0 Being in Botswana

After four weeks of silence during my traveling I finally report back from South Africa. As I rarely had any internet access on my holidays I wasn’t yet able to give you a short update but therefore you will get an even more detailed report now with lots of pictures. Today I’m going to start with the first part of our trip: our stay in Botswana and our short side trip to Zimbabwe.

The first stop in Botswana for Stella, Louisa, Magnus and me was Elephant Sands, a lodge about 1000 kilometres north of Johannesburg in an area with many national parks. Even on our way we already got fascinated by Botswana’s many animals that were so close to the streets – sometimes also blocking them – that we always had some elephants, giraffes or ostriches to watch during the long way. Surprisingly there were also hundreds of donkeys running around everywhere. Arriving at elephant sands it even got better because the lodge fully does justice to the nobility of its name. An artificial waterhole right in the middle of the lodge makes sure that lots of elephants are coming to the place at any time of the day as it is their only source of water in the surroundings. No matter if we were swimming in the pool, standing under the open air shower or lying in our tent we could be sure that the next elephant was not far away which could also be a little bit scaring for the night in our small tent. Also when we were walking around on the premises we had to be careful not to accidently come too close to the giants so that they might feel offended. I’ve never seen so many elephants at one place and so close to me before and we might have spent hours just sitting there watching them.

The next day we went further to the north all the way up to Kasane which is close to the border square of Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia. From here we already left Botswana again – but only for one day to go to the famous Victoria Falls at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The waterfall on the Zambesi river belongs to the world’s three biggest falls alongside the Niagara Falls and the Iguazu Falls and is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Arriving at the falls we unfortunately had bad luck with the weather. Besides the fact that the spray and mist of the water made us wet anyway, it also started raining so that we quickly were dripping wet and also the view wasn’t as clear as we knew it from pictures. But still the falls and the surrounding jungle were amazing!

Back in Botswana our next planned stop were the Makgadikgadi Pans, the biggest salt pans in the world. But here our plans unfortunately didn’t work out as the rainy season had just ended and the pans were still very difficult to drive on and the chances to get stuck very high. So we had to skip that plan and went on right to the Okavango Delta - a very fertile and beautiful inland delta and home to many different animals.

Here we did a guided three day mokoro trip far away from any civilization. A mokoro is a type of canoe which is pushed through the shallow water by standing in the stern and using a long pole. It's the best way to get around in the delta and also used as a means of transport especially for the many fishers in the area.

Our trip was accompanied by two guides that would show the four of us around. We started early in the morning of the first day and with the mokoros our guides drove us deep into the delta where we pitched our tents. After a break during the midday heat and arranging our campsite – a toilet hole had to be digged and the fire lighted – we started our first game walk of about an hour until the sunset. Walking around the grassland near our campsite we could soon see lots of zebras and gnus. Our guide taught us a lot about the animals and how to read their traces. When we came back to our campsite we cooked over the fire and then it was already time to sleep as we would start our next game walk before sunrise. In the night we could also hear many animals pass by our campsite like gnus and even hippos. On the next day we did a long walk of about five hours and this time we also saw elephants, giraffes, warthogs, hippos, vultures and the cadaver of a buffalo. In the afternoon we had some time to try to drive the mokoros ourselves. At first it was a lot more difficult than it looked like but after some practising it worked quite well and was a lot of fun. After a short sunset cruise and another short game walk in the next morning it was already the end of our mokoro tour and even though the experience was great we were all really looking forward to a shower!

And then after ten animal-rich days it was already time to move on to Namibia, but about that I will write in my next post… 

If you already want to see some more pictures you can find them all in my gallery!


» part 2 of my holiday report - Next stop Namibia

0 Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve

As Stella and I normally spend a lot of time inside working during the week this weekend we decided to do some outside activity. On Saturday the weather was bad and anyway we had promised Sesethu and Sinethemba, the five and six year old siblings living at Cotlands, to have a movie night with them as it is their last weekend at Cotlands. On Sunday the weather luckily was perfect for our plan and we decided to go hiking in Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve which is only about 6 kilometres from our place. We took a lot of food for an energizing picnic and started our 20 kilometre trail with a lot of motivation. The difficulty of our trail was very diverse. Sometimes the trail was flat and steady and sometimes it was quite steep and we had to climb over big stones. Especially in the hot midday sun – we had temperatures of about 35°C – the way uphill could partly be very exhausting but the great vies that we had were definitely worth it. And we could even see some animals, such as very pretty coloured birds, zebras, springboks, wildebeests and otters. Sadly it was very difficult to come close to them so that our pictures aren’t very breathtaking but at least the nature was an easier target for our cameras!

0 Lion scratches and other premieres

Today I finally got a lot of photos for you, because I think that my weekend can be much better described in pictures than by words. But before that, just a few introducing words:

Even though the spring weather here in Joburg is already very nice – normally at least 25°C and the sun is always shining – I have to spend most of my time during the week inside working. After work, at about 16:30, Stella and I normally go to the gym and after that it’s already dark. That’s why we definitely wanted to do something in the nature and open air this weekend and quickly found our perfect activity: Lion Park.

Lion Park is a small game reserve in the north of Johannesburg. Certainly it’s not comparable to popular reserves like Kruger national park for example – and of course that’s also on my to-do-list – but it’s a good start if you only want to spend one day and not disburse too much money. And even though the name could suggest that, the park is not only home to lions. There are springboks, antelopes, wildebeests, cheetahs, giraffes, wild dogs, ostriches and of course brown and white lions living in separated areas. And what’s probably the highlight: the lion and cheetah cubs.

So we were joining a guided drive through the different areas. Our guide told us a lot about the animals and we had the chance to get really close to them and in the meantime take lots of pictures. But the best is yet to come: the interaction with the lion cubs. The cubs are between three and six months old and live in a separated enclosure. We could stroke them almost like normal cats and they were completely peaceful and so cute. Only one of them was quite playful and that’s how I got my first lion scratches that I would not want to miss anymore. But now see yourself!

Even though I unreasonably didn’t stick to "business before pleasure", I still have to say some words to our project. Because after our one month period of grace we got some new duties: We have to bring the two five- and six-year-old children that are living at Cotlands to school. It’s not far away so that we can walk and even though we have to start work earlier now it’s a pleasant way to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. Furthermore we normally don’t walk around in our area because it’s not that save, especially after four o’clock, so it’s a nice chance to get to know the area a little better.

So far it was always varied to walk them to school, because we always met many other children that are going to our early learning groups or our homework assistance. At first we were a little bit confused when children, that we only met once or twice before, ran across the street, loudly shouting our names and just hugging us. But they are all really sweet and we enjoy having our personal welcoming committee wherever we go.

Last but not least I kept my promise from the last post: I took some pictures of our area and I hope that they can give you a first impression of Turffontein.