AND A PILLOW ( for the first time in about 12 days!)
In terms of activities I did the Lion Walk and Elephant safari on day 13. For this I was picked up at 6am and taken to the place for the lion walk. This is a re-development programme where the lion cubs are brought up being able to interact with humans. Then, when they are too old, they are put back into a managed wild environment where they are able to get back their wild instincts where they have to hunt for their food etc. Then the cubs these lions produce (which have had no human contact) are put back into the actual wild. So we got to sit and stroke the lions and then walk with them for about 45minutes. After seeing these animals in the wild I was a little bit wary but it was a great experience and when I was stroking them I couldn't help liken them to a house cat due to their soft coat! This was until one bared their teeth at me slightly, reminding me that they of course were not!
The Elephant safari in late afternoon was one of the highlights of the tour. Elephants are by far my favourite animal so this was really special. When we first met the elephants, we were on an elevated platform at their eye level and so got to get very close and stroke their trunk (which feels extremely rough!) Then we had an hours long ride on an elephant in the bush even seeing some giraffes and buffalo (this was the first time I was not wary/scared of the buffalo because I was high up on a very large elephant!) We had a really great guide who told us an awful lot about elephants, most of which I cannot remember! One fact I do remember is that elephants have 6 sets of teeth in their lifetime and when their last fall out it sort of sentences them to death as they can no longer chew their food so they starve to death. Pretty sad really! We also got to feed our elephant after the walk which was great-you could either throw it in his mouth or say 'trunk down' then put your hand out flat and he sucked it up like a hoover!
The next day me and the other girls on the tour went to visit the Falls. I cant even really begin to describe how big, loud and wet it is! Its not even possible to get round your head how much water is going over every second. Some of the water that hits the bottom of the gorge then comes back up and falls on you so when you are near the main part you are walking through torrential rain yet the sky is bright blue! Its all very surreal. It's so pretty as well with lots of rainbows and because of all the rain it has its own eco-climate, almost like a rainforest. After this we had lunch and then went out the park and walked to the bridge which links Zimbabwe and Zambia together (I can now officially say I have been in Zambia!). We then proceeded to watch one of the girls on our tour-Malene, do the bungee jump off the bridge. She still chose to do it even though we found out that two months ago it snapped and the girl managed to swim to the edge of the river...
That evening the whole of our tour group and our guide Ed went to this, albeit slightly tourist-y, but very fun restaurent called The Boma. Upon entering you get dressed in 'traditional African robes' and get your face painted in traditional tribal patterns. It was a buffet and included many traditional delicacies to try. One of which was the mopani worm. These are normally either baked or fried and covered in salt and are about 2 inches long (and they don't taste too bad!) As well as the worm I tried kudu, warthog and buffalo meat. After the food there was a drumming session and then a spot of dancing after. Finally it ended with the waitors singing to you. It was a very good end to a great few days in Victoria Falls.
Lion Walk!
Elephant Safari!
With my 'Congratulations you have eaten a Mopani worm' certificate!
Wednesday 8 May 2013
Tour contin- Days 8-12 (safari time!)
We were up bright and early and headed back into Maun to pick up supplies for the next 5 days. This was the safari/game viewing part of the tour. We were situated in Savuti on days 8-10 and then we moved to Chobe, a different park, for days 10-12. This was full on wild camping (even more so than the Delta) so we had to burn our toliet paper after we used it and keep all food and snacks in the trailer at night. We would also hear a lot of animal sounds in the evenings including hippos (again), lions and one evening we heard a buffalo fight! In both Savuti and Chobe we got up at 5 and headed out on a morning game drive. Then we would come back and make brunch then relax until the midday heat passed until about 3. Then we would head out for another game drive returning to camp just after the sun had set. We saw A LOT of animals and I have been extremely lucky to have come away from my first time in Africa having seen the 'Big 5': lion (Savuti and Chobe), buffalo (Chobe), rhino (Botsalano game reserve), leopard (Savuti) and elephant (everywhere!) .
Savuti:
One of the highlights includes seeing a leopard! Our guide spotted it from about 30 meters away. It was hiding on top of a termite mound by a tree and it took a while, and a lot of explaining, before us tourists could see it! He then said "no sudden movements" and drove off the track (you get fined if you got caught doing this) and got us about 5-10 meters away from the leopard-which was incredible!
We also saw a lioness attempt to hunt some wilderbeast but it was extremely obvious to the wilderbeast as there was no long grass for her to hide in!
Chobe:
There was an extraordinary number and different types of birds here! We saw a lot of elephants and about a herd of 300 buffalo which at one point you could see from our camp! One very strange thing that happened was on the evening game drive we were watching the buffalo drink at the rivers edge. Then our guide spotted a lioness hidden in a bush. He then realised a large buffalo had spotted the lion and this buffalo then ran at the lioness to chase her away!
Another funny thing that happened was one of the other people on the tour made the mistake of leaving her bananas in her tent one night. She woke up in the middle of the night to a honey badger having located and removed these bananas from her bag. It then backed out the tent once she sat up and in the morning there were simply the banana skins outside her tent! It was only then that our guide told us how violent these badgers can be. Their teeth and claws are sharp enough to rip 4x4 tyres and they also bite the testicles off buffalos (these buffalos then proceed to bleed to death!). It was good job Malene did not know this before the badge entered her tent!
Savuti:
One of the highlights includes seeing a leopard! Our guide spotted it from about 30 meters away. It was hiding on top of a termite mound by a tree and it took a while, and a lot of explaining, before us tourists could see it! He then said "no sudden movements" and drove off the track (you get fined if you got caught doing this) and got us about 5-10 meters away from the leopard-which was incredible!
We also saw a lioness attempt to hunt some wilderbeast but it was extremely obvious to the wilderbeast as there was no long grass for her to hide in!
Chobe:
There was an extraordinary number and different types of birds here! We saw a lot of elephants and about a herd of 300 buffalo which at one point you could see from our camp! One very strange thing that happened was on the evening game drive we were watching the buffalo drink at the rivers edge. Then our guide spotted a lioness hidden in a bush. He then realised a large buffalo had spotted the lion and this buffalo then ran at the lioness to chase her away!
Another funny thing that happened was one of the other people on the tour made the mistake of leaving her bananas in her tent one night. She woke up in the middle of the night to a honey badger having located and removed these bananas from her bag. It then backed out the tent once she sat up and in the morning there were simply the banana skins outside her tent! It was only then that our guide told us how violent these badgers can be. Their teeth and claws are sharp enough to rip 4x4 tyres and they also bite the testicles off buffalos (these buffalos then proceed to bleed to death!). It was good job Malene did not know this before the badge entered her tent!
Tuesday 7 May 2013
Tour contin- The Delta (Days 4-7)
Day 4- So we packed up the car with all our provisions for the next 4 days (this time with no trailer so it was a bit of a squeeze) and headed to the airport to catch our flight to the Delta. The Okavango Delta is one of the largest inland Deltas. One of THE places to visit (haha Auntie Gill) if you want to witness spectactular sunsets, wildlife, birds (unlucky Virginia) and much more!
At Seronga, the village we flew into, the fan-shaped Delta emerges, and the waters spill over the Delta, rejuvenating the landscape and creating stunning mosaics of channels, lagoons, ox-bow lakes, flooded grasslands and thousands upon thousands of islands of an endless variety of shapes and sizes. Many of the smaller islands are built by termites! A recent overview of the Okavango records 122 species of mammals, 71 species of fish, 444 species of birds, 64 species of reptiles and 1300 species of flowering plants.
So, our flight from Maun to Seronga took about 45 minutes. Now as most of you know I do not find flying especially fun and was finding it even less fun when I found out our plane was just an 8 seater! However, I did manage to keep my eyes open the whole way well because, to be honest, it was pretty hard not to when the view was so incredible. The pilot didn't fly very high so we even saw some elephants! From Seronga we had an hours car drive to the 'Mokoro station' (simply a meeting point with our 4 polers and 4 mokoros-nothing fancy!). This is the only way to travel along the rivers in the heart of the Delta and the boats are similar to canoes and are now made of fiberglass to avoid the destruction of the trees traditionally used to make the mokoros. We drifted/glided through the water passing hundreds of water lillies to our island where we would be situated for the next 3 nights. It was so so peaceful just watching the dragonflies, hearing the different birds and hippos in the distance.
An hour later we arrived at camp (this one was already set up as it is stationary) and we were warmly welcomed by an African Bull Elephant in his prime-aged 20-25. Over the course of the next 4 days we had many visits from this elephant who we named Benjamin who was adament that this land was his (he came for the marula fruits-a citrus fruit which has 4x more vitamin C in them than oranges!). While he was mostly calm over the 4 days we did have to be a little wary of him as he was very happy to get very close and because he was a male in must (aka very territorial and can get angry very quickly) the guides often had to shout or bang the pots and pans to get him to leave! Luckily the baboons living in the trees above our camp acted as our look outs because everytime we heard their warning call (sounds remarkably like they are shouting the name GEORGE) we knew Benjamin was on his way!
The next few days were incredible. Mornings we got up at 6 and had some rusks and tea/coffee and then headed off for a walk on the island. Our guide told us lots of interesting things about many animals including:
-A hippos call can be heard 7km away
-Termite Queen is the size of your thumb and can live for 50 years!
We saw many animals on these walks including :
-Female elephants and babies!
-Impala
-Warthog
-Hippo Skull and Elephant Skull
We also came across a few male elephants one of which decided to charge at us. Our guide managed to stop him from getting too close by shouting. We then all had to hide behind a tree until he walked off but it was very scary!
Once back from our walks we would cook brunch which consisted of Full English breakfast, various cereals, yoghurts, fruit salad and toast! After this we had a break in the heat of the day until later when we went out on a mokoro ride to watch the sunset and hippos! We got about 20m away from 17 hippos on one evening which was...an experience!
On Day 7 back we went to Maun, taking the same route (1hr mokoro, 1hr car ride, 45 min plane). This time the plane WAS EVEN SMALLER (i swear they were doing it on purpose) and was just a 4 seater plane. Again, and I am rather surpised with myself, I managed to keep my eyes open because he flew even lower this time-about 450 feet up so we saw even more animals. Although about 35 minutes in i could no longer down-I spent the time trying to found the runway instead! With a slightly more bumpy landing than I liked we arrived safe and sound back in Maun.
Here are some of the pictures from the Delta...
At Seronga, the village we flew into, the fan-shaped Delta emerges, and the waters spill over the Delta, rejuvenating the landscape and creating stunning mosaics of channels, lagoons, ox-bow lakes, flooded grasslands and thousands upon thousands of islands of an endless variety of shapes and sizes. Many of the smaller islands are built by termites! A recent overview of the Okavango records 122 species of mammals, 71 species of fish, 444 species of birds, 64 species of reptiles and 1300 species of flowering plants.
So, our flight from Maun to Seronga took about 45 minutes. Now as most of you know I do not find flying especially fun and was finding it even less fun when I found out our plane was just an 8 seater! However, I did manage to keep my eyes open the whole way well because, to be honest, it was pretty hard not to when the view was so incredible. The pilot didn't fly very high so we even saw some elephants! From Seronga we had an hours car drive to the 'Mokoro station' (simply a meeting point with our 4 polers and 4 mokoros-nothing fancy!). This is the only way to travel along the rivers in the heart of the Delta and the boats are similar to canoes and are now made of fiberglass to avoid the destruction of the trees traditionally used to make the mokoros. We drifted/glided through the water passing hundreds of water lillies to our island where we would be situated for the next 3 nights. It was so so peaceful just watching the dragonflies, hearing the different birds and hippos in the distance.
An hour later we arrived at camp (this one was already set up as it is stationary) and we were warmly welcomed by an African Bull Elephant in his prime-aged 20-25. Over the course of the next 4 days we had many visits from this elephant who we named Benjamin who was adament that this land was his (he came for the marula fruits-a citrus fruit which has 4x more vitamin C in them than oranges!). While he was mostly calm over the 4 days we did have to be a little wary of him as he was very happy to get very close and because he was a male in must (aka very territorial and can get angry very quickly) the guides often had to shout or bang the pots and pans to get him to leave! Luckily the baboons living in the trees above our camp acted as our look outs because everytime we heard their warning call (sounds remarkably like they are shouting the name GEORGE) we knew Benjamin was on his way!
The next few days were incredible. Mornings we got up at 6 and had some rusks and tea/coffee and then headed off for a walk on the island. Our guide told us lots of interesting things about many animals including:
-A hippos call can be heard 7km away
-Termite Queen is the size of your thumb and can live for 50 years!
We saw many animals on these walks including :
-Female elephants and babies!
-Impala
-Warthog
-Hippo Skull and Elephant Skull
We also came across a few male elephants one of which decided to charge at us. Our guide managed to stop him from getting too close by shouting. We then all had to hide behind a tree until he walked off but it was very scary!
Once back from our walks we would cook brunch which consisted of Full English breakfast, various cereals, yoghurts, fruit salad and toast! After this we had a break in the heat of the day until later when we went out on a mokoro ride to watch the sunset and hippos! We got about 20m away from 17 hippos on one evening which was...an experience!
On Day 7 back we went to Maun, taking the same route (1hr mokoro, 1hr car ride, 45 min plane). This time the plane WAS EVEN SMALLER (i swear they were doing it on purpose) and was just a 4 seater plane. Again, and I am rather surpised with myself, I managed to keep my eyes open because he flew even lower this time-about 450 feet up so we saw even more animals. Although about 35 minutes in i could no longer down-I spent the time trying to found the runway instead! With a slightly more bumpy landing than I liked we arrived safe and sound back in Maun.
Here are some of the pictures from the Delta...
Hippo (taken by Malene)
Bejamin (taken by Malene). Just to put things in
perspective-we can easily stand up in the tents!
View from plane
Pilot in the making!
On the way to camp!
On one of the walks-the grass wasn't always this high!
Making brunch!
Evening Mokoro ride
Hippo!
Botswana Tour- Days 1-3
So:
Day 1- departed from Drifters Johannesburg Lodge at 6.30 all ready for our 12 hour bus journey. This was from Jo'burg to Nata where we camped for one night and then carried on up to Maun known as the 'gateway to the Delta'. So we finally arrived at Nata at 8pm. We had a really nice dinner at the lodge getting to know our group and then we went to bed all ready for the next day.
Day 1- departed from Drifters Johannesburg Lodge at 6.30 all ready for our 12 hour bus journey. This was from Jo'burg to Nata where we camped for one night and then carried on up to Maun known as the 'gateway to the Delta'. So we finally arrived at Nata at 8pm. We had a really nice dinner at the lodge getting to know our group and then we went to bed all ready for the next day.
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| S.A. Mountain Range (Photos get better, promise!) |
Day 2: Up early and off to Makgadikgadi Bird Sanctuary (part of the Makgadikgadi Pans) which are part of the Kalahari and are one of the largest salt pans in the world. Although we didn't actually see that many birds we did see some flamingos and some wilderbeast!
Back to Nata Lodge we went to pack up our tents and load the trailer (here we changed from the big truck we travelled from Jo'burg in, to a land cruiser and trailer. This trailer was stuffed with everything we needed: our bags, food, tents, cooking utensils, cool box, camping chairs and yes our toliet which we needed when wild camping (simply a fashionable seat with a hole in the middle and a hole in the ground!) So off we went for our first night wild camping in the Makgadikgadi Pans.
About 20km after we have taken the turning off the main road Ed, our guide, stops to pick up some elephant poo and teach us all about its uses (including floor polish and insect repellent). It was then we heard the loud HISSSSSSS. Yes, you guessed it, we had a flat tyre. In the middle of the wild African bush. With elephants. And lions. And it was getting dark. But never fear, there was a spare tyre! So Ed, with the help of the one other guy on our tour, quickly whipped off the flat one and got the spare tyre ready to put on. It was then they realised that one was....also flat. Ed was out of mobile coverage range and the radio in the car wasn't working so we were stuck!
Meanwhile us girls were all taking photos of the nice sunset so forgive me for not knowing the ins and outs of what they were trying to do next (see photo of a few of us standing on a tyre, had no idea why they asked us to do that). The long and short of it was, we had to set up our tents right there on the side of the track. In the morning Ed got up at sunrise and ran back until he got mobile coverage to ask how to fix the tyre.
In the Pans feat. land cruiser
Very dry soil!
Flamingos!
Holding a dung beetle - dont worry its dead!
View (taken whilst the guys were fixing tyre!)
Helping fix the tyre (thats me in the background
standing on it)
Day 3- So after Ed managed to fix the tyre by changing something (typical girl eh) it was around 11 so we just went straight onto our camp at Maun. Once we arrived we set up camp, had some lunch and went into town to pick up some snacks and water for our next 4 days in the Delta.
Donkeys and Cows casually room the roads in Maun
The river view from the Maun campsite
Waiting for the truck after we bought our snacks in Maun.
Saturday 4 May 2013
The day I left MaP...
So, this was almost a month ago which feels very strange! My last day was also the last day of term and so the school timetable was a little different. It was registration for the pupils, then SPE sign up for next term and then a whole school assembly which was 1-2 hrs long. It had a lot of presentations/performances which were there to sum up the term. There was also a goodbye thing for me with two students making a speech which was very touching saying things like I am now part of the MaP family and will be sorely missed (am not ashamed to say I did get a bit teary!) They also gave me a present which consisted of a neckalace, waterproof (which they said was for the English weather!), t-shirt and a small quilt of the map of Africa which is very pretty and soon to be hung up in my room!
After the assembly I said goodbye to a lot of people, lots of hugs and photos. One year 7 came up to say thank you and goodbye to me which was so sweet. The whole day was a bit of a blur and it feels very strange to think that a lot of the people i met and became such good friends with I wont see again. I do plan to stay in contact with a lot of them though!
That afternoon I had my flight to Johannesburg. This flight was not great but as you will learn from my next post compared to the 4 seater plane into the delta its nothing! When I arrived at the airport there was a driver that was meant to be picking me up. BUT (classic African attitude) there was no one there...
Now if this was me stepping off the plane straight from the UK i would be panicking BIG TIME. But after spending 3 months in Botswana I was pretty used to this chilled attitude and i guess a part of me had got more chilled so i just kind of stood around for a bit. Then after a while I thought maybe i should ring the lodge to check someones coming and they rang my taxi guy and he turned up!
So I arrived at the lodge and opened my bag to sort it out and found out there was a MAJOR SHAMPOO EXPLOSION. nightmaree. But i sorted this, I met my group, we had dinner and then went to bed ready for our early start to begin our tour!
After the assembly I said goodbye to a lot of people, lots of hugs and photos. One year 7 came up to say thank you and goodbye to me which was so sweet. The whole day was a bit of a blur and it feels very strange to think that a lot of the people i met and became such good friends with I wont see again. I do plan to stay in contact with a lot of them though!
That afternoon I had my flight to Johannesburg. This flight was not great but as you will learn from my next post compared to the 4 seater plane into the delta its nothing! When I arrived at the airport there was a driver that was meant to be picking me up. BUT (classic African attitude) there was no one there...
Now if this was me stepping off the plane straight from the UK i would be panicking BIG TIME. But after spending 3 months in Botswana I was pretty used to this chilled attitude and i guess a part of me had got more chilled so i just kind of stood around for a bit. Then after a while I thought maybe i should ring the lodge to check someones coming and they rang my taxi guy and he turned up!
So I arrived at the lodge and opened my bag to sort it out and found out there was a MAJOR SHAMPOO EXPLOSION. nightmaree. But i sorted this, I met my group, we had dinner and then went to bed ready for our early start to begin our tour!
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| The TAs (back left and front left are the day TAs) |
Shams (other PE teacher) and I
Me and Clara
Me and some of the basketball guys
Miss Mange (boarding house mistress)
Naomi (currently qualified for swimming youth Olympics)
Bruce (his hair has been dyed yellow because he lost a bet where he said the house team L could not win inter house football and if they did he would dye his hair yellow, and then they did)
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