2023 Africa

After planning & booking to go to Africa in 2020 we like many millions of others had our travel plans cancelled by Covid-19.

Having been stung with the loss of a not insignificant amount of money as a result of Covid-19, we decided to look further afield for a tour operator which we duly found in Off2Africa, based in Zimbabwe.

After a few emails and suggestions we decided on an 18 night package, taking in Botswana, Victoria Falls and Zimbabwe.

A direct flight to Johannesburg from Sydney had us arriving at around 4:30pm. An overnight stay at the Airport Intercontinental had us ready for our African adventure.

Botswana

We arrived and were met at Maun airport by Safari Air staff and after a short wait for other travellers were escorted to our charter flight taking us to Moremi Game Reserve.

This short flight of around 30 minutes was a sampler for what lay ahead. The initial impression of the vastness of the countryside coupled with our first sightings of elephants & hippos from the air had us eager for more.

Camp Xakanaxa- Moremi Game Reserve

We were picked up at our remote airstrip and given drinks and afternoon tea. From there we did a little bit of a game drive on the way to our first lodging, Camp Xakanaxa.

Our accommodation was beautiful and the staff were fantastic. Nothing was too much trouble.

Whilst times vary slightly from lodge to lodge, game drives are done early morning, around 6:30am & late afternoon 3-4pm. Lunch is usually served not long after returning from the morning game drive so you have a few hours of R&R till the afternoon game drive.

As with all the other camps we stayed at, if you were going to or from your cabin and it was dusk to dark you needed to have an armed escort with you. Whilst staying here we learnt that a couple of years ago a young hippo (now named Oscar & pictured above) sought refuge in the camp, probably after a fight the staff believe, and since then he comes back most nights to sleep between cabins 4 and 5. Whilst a camp “mascot” he is still a wild animal and hippos are the most dangerous of all animals in Africa as far as attacks on humans go. One afternoon a few warthogs and a group of baboons wandered through the camp and at one stage it sounded like the baboons were all going over the top of our cabin as a “shortcut”! You can see above one of the younger ones perched up on the outside of the screen having a look into our bathroom. Additionally a leopard had walked through the camp on one of the later nights so the escort is not a bad thing.

Our days on safari were spent with a guide & two couples from the Palm Springs, USA. We got along famously & had a great time together.

We saw quite a few lions but were also fortunate to see a pack of lions feasting on a buffalo they had not long taken down.

The array of wildlife we saw at Moremi would have been enough for us to return home satisfied however we still had so much more to go. We saw a pack of African Wild Dogs having their afternoon sleep. We were at this point unaware how lucky we were as the sightings of these dogs are few and far between.

A great tradition they have in Africa is “Sundowners” whereby the staff pre-arrange your preferred drinks along with a few snacks and you pull up at a suitable spot each afternoon to have a drink and a chat and watch the sunset. Speaking of which, for whatever reason, Africa has the most spectacular sunsets starting off yellow going to orange then to pink before the sun finally sets.

It’s not just the big game animals that are so impressive but the birdlife is equally spectacular. The African Fish Eagle looks like a smaller version of the American Bald Eagle. It is well named as we saw a couple of examples of its fishing prowess. One such occasion whilst having sundowners, a fish eagle swooped down and caught a fish. It then flew up into a tree and started calling out to what we soon learnt was its “juvenile” chick. The mother then flew toward the juvenile & let go of the fish when getting closer and the juvenile swooped down to pick it up. A hunting training session over drinks!

We both worked out early in the trip which animal was our favourite – the Leopard. These majestic animals are so difficult to spot but are quite magnificent in the flesh. Early one drive we were watching some giraffe under a stand of trees. Later in the drive our guide got a call that a leopard was spotted up a tree. Amazingly it was in the same trees where we were watching the giraffes. Their camouflage in trees is incredibly effective.

The paler leopard was in a tree just outside the front gate of our camp and we photographed him as we were on our way to the airstrip where we would be picked up and taken to the Okovango Delta.

Xugana Island Lodge – Okavango Delta

The flight to Xugana was only a 20 minute flight but again gave us an appreciation of the change in environment we were entering. Being in the Okavango Delta all activities revolve around the water. As such after landing we were picked up by boat and taken to the island. We were only staying here a couple of nights so we were keen to get into it.

Upon arrival they prepared a lunch for us as we arrived after lunch. Whilst waiting on the deck we watched a pair of river otters swimming around and coming quite close to the deck. That afternoon we went out on a boat for a game cruise”. How the guides navigate through and around the maze of waterways through reeds and papyrus is beyond us. The main animals to be seen were hippos, of course, some birds and a few elephants in the distance. A pleasant afternoon out with the mandatory sundowners as well.

The following morning was to be a walking safari but Brian woke up unwell so Belinda forged on alone. They came across elephants, lions, hippos, impala and red lechwee. Whilst on the walk Belinda managed to walk into a very sharp branch which gave her a nasty gash on her leg. The first aid kit was put into action but she trooped on thereafter.

That afternoon we had booked a helicopter flight over the Okavango Delta. We didn’t realise it was a “doors off” flight in a little 4 seater helicopter. One of the best experiences of our lives. The flight was 30-40 minutes, I can’t remember which but seemed to go by much quicker!

The feeling when the pilot banked to the left & its just the seatbelt holding you there is both scary & exhilarating. Getting a birds eye view of birds was different!

That afternoon we went out on the water for a Mokoro ride which is a traditional canoe propelled by using a pole to push you through the water.

Before we left for Africa, Chloe our contact at Off2Africa asked if this was a special occasion trip. We told her it was an early 40th anniversary trip but wouldn’t be going to Africa in November. Everywhere we went the lodges did something special for us even if it was a complimentary bottle of champagne. On Xugana we sat down to dinner on our last evening when the manager came over to us and asked us to go with him as he had a message for us. We both had the same thought – what’s happened at home?

Instead he took us to a floating pontoon candle lit with a table for 2 a waiter & a chef which was their gift to us for our anniversary. We boarded the pontoon and shortly we were adrift in the middle of the lagoon for our anniversary dinner. Another memorable moment.

The following day saw us leave Xugana and head to Savute Safari Lodge in Chobe National Park.

Savute Safari Lodge – Chobe National Park

Savute Safari Lodge is around 200km north east of the Okavango Delta, situated in Chobe National Park, in starkly different terrain. Whereas water is in abundance in the delta the area around Savute is very dry.

The lodge is very nice with all the comforts of home & more. Meals are served in their terrace restaurant which overlooks a waterhole that is fed by solar powered pumps from bores. This guarantees a constant passing parade of wildlife, all the while having something to eat, drink or relaxing around the pool.

Solar fed waterholes are plentiful through Botswana parks which is a godsend for the wildlife as water would be otherwise VERY scarce. This of course keeps the wildlife within the network of waterholes throughout the park and ensures a pretty healthy population.

Our first day we came across a mating lion couple. It was explained that they would mate around 200 times over a couple of days. As chance would have it one of those times was when we were sitting there watching them!

The afternoon game drive was particularly full of lions. We were sitting watching a pride with a number of lionesses & cubs which looked like they were getting ready to get moving all of a sudden there was a commotion. As they started moving a lioness almost stepped on a bat eared fox that was hiding in the long grass. A brief chase ensued which a couple of the cubs tried to join in but luckily for the fox, he made his getaway.

After this bit of excitement the pride moved on and in the distance we spotted a male lion heading our way. They really don’t care about tourists as they walk straight past & so close to vehicles without giving them a second glance. See how close he gets to Belinda below.

The following day was full of wildlife from lions to the smallest of birds and everything in between. An impala carcass, which would have been a leopard’s kill, was spotted up in a tree during the morning game drive. It was decided that would be first stop in the afternoon to see if we could spot an ever elusive leopard. Unfortunately whilst we were at lunch so was the leopard. Not much was left for the scavengers.

Our last day at Savute would prove to be one of if not our most memorable of the trip.

It started with a private vehicle letting us know that he’d been tracking a leopard from the river & she was somewhere around where we were as there was a hill with a rock formation which she could be taking cover in. We drove around for a bit then got the call that she was “just around the corner” from us. She was quite magnificent not caring one bit about the vehicles & people watching her.

A short while later our guide Lynn saw some fresh lion footprints. We looped around a bit till she got a call on the radio that the pride cubs were on their own. We were only a very short distance away and Lynn wasn’t far off finding them on her own.

As we continued on throughout the day the solar fed waterholes as mentioned earlier are a godsend for the animals and are always a good bet to have plenty of activity around them.

As good a day as it had been the memorable bit was yet to come.

Whilst out on the drive we came across a lone baby elephant of about 5 months old. Our guide Lynn said this was never the case as the babies always stayed near their mother or at least within the herd. He was walking down the track heading straight at us, at first not seeing us. When he did he made a mock charge then gave us a wide berth and walked around us.

We moved on and about 15 minutes later happened upon a small herd of elephants grazing on trees & grass about 20-30 mtrs off the track. There were about 3 adult females & about the same number of juveniles. We stopped & were watching when the matriarch of this herd looked at us and gave us trumpet. She then made a mock charge at us and stopped. She then chased us! Fortunately Lynn had the motor running & we hightailed it with the elephants chasing us through bushes. We outran them for a couple of minutes but they burst through more bushes and continued to chase us. We made sure we gave them plenty of distance this time.

Lynn thinks the mother may have been distressed with the loss of the missing juvenile elephant we’d seen earlier. Either way that’s the first time in all her years as a guide that she had been chased by an elephant. Fortunately we got most of of on video.

Chobe Game Lodge – Chobe Riverfront

Chobe Game Lodge is situated at the northern end of Chobe National Park on the Chobe River. On the other side of the river is Namibia.

One of Chobe’s claim to fame is its large elephant population, which at latest count is around 65,000 being half the total population of elephants in Botswana.

Here we expected to see a large amount of wildlife both on land & on water as we had safaris on both. Happy to say we were not disappointed. Our first safari was an afternoon river safari which was a nice relaxed way of getting into it.

The second day we had our first land safari in the morning. Our first sighting of a pair of lions was blighted by quite a large number of vehicles. This was nothing compared to a sighting of a leopard in a tree. We were gridlocked on a track for what seemed an eternity but was still the best part of an hour. Fortunately this was our last experience of “peak hour” safari. As mentioned earlier the leopard’s camouflage in trees is excellent.

Chobe has quite a large baboon population as well as vervet monkeys. Around the Chobe river the baboons have quite a number of “troops”. You often see them picking their way through elephant dung eating. This is because elephants digestion is so poor most of their food goes straight through them undigested.

On our last day we had a great experience with the elephants along the river bank. Quite a lot of vehicles headed to the riverbank & flats for the afternoon game drive as did we. We watched the vehicles come & go so they could get their mandatory photo till we were the only ones left. We just sat there watching the elephants for about an hour. After a while a small herd walked decided to head up the hill and they decided to pass right along side us checking us out at close range as they went. We then headed further up the river for sundowners and another beautiful sunset.

We had just headed back when our guide got a call saying a male lion was lying right near the dirt road. We headed on over to find him just waking and then proceeded to get up & walk on the road beside us roaring to let the pride know where he was.

Our time in Botswana was coming to an end. Tomorrow we enter Zimbabwe with our first stop for 2 nights at Victoria Falls.

Zimbabwe

Leaving Botswana & entering Zimbabwe was a process. Firstly we had to line up at immigration in Botswana filling out a form to leave. That took about an hour, which we thought was slow for the amount of people going through. To enter Zimbabwe we lined up out side a portable office with windows to get our visas which they charge US$30 per person, cash only. With no computers and everything processed by writing in carbon books this process took over 2 hours. We’ll never complain about Sydney airport again!

Victoria Falls Safari Club

We eventually got to our accommodation early afternoon at which time we had a late lunch and a general explore around the property.

The following morning we had booked a helicopter flight over Victoria Falls. Things got off to a rocky start when they had mechanical issues with one of the helicopters. Once underway it was a truly great sight. We opted for the extended flight which also took us well into the national park and got a good view of our accommodation from the air as well as the Zambezi River that flows to the falls.

After the flight we got dropped off in Victoria Falls town and walked down to the falls.

Like Niagara Falls, Victoria Falls is very impressive close up. The width & height of Victoria Falls are both significantly greater than Niagara Falls but strangely we both felt the power of Niagara was greater. That may have been because of the seasons we were there of course.

Zimbabwe is an extraordinarily poor country that has been mismanaged through consecutive corrupt governments which has had enormous impact on the local communities due to hyperinflation reaching a peak of 98% per day. As a result their currency was worth nothing so they just printed a new currency. A walk through the township you get approached by hawkers selling their old currency as souvenirs. For a couple of dollars you can buy a $1,000,000 note.

The night before leaving we were advised that our flight to Hwange had been cancelled but another one was arranged. We were a bit nervous as this was the only flight of the trip for which we had an actual ticket.

All worked out well as we had a charter flight with only one other passenger who happened to be one of the family that owns our last stay in Zimbabwe, Amalinda Lodge.

The Hide – Hwange National Park

Hwange N.P. has long been touted as Zimbabwe’s premier safari destination. The Hide is so named as they have an underground tunnel from the dining area to a below ground level hide right near where the solar pumped fresh water enters a pool before cascading into the waterhole. The elephants love the fresh water for drinking but also love the mud pools further up for “bathing”.

The wildlife, both large and small like the terrain, was diverse. Our guide pointed out birds and small animals that we would never have seen on our own.

Just minutes after leaving for the morning game drive we came upon a pride of lions lazing across the track we were driving on. The three lioness’s and their cubs didn’t care one bit about the three vehicles that had pulled up to take a look at them. After just sitting and watching for a while we decided to move on & give the other vehicle that came after us a better view. After making a U-turn to go back the other way we had only gone 15metres when we saw the male lion walking down the track toward us. We stopped and he just walked right on past us without a sideways glance (thankfully)!

That night we chose to do a night safari drive, which turned out to be a great decision. Whilst we saw a number of animals & a few nocturnal ones at that, photographing at night from a distance is not a particularly great mix. Having said that we did get a few nice shots of the pride sitting around while the male devoured a kill.

We got back to camp and sat around the fire with the manager for a few drinks. After about 40 minutes we decided it was time for bed and headed off to our cabin with our escort.

Not even 5 minutes had passed when there was an almighty roar followed by plenty more. Laying in bed it sounded like we were surrounded by lions, the roaring continuing for a further few minutes.

Next morning we were told that the three lionesses decided to go out on a hunt and were letting all and sundry know they were there. One of them walked down the path which we had walked down 5-10 minutes prior. The other two walked past the front of our cabin. Interesting feeling when there is just a layer of canvas between you & three roaring lions but what an amazing experience!

The last day saw us out a bit further afield seeing a few completely different landscapes with a good variety of wildlife.

The next morning saw our only transfer between our stops that wasn’t by light aircraft. We left The Hide straight after breakfast and were picked up at the entry to Hwange National Park. From there it was a 4 hour vehicle transfer to Amalinda Lodge at Matobo.

Amalinda Lodge – Matobo National Park

The trip to Amalinda was interesting in that it really showed how poor the local people were and how the country that was once so rich in agriculture is now a shadow of its former self. Our main reason for venturing down to Matobo was to see rhinoceros in the wild.

The lodge itself is quite unique in that the rooms and dining areas are all built into the rocks on the hillside on which it is built. They also have some resident zebras on the property as well as a “Zonkey” which is a result of breeding between a zebra and a donkey.

For the past couple of weeks we had been experiencing temperatures around 34⁰ Celsius. On our first full day at Matobo we experienced a top of 14⁰ Celcius – a chilling drop of 20 degrees with a wind chill thrown in for good measure! Fortunately the lodge provided plenty of warmth for the drives with blankets and wind breaking cape with hood.

It really was a once in a lifetime experience to see rhinoceros in the wild.

The following day, and last day of our African safari holiday, saw us go to see the NSWATUGI Cave where there are fantastic bushman wall paintings around 2,000 years old. On the walk back down to the vehicle we saw an unusual animal called Klipspringer. The best way to describe it is a cross between a mountain goat and a small antelope. It was incredibly agile as it raced over the rocks. We wre also fascinated by the thatching that is done here. Interestingly we have seen thatching in many parts of the world and whilst obvious, the thatching in each place is different and distinct to its own area predominantly due to the grass/leaves which are used. The grass is harvested in the fields by women from nearby & stcked on the side of the road for purchase.

After this we moved on to see Cecil Rhodes’ grave at the “Top of the World”.

Cecil Rhodes, the founder of Rhodesia & whose name it took, died in South Africa but his will stated that he shall be buried at one of his favourite places, locally called Top of the World due to its sweeping views.

Since the Mugabe rule this has become a somewhat controversial tourist destination due to the negative views &/or impacts of colonisation.

Our last day was one of travel from Bulawayo airport to Johannesburg to Sydney.

This was undoubtedly the best trip we have ever done and our thanks goes to Chloe from Off2Africa who ensured a worry free trip leaving us with a lifetime of memories.