Nov. 10-12 Kafue, Zambia

http://www.mapsofworld.com/africa/


Getting to this location (our 4th camp) took most of a day.  We took ground transportation to an airport.  Then a Bush plane.  Then land transport, a boat transfer, another flight and then minibus and Safari vehicle to our camp in Kafue National Park.




Sally, Sku and Mel on the Bush plane

 Our camp was located on the banks of the Kafue River.  Kafue is one of the continent's largest national parks at 8600 sq. miles (the size of New Jersey).  It has a variety of terrains including riverine forests, floodplains and woodlands.  But because of the severe drought of the past 3-4 years and the overpopulation of elephants that can consume up to 600 pounds of vegetation and 40 gallons of water a day, much of the landscape looks burnt and desolate .

Byron and Karen went fishin

After a long day, the drum called us to dinner

                                                 



           

   

Food in the Bush

Overseas Adventure Travel, the company we used for this trip, has specially trained chefs.  Each camp had a master chef who planned and prepared all of our meals with a few assistants. As I  mentioned previously, we had at least 5 opportunities a day to eat.

We had a variety of fresh fruits and veggies every day.  Meat included many tasty chicken dishes, some beef, lamb, pork and local seafood.  We also sampled local game such as kudu  (a type of antelope) and warthog.

High tea

                                                      

Chef grilling our dinner

Lunch: sliced beef, spinach quiche, bean salad, beet salad

Poached pear in wine sauce 

Okavango Delta, part 2

Our laundry was done each day for us.  No washers or dryers

Genius, one of our driver/guides

Bridge over the River Khwai

Hippo 

Nov. 7-9 The Okavango Delta

Our third game camp was in the Okavango Delta in the north central region of Botswana.  It is the world's largest inland delta.  We had taken a minibus to a dirt airstrip in order to fly on a Bush plane (6 passenger) to this location.






Home

    








One of the highlights at this camp was the ride in the "mokoro" (dugout canoe) on the Delta. 

Byron and Mary Ann

View of our camp from the river on a Sundowner cruise

                





Nov.4-6 Botswana part 2

Wildlife we'd seen recently

Hippo

Tawny eagle

Warthog (tastes like ham)

Cape buffalo

http://www.mapsofworld.com/africa

Botswana

• Population: 2.1 million
• Official language: English
• Geography: area about 225,000 square miles; average elevation about 3,300 feet; two-thirds of country covered by Kalahari desert
• Religion: 72% Christian
• History: 19th Century English Christian missionaries spread through the area           Dutch Boers and British colonists clashed in wars between 1887-1902
•  Became part of the Union of South Africa in 1902
•  Gained complete independence as a republic in 1966
•   Diamonds were discovered in 1967
•   Now one of the fastest growing economies in the world
• A leader in the fight against AIDS

November 4-6, Botswana

http://www.mapsofworld.com/africa/



Now that we're home and "almost" back on AZ time, I'll try to catch up on the blog posts.

 We spent these 3 nights in Chobe National Park in Botswana. It was hot and very dry here.  The days were around 100 and the nights in the 80s.  No air-conditioning or WiFi.

Our home

Our closet

 Our daily routine was: wake up at 5:30, a light breakfast at 6:00, load-up at 6:30 for a game drive of about 4 hours looking for wildlife.
Then back to camp for brrrrrrunch  (as Sku, our trip manager, pronounced it).  Brunch was a combination of breakfast items such as eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, porridge, vegetable casseroles, muffins and many more.

Next was "siesta" time of about 3 hours.  Then, about 3:30, we'd have high tea with cookies or other sweets and hot or cold iced tea or coffee. Sku would then give us a preview of the next day's activities and one of the staff would present a "Learning and Discovery" discussion about the area's history, politics or customs. Then we loaded up for the afternoon game drive that lasted 3-4 hours.  We would have a "Sundowner" Happy Hour out in the Bush.

 When we returned to camp, a full bar and a delicious dinner awaited us.  Afterward, Sku gave us last-minute details about the following day and we were off to bed. The days were full and we usually slept soundly unless elephants, lions, monkeys or other wildlife paid a visit to our camp.

We visited a local village where this lady was grinding maize for polenta, a popular dish here. She invited us into her home, showed us around the village, and took us to the shop where women sell their creations.

Out of the Bush

Greetings from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe .
We just arrived at our first hotel after 15 nights in the Bush in 5 game camps, the last 4 without internet.  I will do blog posts about each camp when we get home.

 Our last day/evening in the Bush yesterday we visited a local school and village, saw a pride of 17 lions, and had an amazing sunset .  (Internet is weak here . More photos later.)

Nov. 3rd---leaving Thornybush

After our morning game drive, we will have breakfast and leave for the airport to fly back to Johannesburg.  These first few days have been the pre-trip portion of our journey.  There are 7 of us on the pre-trip.  This afternoon we will be joined by the 9 others in Johannesburg for the main portion of the trip.

These are some highlights from our pre-trip here.

View from vehicle with Eric driving and Aubrey "spotting"

Mel "shooting" a lion

Lion cub yawning

Eric preparing for our Bush walk

Eric teaching about the local flora and his tribal customs 

November 2nd---Game Viewing So Far

We have taken 4 game drives so far.  Our guides are very knowledgeable and eager for us to learn about the preserve and the amazing wildlife it protects.  The drives each last about 3 hours.  The first  one of the day starts about 5:30 a.m. The second begins about 4:00 p.m.

The animals are often a foot or two away, as they have come to accept the Safari vehicles and their curious occupants.  Of course our guides are very respectful of them.

We saw an entire pride of 8 lions.Below is a juvenile and the dominant male.

Sundowner (Happy Hour) in the Bush

November 1st---Greetings from South Africa!

After about 19 hours of flying time, we arrived in Johannesburg for the night and then took a smaller plane to an airport near our first game camp, Chapungu Tented Camp in Thornybush Game Reserve,  South Africa.

Since this is our first time on the continent, everything is new and exciting for us.  I will add some photos of our camp.  There are individual "tent" suites complete with private baths.  The camp can accommodate 18 campers. The tents are very comfortable, and the food is good and plentiful.