Schlagwort-Archive: Botswana

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.

Botswana, World Trip 2018-19

Travelling the pans – Makgadikgadi & Nxai Pans

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After our disappointing time in Khwai and Moremi, we were a bit done with staring into (empty) bushes, aka safaris. So we decided to see some landscapes in between! From Maun, we drove to Nata in one day, and then on to Makgadikgadi Pans national park. This park also has some animals, but it’s mainly famous for its large salt pans that you can in parts drive across. On our way down South to Kubu Island, it was first more bushes and grassland that we encountered though.

Kubu Island is a pretty island full of baobab trees. We camped right at the edge of the pan to see the trees in the beautiful evening light and witness the sunset over the pans. It was beautiful and definitely something different than bushes!

Next day, we drove back „up“ on a different route, to Gweta. This time, the route led us across the pans – which was really cool at first!

At first, until the pans became wetter and muddier and we got more and more worried about getting stuck. I ended up walking halfway across one pan, with Mathijs driving behind me, to ensure the ground was solid enough. At one point though, there was just no good way to go. And surely enough, this was where we got ourselves stuck! Oops. After trying some ways to get out and a mud-shower for me (trying to push is not always the best idea), we luckily made it out! We were quite relieved I must say…

The rest of the drive was easy and dry, passing by some famous baobabs up to Gweta where we were happy to see the pool at Planet Baobab Camping waiting for us. Just what we needed after our mud adventures!

From here, we drove to Nxai Pans the next day. Here, the pans are less visible, more overgrown by plants, and there are more animals. Safari time again! We spent again one night in the park, driving around the day before and half the day afterwards. Well… while there weren’t loads of animals again, we did get a bit luckier than in Moremi and Khwai: Mathijs spotted a lioness hidden in a bush, who, after waiting for a bit, stood up and went for a drink. At least, a little lion show for us!

Also, Nxai had one really good waterhole where there were always some animals. This is something we missed it Moremi. Just being able to sit there and watch. At one point, more and more elephants came in for a drink and there was plenty of action! They seemed to be from different groups and not always friendly with each other.

Nxai Pans is a small national park, but it was quite nice to visit and provided some easier animal sightings again.