Botswana, Zambia, Malawi & Mozambique

Current Location: Barberton, South Africa

Botswana, Zambia, Malawi & Mozambique – 8 October to 25 November 2008

6 Weeks with Milan’s parents (Oh dear..)

Well as you may tell by the last few cryptic entries in the blog, it had been hijacked. We have now regained control and after some much needed R&R are finally in the mood to update it.
It sounds weird that we need to relax since we are on ‘holiday’ but even that is strenuous, in particular when you travel with people that are always on the go and can’t seem to relax... hmm hmm no further comments.

After leaving Kasane in Botswana we headed straight to Maun with an overnight stop at Savuti Camp in Chobe National Park. Now one thing has to be mentioned about Botswana’s parks and camps, they are wild places. No fences at all (except surrounding the ablution blocks (showers, toilets etc.) where you will find a couple metre tall brick wall to keep the thirsty elephants from breaking into the loos), where lions, hyenas and other such beasts wander through the camp, mostly during the evening and night when you are trying to have a relaxed and romantic meal in the bush. There have been numerous occasions when we have rushed back into the car when there had been a slight rustle in the bushes nearby, or elephants trumpeting in the camp next door to ours. It is truly a wonderful experience to listen to the lions roar and the hyenas laugh in the night, as long as you are safely tucked away in your tent off the ground!

Another unique experience to the National Parks in Botswana, is that you have to collect all your firewood yourself, in the park they won’t let you bring outside wood in. This means that you have to get out of your car where hopefully there are no predators lurking in the bushes, which is a little tricky as they are mostly extremely well camouflaged. Having exercised this previously, Milan and I were ok to step out of the car in the park, the other duo were a little reluctant but happily got out of their seats searching for logs on the ground after us, making sure all car doors were kept open to make for an easy run back to safety if need be.

At Maun we spent a few days in a campsite (Cedia Hotel – ok but not fab) before we headed over to Tony and Denise’s, a Kiwi couple that have been living in Maun for quite some time. They accommodated us (thanks very much, we’ll be back to put one of your gearboxes back together!) while we waited for C & Ian to arrive and let us use the services of their maid, who happily did our washing while the gardener washed a very dirty car. In the meantime we had a few problems to sort out, number one being the electrical system in the car seems to not hold a charge and our fridge drains the batteries in a few hours. Unluckily the problem has still not been solved and we are still searching for a good auto electrician. Where are they??! The other thing we did was an overdue sort out of all our belongings we brought with us in the car, a lot of it ending up being donated to the locals as we haven’t used it yet and figure we won’t use it. Who needs a thermos when you have a Kelly Kettle, or even better, coffee shops?

C & Ian arrived mid October and after resting over a weekend at Tony and Denise’s place the four of us were ready for the 6 week adventure together. The booking system for the camp sites in Botswana’s parks is a very tricky and illogical one. You can only book accommodation at their head office in a trailer in Maun, otherwise you might not be let into the park at all. We visited the little lady in her air conditioned office and Milan with his best African accent convinced her to help us poor tourists out. The camps are always fully booked, people pre-book months in advance and never show up or bother to cancel their booking since you only pay on arrival, she said we should just show up and they will fit us in no problems but “eiish its very hoht”. Feeling good about that response we headed to Moremi National Park and told the guy in the office that the little lady from Maun had called and told us we were coming, plus here is a letter from her to you asking you to accommodate us in the campsite. ‘Mam, I never received a phone call and we are fully booked so we can’t let you stay.’ ‘But she called and spoke to someone in this office, and here is a letter from her to you asking you to give us a campsite. There are reserve sites for people like us that have no booking,’ I replied with a smile. ‘You are asking me to risk my job here by giving you another person’s campsite.’ The little man was really starting to annoy me now... I told him, ‘There are no other people at the camp and you have specific sites for people that have not made a reservation because your booking system from Maun does not work!’ I began to lose my temper and started a small heated argument with him, and after he demanded the money for the few nights at the campsite I stomped out and mumbled a few nasty things under my breath.

Anyway, we picked our camp site out of the trillion that was there and not taken and had a light lunch before we tested our first game drive with all four of us in one car. With Ian being quite a large guy, we gave him the front seat next to Milan which meant he was also chief navigator with the use of our GPS, Mr. Garmin 276C. Not really being a technical guy he struggled a little with the navigational duty but what does it matter when you are enjoying a beautiful park spotting animals in the bushes. Our first game drive went very smoothly and we were ready for drinks and dinner when we got back to camp. This is the time when we heard something in the bushes but sounded like quite a small thing, so Milan stomped his feet and the animal ran away. Only then we got the Maglite out and found a hippo a few metres away from us! C & Louise ran to the car and jumped in, Ian ran for cover on the other side of the car, and Milan stood with Maglite in hand at the front of the car not knowing what to do next, all of us on the floor with laughter. What to do when a hippo is on land and close to you? Don’t shine a flashlight at him – oops failed at that one already, don’t get close to him or provoke him as they can be extremely aggressive and are very fast on land, oh dear, I think we failed at that one too. After a nervous fit of laughter, we shone the light around our camp site and found two more hippos grazing the grass just on the other side of the road of our camp site. Oh well they didn’t seem interested or disturbed by us so we got back to our dinner, occasionally flicking on the flashlight to check the surroundings.

We decided to take a boat ride on the Okavango Delta and we were booked for a sunset cruise one afternoon. When we got to the jetty there was already a group of Germans who were getting on the boat and we were about to walk on it as well, when we were told to wait before getting on. The skipper talked with the Germans and asked if they minded if the four of us could join them, which was a little strange as we had booked the boat as well. Unfortunately they did not want four extras on their boat cruise as they would not have as much fun if we were there with them. Hmm, ok then we’ll just go on one of the other boats without the Germans, no problem. A small group of South Africans turned up just as the double-decker boat with the Germans pulled away into the Delta. ‘Hey, we reserved that boat!’ One of them said. In the mess of it all, we ended up going with the South Africans on a smaller boat and had a lovely sunset boat ride all together, without the Germans, sometimes things work out for the best!

A few days of early morning and late afternoon drives in the park, getting stuck in the mud once but got pulled out by a lovely South African couple on honeymoon, we carried on to Savuti for a nights stop before moving on to Kasane and the border crossing into Zambia. The road from Savuti north to Kasane is hours of slow driving through deep sand and it’s a lot of first and second gear, and since Milan had a bit of a head ache that day I was in charge of the driving. Managing quite well I cruised through the sand, handled the herds of elephants beautifully and felt quite proud of myself actually. Only once we stopped did Ian inform me that he was struggling to keep up with my speedy driving. Oh dear, how was I possibly going too fast when Milan drives even faster on this road? I slowed down a bit until I got stuck behind a local 2 Wheel Drive bakkie (a pickup for the Europeans) which got stuck in sand. There is a reason why 4WD is a must for these parks... They got their long chain out and tied it to our car and we pulled them out of the sand.

We finally made it to Kasane and decided on a campsite when we all got into a quarrel as to how we should park the cars on the tiny spot C had chosen for us. This went on for probably an hour as Ian and Louise drove in and out of the site at numerous angles after finally parking up and heading for the bar, in desperate need of a cold drink (possibly alcoholic). There we went on another afternoon boat ride on the Chobe River which felt more like a booze cruise than a relaxing boat ride, although it was very nice and we witnessed a teenager elephant that was going crazy on the shoreline of the park.

A few days relaxing at Kasane and we carried on back to Ihaha Camp in Chobe National Park where we bumped into huge herds of elephant driving to the camp. This park is known for its large amounts of elephant. Experts say the park should be able to handle about 65’000 elephants, so when there are 120’000 instead it’s not unusual to see them on the road every second of the day. They are amazing to watch though and are so full of energy, especially the little ones – I love it! We did some game driving at Chobe and were very happy to see some lions, a nice change to elephants everywhere. As C and Ian only had 6 weeks to cruise around all the countries they wanted to see, we had to move on, off to Zambia we went!

We crossed the border ferry from Kazangula into Zambia and never did we expect so much hassle on the other side! We thought we were done with difficult borders, unfortunately we were wrong. It was the middle of the day, very hot, very sunny, and while the girls watched the cars, the guys sorted out all the paperwork for Zambia. A little surprised at all the costs, almost USD 250 by the end of it just to enter the country. There was carbon tax, road tax, ferry tickets, community tax, car insurance and visa fees. After hours of sorting it all out, we made it to Livingstone and found a lovely campsite on green grass in a quiet area (The Bushfront).
Since C and Ian had already been to the Victoria Falls and done river rafting a few years ago, they decided that was for the young ones and they opted for a more placid afternoon in a canoe dodging hippos rather than rocks. Milan and I on the other hand, signed up for a full days rafting for USD 135 each – we couldn’t be there and not do the rafting, plus we had written postcards to our friends that that was what we were going to do, so we had to really. Having rafted before in Austria it was not new to us but the rapids were huge in comparison to the mild ones in the Tirol. We got in the raft and headed for rapid number 1 out of the 25 named ones (there were probably 50 that we went through but none large enough to be named we guessed). Our guide fell out and a girl as well, and we were very close to the rocks on the right side. Oh dear, what were we in for... Rapid after rapid we made it and didn’t flip over once! After a few hours on the river we had had enough and we celebrated with a few beers on our way back to the starting point. Very happy and proud to have done it – but probably would not do it again... (well Louise wouldn’t at least).

We left Livingstone and drove to Lower Zambezi National Park and found a lovely camp site called Mvuu Lodge just outside the park. A little shocked at the USD 20 per person per night camp site price, we were too tired and hot to drive any further so we parked up just next to the river – a beautiful spot. We had already seen quite a bit of wildlife as we drove towards the lodge and as it was so hot and humid, we decided to stay for 2 nights and just relax at the lodge. Little did we know that it was tsetse fly hell and Louise ended up with bites the size of American pancakes on her thighs and bum – ouch! We went out for a boat ride on the Zambezi where we went up to the park gates and we saw quite a bit actually, until the dark rain clouds came closer and the storm hit us like a curtain so we had to rush back to camp where we saw an elephant walking around our cars having a little drink from the river.

Our next destination was South Luangwa National Park, but which road should we take? Do we drive through the park on a road that everyone says takes 10 hours, or do we drive backwards the way we came and go via Lusaka? We took the latter option and drove on a steep and windy road towards Lusaka. Luckily we were at the end of the stretch when we noticed something was not right with the car, the steering broke (tie-rod snapped). Oh no! Knowing how to handle an irritated Milan when it comes to cars breaking down, the three of us left him to fix it with cable ties and took lovely pictures of him under the car instead. Off we went again and headed to Pioneer Camp about 30 km’s away where we could camp for the night and get parts for the car the next day.

Early next morning Ian and Milan drove into Lusaka on the hunt for car parts. A few hours later they came back with an unbelievable story: Ian had been pulled over for speeding AND reckless driving! We couldn’t believe it! Ian always being so sensible and organised – which nationality is he truly, we wondered. Edmund was fixed once again and we were on our way to the beautiful South Luangwa National Park.

We drove into Flatdogs Camp just outside the park and chose a spot for the next few days. South Luangwa is known for its large number of cats so we were very eager to spot them on our drives. It’s a stunning park, very wild with windy tracks and plants and trees growing everywhere. The rains had just begun a week before so the animals didn’t need the river to rely on water anymore, so a lot of them had started to move further into the park up north, where we were not able to go. It was very tricky to spot any animals in the thick bush. We decided to go for two night drives with the camp and the first evening we saw a lovely pack of lions resting by the river banks, and the second evening we saw a leopard off in the distance. One problem with the park is the off-road driving and a lot of the guides not respecting the animals enough. A dozen cars are out in the evening for a few hours in search of the leopard. This means that headlights are on plus a large lamp on each vehicle is scanning the bush for eyes in hope of finding the rare cat. When one guide spots the leopard, every single car races to it as well, and frightens it away. This is what happened with us that evening but we were very happy our guide turned off the engine and all the lights, and waited until all the commotion was over and the leopard had ran away. Shame.

Our safari trips were over and it was time to move on to the next country, Malawi. We headed to Senga Bay where we stayed at Cool Runnings for a few days to relax on the beach of Lake Malawi. This is also where Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman stayed when they cruised through the continent! Next stop was Cape MacClear where the place we had been recommended, Fat Monkeys, was full and looked quite hectic, so we checked out Eagles Nest instead which turned out to be a fantastic place to stay! We camped at the end of the private beach in a stunning setting. Milan, Ian and I went for two dives one morning but we weren’t all that impressed actually. The visibility was not good and it was some small fish hanging around in the rocks – it wasn’t beautiful like the ocean, but it was fresh water diving which was a little different to salt water diving. We booked a sunset ride with the catamaran and went snorkelling where we saw more than on the dives! It was a beautiful way to end our stay at Cape MacClear.
We hopped over to Mozambiqe with our first stop in Tete, a pretty grubby town with nothing for tourists. Milan was feeling a little achy and was pretty sure it was malaria again, so we needed a room with air conditioning in case he would get a fever. Lucky we still had the wonder drug, Coartem, with us and he started with the treatment straight away. Everything seemed to be fully booked in Tete that night. So our only choice was a lively hotel which seemed to double as a brothel, we got the only spare room they had, and C and Ian had to camp in the car park. After a sleepless night in the car park, we were all up early and started our drive to Vilanculos, a popular beach resort mostly famous for its archipelago. We spent most of the day driving and a few 100 km’s from Vilanculos, we stopped for tourists that had broken down on the side of the road. Thinking Ian had stopped further back to buy coal or cashew nuts, Milan reversed backwards and BANG, drove straight into Ian’s rental car. OOPS! The whole front of the car was pushed in, breaking the radiator in the process. Ian and Milan fixed and fiddled with it for a good hour until we could try to drive it to the coast. Driving it was no problem but finding accommodation in Vilanculos turned out to be. Since the tornado a couple of years ago took out a lot of the hotels and houses on the beach, and our once dear Lonely Planet was once again incorrectly updated, we were driving around for a while until we found Vila La Mar. A beautiful self catering house overlooking the beach where we stayed for 3 nights and just rested until Milan was 100% again. Vilanculos itself is not a nice town, it’s very spaced out so you need to drive to get anywhere, and the people are very hassly towards tourists. We carried on to Tofo, a little further south, where we found a self catering chalet on the beach called Casa Barry. We checked out the possibilities of diving here, as it’s known for excellent dive sites, but were a little shocked to find out that all the operators charged USD 80 per dive. Since it was supposed to be really good diving and we might see whale sharks as well, we decided the three of us would do one dive at least. The visibility was again not great, only 7m or so, but we saw amazing creatures ranging from turtles to moray eels to a cow fish. Our trip with C and Ian was over and it was time for them to return the rental to Pretoria in South Africa, catch a flight back to NZ, and for us, we just needed to relax!

P.S. If anyone is considering using Doxycicline as a malaria prophylaxis, be very wary of the sun. C and Ian used it and it took a toll on their skin, in particular Cs, she had sun blisters and pink spots all over her legs and arms.