Botswana

Left Zimbabwe and all her troubles behind and set off to Botswanna. So different going through the borders now with clean tidy offices and uniformed immigration officers. Makes me miss the chaos of the first few borders with big long queues of vehicles, people selling samosas, drinks and all sorts of souvenirs that you don't really want but buy anyway.. Botswanna is a success story of Africa as it is reasonably affluent in comparison to its neighbours and has non-racial policies and a democratic government. Considering all of these factors would be quite a dull place if it wasn't for the fabulous wildlife on offer.

We stopped first in Kasane and headed off to on a river cruise safari through Chobe National Park. Was very civilised as we had brought along wine and cheese on board, drifting past hippos, crocodiles and more elephants than you could count wallowing in the water and on the banks of the river. The safari left late afternoon and on the way back we got our first blood-red African sunset - the kind that you see in all the nature programmes on TV. While one of the cheapest safaris that we had done, it was also one of the best.

The next day we headed further into Botswanna to the Okavango Delta, which is the biggest inland wetland in the world. The weather was really crazy hot and the campsites full of sand which meant that everything we owned and ate was also full of sand!! The traditional thing to do in the Delta is to take an overnight trip on dugout canoes called Mokoro and it is supposed to be a really tranquil and relaxing experience... unfortunately our poler called Samson who looked about 12 and as though he didn't have any biblical strength to move a fly yet alone a canoe, was rather chatty.. That meant the few hours that we spent on being gently poled along were less than peaceful and only very ocassionally could hear the gentle lap of the water on the boat and rustle of the reeds. The ride was altogether too short and we bushcamped on an island in the Delta. Was a small island with not much to do except read or listen to music, though did go for a swim in the Delta, squelching through the muddy bottom and reeds with a disconcerting amount of bubbles coming to the surface (it was like the swamp monster had a flatulence problem!!). Had an uneventful afternoon walking safari before dinner, then got entertained by the locals singing under the full moon. Possibly the most memorable part of the trip was the midnight visitor in our tent. At first Philippa told me I was imagining it, then she thought she felt something on her hair, then both of us shined the torch, saw it and screamed. The teensy wee mouse was probably more surprised than we were... we woke the entire camp and in the end we couldn't find the mouse again after throwing all our belongings about the place, so left a small gap for it to hopefully leave our company of its own accord (it did!!)

Next day we were poled back to our pick up point and decided last minute to do a flight over the Delta, as some people wanted to back out of it. From a tiny 6-seater Cessna it was a hugely differnt perspective of the Delta and you could see the vast expanse (it is the same size as Northern Ireland) broken up with islands, termite mounds and watery passages. Spotted game roaming below us but the best part was the different colours and hues stretching out below us. It was a lot more fun and better value for money than the mokoro trip.