Botswana: A long post for a short stay

Our stop in Botswana was very brief. We had heard good things about Chobe National Park and the Octovango Delta. But, after seeing so many national parks, we decided to just do the Delta because it was something different than we had seen previously. We took a relatively short and uncomplicated bus ride to Maun. We stayed at Old Bridge Backpackers.
The proprietor there was very helpful and the “dorms” were actually rooms with a single bed. It was the first time since Ethiopia that we each had our own room.

From Old Bridge, we took a two-day Mokoro trip through the Delta. Mokoros are the old-fashioned, traditional dugout boats. These ones were made out of fiberglass. Our guides paddled the mokoros through “highways” between the tall reeds and lily pads. It was very peaceful (and beautiful).






They paddled to an island where we set up camp.
By the time we got there, we were so excited about getting food that we did not immediately jump up and run to see the elephant that our guides pointed out to us. Our guide thought something was wrong with us. It wasn’t the last time, I’m sure, that he had that thought.

After lunch (and going to see the elephant), Regina and I tried our hand at paddling the mokoros.
We told the guides that we were going to the swimming spot that they had pointed out to us on our way to the island. We assumed that because our guides let us go off alone, it was safe. This, apparently, is not an accurate assumption in Africa. Regina and I got so frustrated trying to steer the mokoro, we decided to swim in the first decently-sized hole that we could find. The water was very clear, and we could not see anything in the water but reeds and underwater plants. We jumped in. About two minutes later, another guide paddled up and asked us if we could touch the bottom. When we said no, he told us to get back in the boat. He wouldn’t explain why until we got back in. Apparently crocodiles prefer deep water because they like to drown their victims and, after the victim has had a couple of days of getting softened up by the water, the crocodiles come back and eat their victim. Oops! We followed that guide to the correct swim spot and had an enjoyable afternoon floating and splashing in the Delta.

About an hour before sunset, we headed out for our walking safari. Unlike the walking safari in Zambia, this guide, Lee, was not carrying a gun. The only thing he had with him was his cell phone, which I very much doubt would help us in any run-ins with elephants or lions.




During that walking safari, and the one the next morning, we saw lots of elephants and birds; some new types of antelope; lots anteater hills, which look more like huts or fire kilns; and, my favorite from this trip, very colorful dragon flies.







At night, we roasted marshmallows and told jokes with our guides.

We liked Old Bridge so much that we decided to stay one more night after the mokoro trip before heading to Namibia. We spent the day with our new friend Dave, shopping for food that we foolishly thought we would not be able to find in Namibia. Ha! That evening, one of the locals was getting very drunk at the bar in rememberance of his dear mum, who had recently passed. He was very nice, but some of his friends (one in particular) were obnoxious and aggressive. It was very cute to see Kaitlin step in to protect me. After that was resolved, we got a dance lesson and had a good time hanging out with the group. It was in that setting that we met Alex, a nice french guy that had just arrived at Old Bridge and who had seen our (handwritten) sign seeking a fourth person to share car rental costs with us during our trip through Namibia. Little did we know that this brief encounter would end up altering the rest of our trip . . .

Another Adrenaline Filled Day in Zambia

For our last full day in Livingstone, we headed to the Gorge. At the Gorge, we could abseil (rappel) forwards or backwards, do the Flying Fox (Tyrolian Traverse), or the Gorge Swing as many times as we liked. We started with a regular rappel (I made it down in three jumps),

(Me)

(Kaitlin) followed by the flying fox,

(Me)

(Kaitlin) (Me) (Regina)(Regina) and then the gorge swing.

Next we did the forward rappel

(Kaitlin)

and went a couple more times on the gorge swing. I did my first gorge swing backwards; Regina and Kaitlan went together. After that, the guides started calling me "daredevil." For our next round of gorge swing, we all went forward.

Kaitlan had to be pushed! That additional step of consciously stepping into the oblivion made the experience all the more terrifying.

After each trip to the bottom of the gorge,we would have to climb a long staircase to the top again. About halfway up, there was a shelter with a cooler full of blessedly cold water. Our enthusiasm waned only as the day grew too hot to climb out of the Gorge. When that happened, we went back to the Flying Fox, which didn’t require any climbing.

My favorite activities were the forward rappel and the Gorge Swing.

The guides at the Gorge Swing were really great and knew what they were doing. I would recommend this over the bungee jumping for anyone that is looking for a thrill in Zambia.

Here are some other random pictures I took in Zambia:

The cute girl on the bus to South Luwanga:

Where the bus broke down the first time:



A One Hundred Trillion Dollar bill from Zimbabwe (where inflation was rampant until they switched to the American dollor):

Walking Amongst the Lions

Near Livingstone, there is a sanctuary that helps rehabilitate captive-bred lions and prepare them to raise wild offspring. My limited understanding of the program is that in order to increase the number of lions, which are dangerously close to being put on the endangered species list, many lions are bred in captivity. Being bred and raised in captivity increases the likelihood that the lion cubs will survive the many dangers that face them, including the male cubs being killed off by their own fathers to protect their territory.


The captive-bred lions go through three stages. In Stage One, the lion cubs walk through the bush with the participants in the program, learn socialization habits, and learn to hunt. In the second stage, the lion cubs are put in a larger area, where they no longer have any human contact. In this stage, they further hone their hunting skills, but do not have any competitive species. When the captive-bred lions graduate to Stage Three, they are put in an even larger area with competitor species. In this area, the lions are essentially wild. Those that were captive-bred start having their own cubs and raising them “wild”. Once those cubs are old enough, they are released into the wild as part of repopulation programs. The captive-bred lions live the rest of their lives in the “wild” conditions of Stage Three and die a natural death. They cannot be released into the wild because of the contact that they had with humans when they were young. We were able to participate in two separate portions of the Stage One program: walking with the lions and hunting with the lions.

In the morning, we walked with them through the bush. Both during and after the walk, we were given an opportunity to sit with and pet the lions. It was a little too easy to forget that these sweet kitties are powerful and deadly predators.

We were reminded of that fact later that night, when we went hunting with the lions. The process was quite interesting. The lion’s handlers, who the lions treat as parents, ride in a car making whistling noises and pointing out animal herds with an red light. When the lions see the herd, the car hangs back just like the lion’s actual parents would have hung back if they were teaching their lion cubs to hunt. Our lions, three lionesses, were not very successful. One caught a rabbit. Watching them run after the wildebeests was quite beautiful, though. Afterwards, the program treated us to candlelight dinner and s’mores.

Devil’s Pool and Sneaking Into Zimbabwe

After back-to-back buses from Chipata and Lusaka, we were excited to land in the adventure capital of southern Africa: Livingstone. After an initial day of getting our bearings, we spent three crazy days doing one adrenalin-rushing activity after another.

Day 1:

No visit to Livingstone would be complete without a trip to its number one tourist destination: Vic Falls. Despite the fact that it is the dry season, the falls are still beautiful. A full rainbow ran the length of the falls the entire time we were there.








After we were finished exploring the sanctioned portion of the falls, we tiptoed across the concrete divider that divides the front and backside of the falls. Because it was dry season, the water was low enough on the top that we were able to swim in the pools above the falls.








(Photo by Regina)

And, thanks to a tip from some friends at Jolly Boys, the coolest hostel in Livingstone, we sought out the “After Hours” tour. This underground tour is basically a bunch of tour guides (who take tourists to Livingstone Island during the day for $60 a head) supplementing their income by taking backpackers to the same places after hours for a third of the price. To do this, we must wait until the falls are technically closed, dive for cover whenever we see the guides’ bosses or any boats, swim across the river that divides Zambia from Zimbabwe, and, on the way back, try to avoid elephants in the dark.


(Photo by Regina)

(Sneaking into Zimbabwe: Photo by Regina)

As a reward for these efforts, we arrive to Devil’s Pool, a pool located on top of the Zimbabwean side of the falls (the most powerful side of the Falls), at sunset and have it almost entirely to ourselves. The jump from the rocks into this pool on top of the powerful falls was terrifying, but not nearly as terrifying as the portion of the “tour” where the guides hold you by your ankles while you lean out over the falls, trying not to imagine the plunge to your death.






Do I look scared?