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May 11th – May 24th

Into the Delta, Moremi without Bookings

Jenny had flown back to the States for an undetermined period of time, but our hope was about three weeks. Her mother was going through the most difficult part of cancer treatment, thus the ambiguity. I was going to continue on solo, with the plan to rendezvous with Jenny in either Windhoek or Maun. Jenny’s mother is fiercely independent and had already expressed her desire that Jenny’s visit not last too long, that she should return to finish our Africa adventure.

As I’d be alone I didn’t plan to tackle anything too remote. Any safety fears were the mundane over the exotic, like breaking my ankle coming down the ladder and thus being unable to drive.

For other risks, such as breakdown or getting stuck, I had the same strategy as when Jenny is with me, to attempt self rescue or just wait for someone to come along. There was always the sat phone as a last resort.

To kick things off I made the fourhour drive to the Moorings campsite, half way between Lusaka and Livingstone. I was the only guest at this modest but perfectly decent campsite. The previously terrible section of road on this route, near Mazabuka, has been repaired. I suspect was not good for business at the Moorings, where many people used to break the journey to/from Lusaka.

The next day to Livingstone was another uneventful drive on good tar without much traffic. 

Livingstone

There are a few good campsites in Livingstone, namely the Maramba River Lodge, Victoria Falls Waterfront and Taita Falcon Lodge. On iOverlander I noted a campsite we hadn’t heard of before, called Overland Missions Rapid 14. The rapids downstream of the bridge are numbered, and this place is situated with a view of rapid 14, thus the name.

I WhatsApp’d ahead and they said no problem, they had a spot for me. Arriving at the property the first thing I saw was a large and perfectly groomed football pitch and a swimming pool. Not at all what I imagined. 

A woman introduced herself, I could tell she was American. She brought me through a huge landscaped area full of bungalows to a central building. My guide showed me around and told me about the place.

This is the main operations base for Overland Missions, a church group that conducts mission work throughout “central Africa” (by which I understood to mean Zambia and Angola, but I’m not sure). More than an operations base it looked like a pleasant holiday retreat, with manicured lawns, tidy bungalows and a stunning view from the main building of the Zambezi river’s rapid 14 in the canyon below. 

I generally take a dim view of mission work, but these people were so unerringly friendly and upbeat that they were very hard to dislike. I was shown a cliff top bush camp at rapid 13, around 1km up river from the base. They had plans of building some training center for local chiefs here, but until that work progressed they said it made a great campsite.

And did it ever! I was the only one there, with a stunning view of rapid 13 below. I couldn’t believe how pleasant it was. I spent the rest of the day mesmerized by the river canyon below.

I found that if I balanced my phone on top of the snorkel I could get enough cell service to receive WhatsApp messages. By this inconvenient arrangement I was able to check in with Jenny. 

Rapid 14 is also where the Zambezi rafting companies put in when the river is running too high to start below the falls. There is a steep and rugged path down the river gorge where Overland Missions is in the process of installing steps. 

I made the hike down to the river, and after returning my legs were burning from the more than 350 steps down and up again. I didn’t complain though, the guys putting in the steps were mixing cement at the top and then carrying the concrete down in buckets by hand, very impressive. I chatted a bit with the masons doing the work, who seemed like good upbeat fellows, in part I’m sure because they were charged with troweling cement into forms and not with the backbreaking work of hiking the buckets of cement down the gorge. 

On my way back to camp I met the boss of the Overland Missions operation, who had seen the Cruiser and wanted to talk 4x4s. He showed me his quite fancy V8 Range Rover and one of the nicest 4×4 trailers I’ve ever seen. On the way to his vehicle wewalked in front of his house, which had folding glass doors facing a panorama of the river gorge below. As an example, these flashy digs and vehicle are far nicer conditions than what even the most coddled humanitarian field workers live under. I will leave it at that.

In the afternoon I visited the Zambia side of the Victoria Falls. The rains this season had been plentiful and the river was very full with the falls running in full force. I paid my entrance fee, got my rain jacket and made the hike around the falls. 

By the time I approached the footbridge across the spray was intense and falling like heavy rain. So much that I couldn’t even really see the other end of the bridge. Even with my jacket I was soaked through in short order and crossing the bridge felt like traversing the deck of a ship in storm.

Everyone that braved the journey was laughing at the ridiculousness of the spray and the power of the falls, it was good fun. I made this video, all shot and edited on my phone. The iPhone SE 2 is purportedly waterproof to 1m and I certainly put it to the test! 

The next day I hit the road for Kasane, Botswana. I’d been in contact with a shop called Aliboats that could, hopefully, repair the crack in our canopy. It’s an easy drive on good tar to the border crossing at Kazangula. This stretch of road was rife with chameleons, I drove past or over a few and stopped to shoo one off the road so he didn’t get squished. 

Kasane via Kazangula

At Kazangula, what used to be a very African experience with a vehicle ferry has been recently replaced with a modern bridge across the river and brand new border facilities. The border crossing was easy an uneventful. My covid vaccination card was checked, but no testing was required.

In Kasane I spent three nights at the Thebe Safari Lodge campsite. Thebe is pretty nice, inexpensive and has a restaurant on site, well attended by locals as well as travelers. The only drawback, which seems to be consistent throughout all the places in Kasane, is that even though the whole town is along the banks of the mighty Chobe River, none of the properties really focus on the river. I suppose this is because the river is prone to flooding and drought, and thus the river bank moves a lot.

Kasane is sort of a funky town, haphazardly developed to support the tourist industry that thrives between Maun and Victoria Falls. Wildlife lives amongst town, warthogs are busy crossing traffic and the mechanic we visited here in 2018 complained that the elephants always knock down his gates to get at their favorite trees. 

The other great place we’ve stayed at before is Senyati Safari Camp, but it had two demerits for me for this particular visit. It is about 10 km out of town and I needed to take care of a few chores and I didn’t want to be running back and forth. Also, they have no restaurant and I was feeling a bit lazy on the cooking front.

FinallyI managed to get a temporary repair made on the canopy cracks at Aliboats. Their welder wasn’t the best I’ve ever seen, but he is the best in Kasane for sure (as in, the only). We’ll see how it holds up.

Kasane has suffered during covid, with many shops in the mall vacant and even the touts hawking souvenirs did not have their usual verve in selling their wares to the few tourists that were here. Still, it was just about more tourists than we’d seen on our entire trip so far.

From Kasane I was headed Maun, where Jenny and I planned our rendezvous. To get to Maun there are only two real choices, a long and indirect route on the tar via Nata, or a shorter route through the Chobe and Moremi National Parks. All but 40 kilometers of this is gravel, deep sand and game viewing tracks. I wasn’t in a rush, so I hatched a plan to take a few days to go via the more interesting Chobe/Moremi route.

A Last Minute Visit to Chobe and Moremi

Normally these highly popular parks cannot be visited without reservations made many months in advance. It wasn’t peak season and I was flexible, after calling around I secured one night each at Ihaha, Khwai North Gate and Southgate campsites.

The Chobe Riverfront drive, on the way to Ihaha, is always a slam dunk for wildlife viewing, and so it proved again. Even though I was finding game spotting while driving much harder alone, I had great sightings, lions, elephant, buffalo, impala, kudu, baboons, hippo, warthog, giraffe, and leopard.

Ihaha campsite is wonderfully situated along the Chobe River. Two honey badgers made a pass through camp but upon seeing me left, presumably to wait until I went to bed to see if I’d left anything behind. I also tried my hand at some night photography. After spotting a crocodile in the shallows about 20 meters away, which I had my back turned while photographing, I decided to call it a night.

The second day I had to drive all the way to Khwai, as I’d been unable to secure a campsite at Savuti which would have broken the trip into a more reasonable distance. Traveling solo I’d been trying hard to keep the driving timeto no more than five-ish hours. Today would be a long one, 239 kilometers, of which 200 would be deep sand, narrow tracks and some gravel road. 

It was too long to drive really, and by the time I rolled into Khwai I was exhausted. But the Cruiser had managed the deep sand fine and I still got to see some nice wildlife along the way, though I met people that told me I’d missed a leopard and two cubs by minutes. Good thing, Jenny would have killed me if I saw leopard cubs without her! 

In front of my Khwai campsite (No. 3) there was an elephant browsing in the river about 20 meters away, wonderful. It was getting into winter here and got very cold at night. The morning was a few degrees above freezing I’d guess, and my fingers ached with cold after packing up camp. I was grateful for my closed vehicle when I saw the lodge guests bundled up in an open safari car. 

The neighboring campers struck up a conversation with me and turned out to be from Melkbosstrand. They were horrified to hear that at one point Jenny and I had camped at Ouskip, perhaps the closest approximation of an American trailer park in Africa. They gave me their card and insisted that we come and stay with them, so they could wine and dine us and redeem Melkbosstrand’s reputation. 

In the morning I found fresh enormous lion tracks right through camp. A guided vehicle and I followed the tracks for some time but we never found the lions. 

We did however find water and mud. Botswana had received good rains and the delta was wet. It is a whole different thing to contemplate water crossings when you’re alone. Of course the most common advice for a water crossing is that you should walk it first, to see how deep it is, test the firmness of the bottom, and determine viability of the crossing.

This piece of advice is lacking in two important ways. First, this is the Okavango River Delta, brimming with crocodiles and hippos and all the rest of it. You hardly want to be half way through a water crossing when a hippo shows up on the other side and decides he doesn’t want to share with you. The second problem is that it was really cold, and wildlife notwithstanding I wasn’t going to wade through frigid water just after sunrise, crocodiles or no. 

After a few successful crossings of water and deep mud, where fresh tire tracks had convinced me it was likely I could cross, I stopped at a longish crossing. It didn’t look good, and there were fresh hippo tracks around so I didn’t feel like being out of the vehicle for long. 

I drove around for a while looking for another route and couldn’t find one. I fell back to my father’s strategy when confronted with a problem with no obvious solution, which is to make a coffee and think about it. Jenny makes fun of me for this all the time. 

When I had just finished this ritual a solution presented itself, sort of. The sound of another vehicle came and I rushed to get back to the original crossing point, so that we might help each other across if one of us got stuck.

By the time I arrived they had already attempted the crossing and gotten stuck. It was a young German couple in a rented Hilux. They were very happy to see me and we made a plan to get them out. Unfortunately rear recovery points had not been equipped by the rental company (Britz), so I couldn’t haul them out from this side of the water.

This meant I had to try to make the crossing around them and haul them out from the front. Fortunately, one of them was already committed, wading around in the water to asses the situation, and she walked the path for me. It was hard packed sand, and they had the bad luck to pick the path with mud. I crossed with ease and was able to pull them out with no drama, for which they were very grateful. 

Many a vehicle are damaged every season in the Okavango Delta due to misjudged water crossings. I know at least one of the big 4×4 rental companieskeeps their own team up here during the busy season to haul people out. 

I arrived at South Gate with enough time for a short game drive and managed to see the usual ungulates, a honey badger, and a mating pair of lions. The plains around Black Pools were scenic, and the road was lined with fragrant sage.

The South Gate campsite was nearly empty, just two other campsites had guests. I got the excellent site No. 7. After dark fell lions started roaring not so far away and kept it up almost all night. Oh how Jenny would love this! 

In the morning the roaring was so loud that I thought for sure they were in camp. I did a thorough inspection with my big flashlight and couldn’t find them. I got up and packed up camp faster than ever before, nothing like the roar of lions reverberating in your chest to give one a sense of urgency.

Maun

The other campers were also up, sweeping around to find the lions, and I drove a short loop through the campsite but couldn’t find them. Later, when I checked out of the park, the staff said the lions had been in the adjacent staff camp. My short time in the Delta was fruitful, but it was time to head to Maun. The canopy repair had failed, so I was hoping to get a better repair done. 

I camped at Audi Camp in Maun. Aliboats has a larger branch here in Maun that was better equipped for a repair, but theycouldn’t fit me in until the next week. To fill that time I schemed a few day loop down to Kubu Island, a Botswana staple that I hadn’t been to, and I’d come back to Maun for the repair. 

Jenny’s trip home was going well. It was a huge morale boost for her mother, who was now over the hump in her chemotherapy treatmens. This was fantastic news on multiple fronts. Of course it was the biggest relief to hear her Mother was doing okay (or as okay as one can be with a cancer diagnosis), and that Jenny was returning, and that we know had clarity to our plans. 

A morning of phone calls and a stop at the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) got me bookings for Baine’s Baobabs, Makgadigadi National Park’s Tree Island Campsite, Planet Baobab and Kubu Island. Stopping by the DWNP office to make bookings directly was much more straightforward than the arduous and frustrating process of making bookings remotely. 

Botswana was taking covid precautions more seriously than anywhere we’d been since October. Masking in public places was being almost entirely complied with, though more chins were protected than mouths and noses. Hand sanitizing was ruthlessly applied at the door to every place of business and by the end of the day my hands were covered in a disgusting sticky film, but were no doubt free of covid. 

Fully fueled, watered and provisioned I set forth, and in a few hours arrived at my first booking, at Nxai Pan National Park’s Baines’ Baobabs. 

The Nitty Gritty

Livingstone

Overland Missions Rapid 14 Campsite – From some iOverlander reviews I get the impression that this campsite might be seasonal. I would urge anyone that wants to visit to contact them ahead via WhatsApp. Sadly the campsite that I got at rapid 13 will be displaced by a training center, I don’t know where they will put people then. That said, it was a very interesting experience to camp there, I recommend it. 

They encouraged the use of their pool and they have nice ablutions at the base, some distance from the rapid 13 campsite. I just peed in the bushes and took a bush shower with my own water out of expedience.

Royal Livingstone Hotel – I stopped here to have a coffee and enjoy the view from their deck at the edge of the river. You can’t help but compare this fancy hotel with the Victoria Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe, both occupying a lofty price point. For me the Royal Livingstone was much more corporate feeling and didn’t offer nearly the same experience. I personally will go back to the Vic Falls Hotel for food and drink with a large dose of history, but I probably will not go to the Royal Livingstone again. 

Kazangula Border Crossing

I was literally the only customer in a huge hall that included both Zambian and Botswanan officials, and still exiting Zambia ended up taking quite a while. They couldn’t believe I’d been issued a 3-year multiple entry visa, which is only given to US citizens (some sort of reciprocal arrangement I’m guessing). After I showed them that a 3-year visa is offered on their own website, and they called a supervisor, the finally stamped me out.

Kasane/Kazangula Mechanic

I tried to get our front diff gasket repaired here, which has had a very minor but consistent leak for some time. Every time we ask someone to fix it they tell me it’s okay and then haven’t touched it, which is annoying.

I went back to Mario’s Garage, that had been so good to us in 2018. Sadly I discovered that Mario had passed away. The garage is still working under new management, and Frank the new owner, seemed good. Sadly he couldn’t find a diff gasket in all of Kasane, so that job will have to wait, again. We keep some diff oil and I check it and top it up every once in a while. It only consumes oil when we’re in 4×4.

Aliboats in Kasane can do aluminum MIG welding, but not very well. Later the manager in Maun told me that they’d had to lay off most of their staff in Kasane due to covid, so perhaps the work quality will improve in time. 

Maun Camping

I camped at Audi Camp for 110 pula ($10 USD) per night. Ablutions here are pretty great, with high flow hot showers, solar hot water. Toilets do not flush particularly well, but hey, it’s Africa.

They have a restaurant with well executed but uninspiring food. They did have beer from the local brewing company on tap that was excellent.

The campsite itself is totally adequate but sort of uninteresting. A huge sandy lot with dust blowing through in the wind. The solid concrete walls that ring the property are topped with razor wire, with does detract from the atmosphere. 

Maun Food 

There are several excellent cafes in Maun, a rarity in lots of African travel. The Okavango Brewing company has great beer, great G&Ts and almost as great pizza. The Dusty Donkey serves excellent breakfast and lunches, as does the Duck. There are other cafe’s in a similar vein that we haven’t tried, such as Marc’s Eatery. All these seem well frequented by locals.

The confusing Botswana Campsite Booking situation

Decoding how to book campsites in Botswana seems at times to require some sort of codex. Most of us throw up our hands in surrender and hire one of the many booking companies to take care of it. Botswana Footprints, NDM, or Ultimate Routes, to name a few.

We have tried hiring booking agents and booked things ourselves. If you’re in Botswana I don’t think it’s hard to manage on your own. If you’re outside Botswana then maybe save yourself the stress and pay an agent their fee (usually about $50 USD, though more if it is a lengthy or complex itinerary). 

Park fees are all paid to the DWNP, but campsite fees are paid to whomever runs that particular campsite, as the operation of most campsites within the national parks are leased out to private companies. This is confusing because, for example, Moremi National Park has campsites run by multiple operators, meaning you might pay three separate entities to visit a single park. On top of this you can only pay your park fees to DWNP by credit card in Gabaronne, Maun or the Sedudu and Ngoma gates to Chobe National Park (possibly also the Ghanzi DWNP office, unconfirmed). At all other gates you must pay park fees in cash. The only accepted currency is Pula, whereas in the past USD used to be accepted. 

Botswana Campsite Rosetta Stone – which sites are run by which companies

Ihaha – Kwalate 

Savuti – SKL (which incidentally stands for Savuti, Khwai, Linyanti)

Khwai – SKL

Linyanti – SKL

Xakanaxa – Kwalate

Third Bridge – Xomae

South Gate – Kwalate 

Nxai Pan South Camp – Xomae

Baine’s Baobabs – Xomae

Khumaga – SKL

Tree Island & Njuca Hills – DWNP (no website that I could find)

Central Kalahari Game Reserve Campsites, (*see exceptions below) – Bigfoot Tours

Central Kalahari Game Reserve Kori, Deception, Xade, Phokoje, Bape  DWNP

Mabua – Intertourism Group

As a rule, all the privatized sites are more expensive than any DWNP site.

If you are in Maun, all of the offices for the companies above are within a kilometer or so of each other. Just walk in and book in person. Alternatively I had good luck booking on the phone. The DWNP booking office in Maun was also efficient and helpful in person. 

Chobe and Moremi Without Bookings

Conventional wisdom is that you can’t visit Chobe or Moremi without bookings. I suppose in pre-covid times that might have been true. What is still true is that you can’t rock up and expect to camp where you want for however long you want. However, I didn’t have trouble finding someplace to camp in one of the most wildlife rich places on earth, providing you are flexible. I certainly wound’t encourage anyone on a two week holiday to wing it and expect to visit Moremi without disruption. But for those on extended trips I think it’s more practical than many might believe. 

Ihaha has 10 (more?) campsites and when I visited only three were occupied, even though I was told on the phone it was fully booked. Khwai also has 10 sites, and only four were occupied. South Gate had three of ten sites occupied. I talked to the camp staff at each camp and they all said that they could accomodate me for additional days, even though they were technically fully booked. This discrepancy, empty campsites that are fully booked, I attribute to no-shows and block bookings by third parties that have gone unsold. I suppose taking up the staff on their offer of staying longer would open up the possibility of the dreaded double booking, and I certainly don’t want to poach anyone’s campsite, but clearly they have an idea of when the campsite will be full, or not. 

Khwai North Gate – Sites 2, 3 and 4 seemed the prime sites to me, right along the river.

South Gate – Sites 7, 8, 9 and 10 are the most private. Six is not bad. Sites 1-5 are not as good. Ablutions here were spotlessly clean, very good all around.

Planet Baobab near Gweta

A great stopover campsite when traveling between Nxai Pan, Magadigadi, Kubu or beyond. The fillet steak from the restaurant was excellent. Campsites have power. Showers and dishwashing station have scalding hot water.