Kayaking in the Okavango Delta

One of the highlights of our trip was a 2 day kayak trip in the Okavango Delta.  It's hard to get a grasp of how large the delta is from the ground level, but it is the world's largest delta and covers an area of 250 kilometers by 150 kilometers and has up to 11 cubic kilometers of water (wow).  We covered a small sliver of the area, first by being taken upstream in a motor boat and then paddling our way downstream in a kayak.  

Here's where we stopped for lunch.  Our trip was through Kayaktive Adventure Safaris.  I liked the safety briefing from John before we started, "I'll go in front, if we have any issues that's usually where they are.  If we spot a croc or a hippo I will raise my paddle and the motor boat will go between me and the hippo before you proceed."  

After our day's worth of kayaking we went out on the motor boat to do some fishing.

 

And then we all slept under the African stars in our tents.

Road Tripping through Botswana

We continued our drive up through Botswana, passing through towns here and there, but mostly marveling at the flat nothingness out our windows.  We were the town's excitement when we stopped in Mopipi looking for leaded fuel, the uniformed school children all waved at us, a car full of white people in the middle of nowhere Botswana.

We stopped for a photo opportunity on the side of the road, because we were on the border of the Kalahari Desert.  

After some more driving we finally arrived in Maun, the town that services most people who are exploring the Okavanga Delta area.  After days of driving through small towns in isolated area we enjoyed a delightful lunch in the popular South African chain restaurant Nando's, got a cold beverage from Whimpy's and stopped in at a grocery store to refuel on snacks, beer and water.

We spent a leisurely afternoon chilling by the river and small paddling pool at the Maun Old Bridge Backpacker and later sat by the fire and watched the activity in the bar.  The open air bar and picnic tables were busy on the Saturday night, both with international travelers and locals.  Between the pool table, the bar and the televised rugby match there was plenty of people watching opportunity.

Martin's Drift to Letlhakane

We started our day off at the border of South Africa and Botswana and traveled northwest up through Botswana.  A few pit stops along the way, including the hours we spent at the Khama Rhino Sanctuarcy (click here for a video of the amazing wildlife we saw). 

The orange vendor was in Palapye, most of our day was spent driving along long stretches of open flat land, with mud huts tucked in off the side of the road or live stock crossing the road (see below).

When we finally got to Granny's Lodge in Letlhakane Scott cooked up an excellent bbq (or braai as the South Africans call it) and we sat around in the courtyard listening to the Friday night parties from the locals over the fence.

Khama Rhino Sanctuary

Here's a little video of some of the animals we saw at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary in Bostwana.

Let's hit the road, Jo'berg to Martin's Drift

Our trip to South Africa, was really a road trip to Botswana.  Bonnie, Scott, Dan, myself, plus Graham (Bonnie's dad) and Joni (Bonnie's sister) hit the road in Graham's work vehicle, a Mahindra Scorpio (with Bonnie squeezed in the back with bags).  We left Jo'berg in the morning, stopping at a bank to change some rand into pula, to be able to pay the vehicle fee at the border and we were off.  

We stopped at a gas station in town, where I enjoyed a fabulous latte from Seattle's Coffee Shop (which I found odd in South Africa, but I gather is fairly common), filled up on snacks and kept driving till we got to Beestekraeal Statsie, an eclectic cafe.  A lunch of toasted sandwiches and french fries and we were set to go.  The sign above "Pipi Plek" points towards the bathroom in Afrikaans. 

We arrived at the border and smoothly exited South Africa, got our passports stamped at immigration on the Botswana side and then the power went out before we got the vehicle fee processed.   Supposedly that's a fairly common thing in Botswana, so we stood and waited with the growing crowd for almost an hour, before the power finally came back on.  Then we all piled into the car and got to customs where the border guards decided that our dinner ingredients were not going to pass the agriculture inspection, the border guards were having a bbq with our steak and tomatoes, but for whatever reasons opted out of taking the papaya.  We continued down the road a mere mile to our accommodate at the Kwa Nokeng Lodge, where the reception has a sign that says beware of the hippo and crocs from the Limpopo River.  Since we didn't have any ingredients for dinner and the next town was an hour down the road, we dined in the open air restaurant overlooking the river.

South Africa, Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

Dan and I accepted an invitation from our friends Bonnie & Scott, in Wanaka, to join them on their trip to visit Bonnie's family in South Africa.  We used the excuse that it was a trip to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary (which is true, but I'm sure we would come up with some other occasion if push came to shove).  While our friends were in awe that we were traveling around the globe and had no real clue what the agenda was, we were excited about the adventure, and not that concerned with the details.  And let's just say our tour guides did a fabulous job, from the moment they picked us up at the airport, to the time they dropped us off, it was a full service operation.

With the absence of children on this adventure, there was no shortage of opportunities to take photos, and really, who can resist the landscape of Southern Africa?  The photos are a combination of photos by both myself and Dan, since we take very different style of photos, we thought it would be fun to take two cameras.  The vast majority of photos of people, beer bottles and coffee mugs will be mine, whereas Dan enjoyed photographing landscapes and animals.

We'll skip over how we got from point a to point b (Sacramento, New York, Dubai, Johannesberg) and go straight to our first adventure-- a day trip to Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve outside of Jo'berg.  

We happened to be in the park on one of the days they fed the lions.  We parked next to the grassy field and when the time came the park pick up truck drove onto the field with a cow carcass in the open truck bed and the lions just helped themselves.  The male lions made sure they ate first and when the females tried to get a nibble they stood their ground and didn't let them in.  It was an amazing sight to be so close to the lions, but obviously from the safety of the car.  They very casually told us at the gate to stay in the car, but there are no fences, no signs, so I'm assuming they think you'll get the hint.

After several hours of driving around the park we stopped at the Coffee Bar & Croc Pub for some lunch.  

The list of animals we saw is pretty long-- lions, rhinos, warthogs, wild dogs, zebras, blesbok, ostrich, impala, hippo, nile crocidle, water buffalo, cheetah, gemsbok.

We recovered from our adventure by going to Graham, Bonnie's dad's, favorite pub, the Green & Gold.

Will Work For Ice Cream

The boys are huge fans of the local ice cream shop Treats and after a few chats with Peggy, one of the owners on an Outside Inn/Treats promotion I offered my photography services in exchange of ice cream.  Let's just say that Josh was happy to assist yesterday on a trial run.  You may see more photos of the boys and ice cream in the near future....