World Trip 2018-19, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Victoria Falls – Zimbabwe & Zambia

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We arrived in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, after a lengthy bus ride from Windhoek that ended up taking about 23 h. We didn’t catch lots of sleep on the bus, but considered ourselves fit enough to head for the waterfalls after dropping our bags at the AirBnB we had booked.

There is one main trail on the Zimbabwean side of the falls, leading you to 14 different viewpoints. As we visited just after rainy season, some viewpoints were more like „shower points“ with not much of a view but lots of spray from the incredible amounts of water pouring down the falls.

However, there were still many beautiful views to be appreciated and we spent a couple of hours walking around, taking many photos, as always.

Next day, we crossed the border to Zambia. Before entering Zambia, there’s Victoria Bridge – essentially in no man’s land between Zimbabwe and Zambia. In the middle of the bridge, there’s an option to bungee jump – about time to try this! I must say, the moment just before jumping, when you’re standing on the edge, is a bit scary. But I didn’t even have time to think much or consider pulling back: the guys were already counting 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…bungeeee! And off I was. Overall, it was a really cool experience and I enjoyed some upside down views of the gorge.

After watching my video, we continued through Zambian immigration to Livingstone, the town on the Zambian side of the falls. We spent a couple of days here, relaxing and getting organised as we had many things on our to do list – such as booking our flight home! And of course we also visited the Zambian side of the falls. We were a bit skeptical about how much we would be able to see since the spray was worse than on Zimbabwean side. And we certainly got drenched at a couple of trails/viewpoints! There were still some nice ones though where we were able to see something.

All in all, it’s good to have seen the falls from both sides – but we much preferred the Zimbabwean side!

Botswana, World Trip 2018-19

Botswana – Summary & Pictures

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People: People from Botswana were friendly, but a bit more on the professional level rather than naturally friendly like in Namibia. As in travellers, we again met some older couples, many from South Africa. Similarly to Namibia, we usually only had short conversations on the go, but did spend one fun boozy evening with some South Africans in Moremi.

Food: Again, we self-catered apart from a visit to Nandos which means I can’t judge the Botswanan cuisine.

Weather: Again, we were rather lucky with the weather, with the sun being out most of the time. Unfortunately, we did get some rain during our most important safari days which we partly blame for not seeing as many animals as expected.

Costs: We put our Namibia and Botswana budget together, since it is hard to separate. Botswana was a bit more expensive (mainly the campsites in the national parks), but not much more. On average, we spent 65€ per person, per day which already includes our rental car that was already over 70€/day, and the car insurance. So all in all not too bad I think!

Accommodation: Camping, camping, camping! While we had one of our best campings in Gweta (Planet Baobab), we also had some really bad ones that were extremely overpriced for barely any facilities (Savuti, South Camp Moremi etc). We also wild-camped three times.

Infrastructure: Travelling Botswana, you definitely need a 4×4. The roads in the national parks are incredibly bad sometimes: deep sand, deep puddles, mud that got us stuck once,… But surprisingly we made it through Botswana without any flats or other issues!

Illnesses: All good!

Safety: Apart from the nightly elephant visit in Moremi, we never felt unsafe.

Itinerary: We followed a typical route: after visiting Chobe Riverfront, we ventured into Savuti, and through Khwai to Moremi and Maun. Afterwards, we detoured to the East to see the pans (Makgadikgadi and Nxai), came back the same way to Maun and then took the rather unusual route up to Drotsky Cave and back into Namibia at the tiny Dobe border poast. We had to give a miss to Central Kalahari Game Reserve because the campings were fully booked, and Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park because it was too far off our route. A reason to come back one day, maybe!?

Highlight: Savuti.

Lowlight: Moremi, what a disappointment…

Click on the photos below to see our full photo album of Botswana:

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Botswana, Namibia, World Trip 2018-19

Botswana off the beaten track & back into Namibia

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Our original plan after visiting the pans was the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). Once out of Nxai and in cellphone range, we called up the campsites we wanted to stay at…and got a bad surprise: everything was fully booked, most likely due to the Easter holidays. Damn! Spontaneous plan change needed. As a first step, we drove back to Maun, where we made up our mind to go off the beaten tourist track and drive up to Drotsky Cave and the Aha Hills next day.

It was a long drive on some proper 4×4 roads and we started to doubt if this had been a good idea. But once we arrived, we got welcomed by a really friendly guy from the Botswana National Museum, who works in researching the caves of the region. He offered to show us around the caves – which was a good idea. By ourselves, we wouldn’t have found the way around in the dark, certainly wouldn’t have squeezed through some gaps and just wouldn’t have seen the cave properly.

He told us lots of stories about his work and how he sometimes encounters leopards hiding in the niches of the caves. Uhm, did I mention I was glad we had a guide!? The only animals we got to see were spiders, cave cockroaches and looooooads of bats though. Loads, and loads of bats! Some caves were just buzzing and I was worried a bat might crash into me. Lol. The guy also showed us a great wild camping spot, where we spent our last night in Botswana! Sigh… time went fast suddenly.

The next two days, we drove back to Windhoek, stopping in Grootfontein and at Waterberg Plateau on the way. Waterberg Plateau is a beautiful table mountain with red rocks and lots of green vegetation. While our campsite wasn’t the best in itself, the views were really nice!

We also went on a short hike up to a viewpoint on the plateau which was nice. Unfortunately, they don’t allow any longer unguided walks anymore.

In Windhoek, we spent a lot of time organizing ourselves, doing laundry, cleaning up the car etc. We also headed out to Daan Viljoen game reserve for a bit, but found it rather disappointing and empty.

In Windhoek city, we drove past the most important buildings – nice to see, but nothing really special. Namibia really is about nature and not cities of course!

And then it was time to say goodbye to our awesome car (sneeeef!), and to Namibia. It’s been an amazing time driving around by ourselves, filled with adventures. From here on, we became backpackers again, hopping on a 24h bus ride to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

Destination: Everywhere