Our guide gave us some special instructions not long after we crossed the border.
At all times we must make sure that we have an extra pair of shoes in the bus. My curiosity was aroused. Were we expecting the bus to break down and would we be required to walk great distances???? No it was about the prevention and or containment of foot and mouth disease.
She explained that there will be check points along the highway. All travellers will be expected to get out of their vehicles with an extra pair of shoes in hand. You are then escorted to a "dipping point" which contained some sort of chemicals. You then walked though the chemicals then bent down and dipped your extra pair of shoes into the toxic brew.

On one previous trip one of the travellers had forgotten to have an extra pair of shoes in the bus and what followed was a major inconvenience. All the luggage was unloaded from the back of the bus. That particular traveller was required to locate their bag, unlock it, take out all their shoes and get them dipped. Guess who shouted drinks that night?

Onwards north we travelled, skirting the edge of the Kalahari desert. Occasionally we passed locals in a cart drawn by oxen or horses, these are affectionately referred to as "Kalahari Ferraris".
Our accommodation that evening was at a San Bushman community in Nata.
Like a lot of Indigenous people across the world, the San Bushmen are slowly losing their culture.   The attractions of alcohol, tobacco, drugs and easier life in the towns is taking its toll on the remaining San Bushman. However at this community they were trying to retain their culture with the older people teaching the younger ones.

After we arrived we went for a community walk with the bushman. The photo above is of the bushmen and women.
My accommodation that night was in a san bush hut, a bit upgraded I am sure to what the locals are used to. The hut had a cement floor, electricity (one bulb on a string) and a metal frame bed with a mattress and mosquito net. The generator was turned off promptly at 10pm.

Another bit of trivia, the cult movie "The Gods must be crazy" was filmed in the Kalahari with the San bushmen.

We continued onto Maun which is the second largest town in Botswana and it is a frontier town which is the real jumping off point for safaris in the Okavango Delta. The Okavango has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site and is a wetland refuge for a number of endangered species including wild dog, black rhino, cheetah and a number of birds.

When arriving in Maun, it was a quick turnaround and off to the airport for a scenic flight to see the delta from the air. The plane was an Airvan, manufactured in Traralgon, Victoria, Australia not far from where I grew up. Just some more trivia for you. After seeing the delta from the air, the next day was an opportunity to really experience the african bush as we had an overnight bush camp on an island in the delta.

We arrived at the bush camp via a mokoro, which is a very narrow, flat bottomed boat used in the delta.
Instead of using oars, you are poled into the delta (just like the gondoliers in Venice). After about 90 minutes we pulled into a spot on the shore. There were 12 of us and 9 staff.
This was really, really basic camping. No running water, a real loo with a view ( think dig a hole in the ground), no electricity, sleeping on thin camp mattresses and all in 40 degree heat. I was really starting to wonder what I had signed up for.

Some brave souls, under the supervision of a couple of staff decided to have a swim in the delta. Now I like a bit of adventure, but there are big numbers of hippos in the delta and statistically more people are killed by hippos than any of the other african animals. I decided to pull out my camp mattress and lie down in the shade of a tree. For me this was a far safer option. Around 4pm off we went on a 2 hour walking safari.

There was supposed to be lion and leopard on the island that we were camping on. However when you set off on a walking safari in a remote part of Botswana and the guide does not have a gun my suspicions were raised. The likelihood of seeing cats was, in my mind negligible and guess what? We saw no cats, only a few zebra, antelope and lots and lots of elephant droppings. Perhaps the staff just wanted us out of the camp for a couple of hours so they could have a rest!

Rules of camping in the Okavango Delta:

Whatever you take in, you must take out. Leave the campsite as you find it.

Ablutions:
Number 1 you can do anywhere as long as you are discrete.
Number 2, it goes into the hole which is then buried.

If you need to do number 1 in the middle of the night make sure you do a scan for animals first. If you need to do number 2, wake up your tent buddy, scan for animals and then go to the loo together. If there are animals out and about, then you just hold onto morning. I think there were a lot of people who just decided to hang on for the duration.

After an uneventful night (although there were a number of strange sounds in the bush) we rose early before the sun rose, had breakfast and climbed back into the mokoros for the trip back to Maun then onto Elephant Sands Camp. Elephants Sands Camp has been the highlight of my time in Botswana and I have already, in a previous email, regaled you with the elephant encounters at Elephant Sands Camp.

The final night in Botswana was spent in Kasane, a small town right up on the north eastern corner of Botswana on the Chobe River just outside the boundary of the Chobe Game Reserve. The Chobe has the highest population of elephant in the world and that night on a dinner cruise along the Chobe river we saw many, many elephants. Some playing and romping in the water. They appeared to be in much better condition that the elephants at Elephants Sands Camp who were desperate for water and obviously they were not as aggressive.

The next morning I participated in a photographic safari on the Chobe River. The safari boat was specially designed with swivel chairs running along the centre of the boat. Attached to the chairs was a very high tech, very flexible tripod. To this the guide attached Nikon cameras with a 600mm zoom. Talk about state of the art camera gear.
He talked us through a few fundamentals and gave some hints and off we leisurely wandered up the Chobe River and snapped away to our hearts content. There were no other boats on the river as this particular guide is the only one who has a permit to operate before 0900.

Keeping river traffic to a minimum is a conservation issue so as to not disturb the animals too much when they come down to the river to drink in the morning. The other consideration is of course to the guests who pay a kings ransom to stay in waterfront resorts right on the river.

More trivia for you - when Richard Burton married Elizabeth Taylor for the second time, they honeymooned at a resort on the Chobe River.
On Friday afternoon we crossed over the border via ferry to Zambia and the next stage of my african adventure has begun.

Cheers and best wishes, Christine